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LIVING UNDER DRONES
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An important new report has been published by the Conflict Resolution Clinic of Stanford Law School in conjunction with the Global Justice Clinic at the NYU School of Law: Living Under Drones: Death Injury, and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan.
In an earlier DP entry, we suggested that the tactic of drone strikes has become a critical feature of the technologically updated strategic doctrine of Shock & Awe. As such, the “decapitation” of militants supports the more general objective of subjugating the entire regional population through the traumatic disintegration of collective spirit, group will and tribal autonomy. Basic community rituals such as the provision of proper burials consistent with religious beliefs are shattered, thereby weakening resiliency and resolve.
Living Under Drones extensively documents the success of this savage tactic in achieving a condition of generalized trauma throughout Waziristan. In numerous interviews with survivors of attacks and with family members of non-combatant victims, the study details the horrific “psy ops” terror inflicted upon communities through the constant presence of armed drones buzzing through the skies above. Further, the study examines how such actions have occurred outside any legal oversight or framework, essentially implemented by executive fiat in the name of “keeping the American people safe”.
Below follows the authors’ executive summary and a brief montage of excerpts, some of which have been incorporated into frames for the (excellent) film, linked above in its entirety.
Desperado Philosophy 