We have expressed our moral revulsion at B.H. Obama’s secret kill lists and his use of killer drones to assassinate those named thereon. It does not surprise us that we are not in agreement with the New York Times (on nearly any issue), but what would have been cited in that paper as a sign of deepening despotism had it been carried out by a “right-wing” government somewhere in the world is hailed in the Times as a sign of Mr. Obama’s moral responsibility.
The hypocrisy is thick.
Chris Floyd sees the absurdity in the following passage, from the Times’ laudatory article, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will.”:
“Aides say Mr. Obama has several reasons for becoming so immersed in lethal counterterrorism operations. A student of writings on war by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, he believes that he should take moral responsibility for such actions.
“He realizes this isn’t science, this is judgments made off of, most of the time, human intelligence,” said Mr. Daley, the former chief of staff. “The president accepts as a fact that a certain amount of screw-ups are going to happen, and to him, that calls for a more judicious process.”
Floyd’s comments:
Again, words fail. Aides pumping reporters with stories about the wise, judicious philosopher-king consulting Aquinas and Augustine before sending a drone missile on a “signature strike” on a group of picnickers in Yemen or farmers in Pakistan. The philosopher-king himself nobly taking on the “moral responsibility” for mass murder. And the cavalier assertion that “a certain amount of screw-ups are going to happen” — a bland, blithe acceptance that you are in fact going to slaughter innocent human beings on a regular basis — precisely as if you walked up to an innocent man on the street, put a gun to his head and blew his brains out all over the sidewalk …. then walked away, absolved, unconcerned, and free to kill again. And again. And again. This psychopathic serial killing is, evidently, what Augustine meant by “moral responsibility.” Who knew?
