Ron Paul: The Danger Of America’s Assassination Program – OpEd
By Ron Paul
On today’s Liberty Report, we covered the US government’s assassination program. You’ll surely recall when President Obama issued an executive order that said the President has the authority to assassinate even American citizens at his own discretion.
Well, a very important report was issued by The Intercept that gave us a view at how horrendous the US drone program is in practice. The report was from a whistleblower who showed that during a five month period of drone strikes in Afghanistan, 90 percent of the people killed were not the intended targets.
This is very dangerous territory. The immorality should be extremely obvious. But there are also the unintended consequences and blowback that end up flying back like boomerangs.
It is well documented that there is now an epidemic of PTSD among the drone operators. That surely was not an intended consequence. The drone operators would be sitting safety in a comfortable room somewhere. Yet they are experiencing mental disorders nevertheless.
Furthermore, how does the US government imagine that the people on the ground in Afghanistan will think of such killings? Ironically, the US government has warned Russia that their military operations in Syria would invite blowback from terrorists. But isn’t it reasonable to think that the US drone war would stir up the same emotions of anger and hatred as well? If 90 percent of the people killed aren’t even the intended targets, wouldn’t that even add fuel to those destructive emotions?
All of this is unnatural. I believe that people are instinctually good and can change direction. I do not believe that war in natural. Unfortunately, groups of people grab hold of the reins of power and use it for destruction. In this case, it is the neoconservatives.
More Americans need to wake to danger of the US government’s policies.
If you think of a neighbor that has bad habits, you don’t just march into his house saying: “I don’t like how you’re raising your kids, you don’t go to church, you don’t read the right books, and you haven’t been voting lately. I’m going to force you to do it my way!” We wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing.
Well, that’s exactly what the US government does around the world. There’s essentially no concern with the moral implications. There’s no concern with rights, and what a country that’s supposed to defend liberty is all about.
We don’t tell our next door neighbor how to live. We know better! I don’t think it’s any more legitimate for the US government to go around the world telling others how they should live either.
This article was published by the RonPaul Institute.
