Kind of amazing. Code Pink, in the lead, but 32 Americans in all.
Story just up at
NYT, via
IHT.
The motorcade was almost certain to be turned away Sunday from
entering South Waziristan and the town of Kotkai, the hometown of the
founder of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani government, as my
colleague Salman Masood reported, was expected to block the group.
The
American activists, most of them from the group Codepink, object to the
civilian deaths that occur in the aerial strikes against Taliban
fighters and other militants. (Rendezvous recently explored the
controversy over drone warfare in a piece, “Are Drone Strikes Worth the Costs?”)
“We kill a lot of innocent people,” said Medea Benjamin, a cofounder of Codepink and part of the delegation in Pakistan. She called the attacks “barbaric assassinations.”
They met with U.S. ambassdor:
2 comments:
As much as I welcome discussion regarding drone strikes in Pakistan and with great respect for Code Pink, what I see in this video disheartens me. To define the issue as one of "legality" concerning drone strikes in Pakistan, further as one of "debate," is a tactic used by the realpolitik: interaction with dissent is to be limited by a predetermined definition and intensity, and to marginalize those who attempt to frame either or both differently. And because good people with legitimate concerns want to be heard and taken seriously- the tactic often works, as it did here.
Leaves out the issue of MORALITY: killing so many (any??) civilians is WRONG!
Plus, the "legality" argumant consistently gets thrown out by the U.S. courts, which take the internat'l law/U.S. agreements argument off the table from the start (ask any peace protester who tried to go therr at trial).
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