The last few days have been filled with political conversation surrounding the death of two hostages being held by Al Qaeda. One of the hostages was an American and the other was an Italian citizen. Also killed in the raid was another American who was fighting for Al Qaeda and this is the fellow I want to concentrate on here.
If we take the various officials at their word, the persons who were in control of the drone attack knew that Al Qaeda personnel were present in the compound, but did not know that the hostages were there or that one of the Al Qaeda operatives was an American citizen. If they had known about the American, Al Qaeda fighter, our protocols would have required authorizations from the President of the United States before an attack could have been carried out. Isn’t that interesting that we need authorization from the President of the United States before we can attempt to kill an American citizen who is fighting for Al Qaeda.
Almost on the same day as the news about the accidental killings at the Al Qaeda compound was released, an incident in Baltimore led to the death of an American citizen who was being apprehended by police. Again, taking the officials at their word, this person was chased down solely because he fled when he saw the police officers coming his way. Had he done something wrong? We don’t know. Was he about to do something wrong? We don’t know. What we do know is that he was chased down, apprehended, placed in a paddy wagon and transported for a short time before he was transferred to an ambulance and taken to a hospital for medical care where he later died.
For purposes of this conversation, I want to think about the death in Baltimore as an accident even though I am not totally sure my assumption will bear up under the facts, but for this conversation it will be more equivalent to the death of the American citizen, Al Qaeda operative who was accidentally killed in Pakistan.
So consider this – if we knowingly want to kill an American citizen who is an Al Qaeda operative conducting terrorist activities in the world we need the authorization of the President of the United States, but we didn’t hear anyone suggesting such an authorization in the case of the young man in Baltimore. So our societal processes require greater care before killing a known American terrorist than before killing a suspicious American on the streets of the United States. Perhaps it is just me, but I think our priorities are a little off.
Think about it.
The Sausage Grinder is broken; will you help to fix it?
Comment here or send an email: abrokensausagegrinder@comcast.net
Like us on Facebook: A Broken Sausage Grinder
Follow us on Twitter: Hank Thomas
Watch on YouTube: A Broken Sausage Grinder