Hacker News Reader

Comment by waxjar | Hacker News Reader

What would that message be? "We are barbaric so you better watch out"?

No, the message is "This is how much we treat innocent civilians who have done nothing wrong, so stop to think about how we treat people that we actually dislike."

It's nothing more than a form of terrorism, primarily against the American people.

I'm either misunderstanding you or you haven't read the article at all.

@Waxjar - I'm saying that these drone strikes are not accidental. That they did not kill innocent people by accident. And that the point of the U.S. drone fleet has got nothing to do with stopping terrorists and that, in fact, the very existence of the U.S. drone fleet is itself an act of terror because it exists for no real purpose other than to frighten people who make the U.S. government angry.

Doesn't this definition make the existence of any military deterrent "an act of terror"?

I think it could, but I don't think so in this case. MAD, for instance, isn't an act of terror because it is only an existential threat. Most nuclear capable countries won't use their weapons because of MAD, and thus it actually provides a safety net.

No one, though, can really do anything about drone strikes. They just happen, seemingly at random, wherever we decide they should happen. And if we take out a civilian then we say "oops, these things happen" and so there are no repercussions, no one gets punished and it just keeps happening.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com