State Terrorism

'Afghans Blame Coalition Airstrike for Civilian Deaths' by M. Abi-Habib & H. K. Totakhil. The Wall Street Journal, Feb 14, 2013 p. A11

[excerpted] "A coalition airstrike in Afghanistan killed 10 civilians, mostly women and children, Afghan official said... According to the Aghan officials, five of the 10 dead were women and four were children..."

'America Doesn't Torture'—It Kills by Katha Pollitt The Nation http://www.thenation.com/article/172896/america-doesnt-torture-it-kills?rel=emailNation#

[excerpted] Whatever happened to arresting people, extraditing them, giving them lawyers, putting them on trial—all that? Even in the hottest days of the Cold War, when millions believed communism threatened our very existence as a nation, Americans accused of spying for the Soviets had their day in court. No one suggested that President Eisenhower should skip the tiresome procedural stuff and just bomb the Rosenbergs’ apartment. 

The president and his choice to head the CIA, John Brennan, assure us that they are extremely careful, and the kill list is “legal, ethical and wise” (although they won’t tell us anything more about it). Brennan asserted in 2011 that no civilians have been killed by drones. Maybe he even believes this, although the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented more than 500 civilian casualties in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia, with a high estimate of many more.