h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi.

I had a lurk on the Libya thread. I don't feel like getting involved - other than to agree that the West's involvement hasn't been entirely altruistic.

But I thought you might like this re. Afghanistan:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/10-myths-about-afghanistan

See point 2 re client states.

See also point 5. The West did, as you've said, 'walk away'...sort of...apart from the CIA.

And why didn't we intervene in Rwanda? Roméo Dallaire put it well:

'We did not care, because you are black.'

It was a tribal conflict, wasn't it? It's what These People do. Plus in that region instability is Good For Business.

Hi NTM,

thanks for the link. I also read the comments and was quite
impressed overall with the standard of the discussion - with input
from a diversity of viewpoints as well as expertise. Perhaps it is
there that I should be looking for "proper" discussion on these
types of issues.

I've been noticing increasing numbers of reports of drone attacks in
various countries, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan ... I
remember watching the film Syriana a few years back where the end
scene was of a Drone/missile attack and thinking that it seemed a
little far-fetched but obviously not.

Checking the web it seems that Drone attacks are part of the USA's
continued War on Terror and have been used extensively. It is
difficult to ascertain whether the person(s) killed were
"terrorists", freedom fighters, political agitators, civilians
etc, i.e. there is no accountability and is beyond the "law" -
suggestive of a similar mind set to that which brought us "rendition":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/11/civilian-victims-cia-drones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/10/most-complete-picture-yet-of-cia-drone-strikes/