Drones undermine democracy: A protest letter by Salman Ahmad to US state dept

By Salman Ahmed Sep 1st, 2012 ( 8 Comments )

Hi Tim,

As a UN Goodwill ambassador & an artist with a conscience,

I want to use this opportunity to register my protest against the indiscriminate use of US drones in the war in Afghanistan.These drones are radicalizing more youth than al-Qaeda or the Taliban can ever hope to do & are not even considered a game changer in the conflict in Afghanistan & Pakistan.

There is more anti-Americanism now in Pakistan than there was during the Bush era. Killer drones are the worst way to win hearts and minds of the people & many American & global voices like President Jimmy Carter’s are openly cautioning against setting this dangerous precedence of drone warfare.

I hope that you can convey my protest to Ambassador Marc Goodman, the US army personnel & the CIA operatives who order these strikes. The US needs to lead the world with responsibility & uphold the best ethics of just warfare in keeping with international law.

I want to remind us all of heeding Doctor King’s quote: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period… was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Yours Sincerely,

Salman Ahmad

www.ssgwi.org

Please read My friend Peter Singer’s op-ed in the New York Times on Drones undermining democracy [here].

The writer is a UN Goodwill ambassador & an artist with a conscience. He is also an author of Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution.

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http://twitter.com/ArielFornari Ariel Fornari

Gone are those nostalgic times in the mid-1980s, when a U.S. sailor could carelessly walk off a ship on a port visit to Karachi, be met by a friendly Pakistani taxi driver at the waterfront, and for a reasonable fee get taxi service for the whole day to go shopping, sightseeing, etc., etc., take a spin around Zabunisa Street, watch the mongoose and cobra fights, and then go back to the ship with some excellent buys. Without being there I can imagine the U.S. consulate must be a fortress now, with all sorts of weapons bristling out, and I rather doubt if U.S. citizens can just go casually walking around town unmolested. In about three decades, the decline of U.S. imperialism in the region is now so evident, that the armchair experts inside the Beltway have suddenly discovered that drone warfare will restore the empire to its former glory.
Arslankhalid345

PEOPLE LIKE PAUL EVEN DONT KNOW ABOUT REALITIS OF THOSE AREAS WHERE WAR IS GOING ON AND THESE PEOPLE WHO USE BOMBS TO BLOW THEMSELVES R BEEN USE BY USA AGAINST SOVIAET THAT TIME THEY WERE MUJAHIDS….GREAT PEOPLE
Arslankhalid345

Great duty done by u dear that shows loyality with pak thanks salman bahi we r with u….u done ur job continue ur amis…MAY ALLAH BLESS U
http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-ABarge/100001141684375 Paul A’Barge

You know what undermines democracy? Muslims who blow up themselves and lots of other people. That and Muslims who murder or behead Christians, or burn their churches and homes. Oh, and Muslims who cut off women’s clitorises and force women to wear bags over their heads.

You know what promotes democracy? Drones who blow up those Muslims mentioned above.
- http://twitter.com/rafayali11 Abdul Rafay
  
  Dear Paul,
  grow up. Don’t blame “MUSLIMS” for all the evils, I’m sure you don’t even know how to correctly pronounce the word, let alone know what it means. Considering your immature and utterly ignorant ‘rant’ here, I can only suggest you affirmatively go and …. yourself
  
  Regards,
  A Muslim by faith, A human by nature and an bull ***** nay sayer.
- Soniate90
  
  Sadly Mr.Paul people like u need some serious educating on this issue and not just listen to the the one side of the story only.
- Arslankhalid345
  
  o paul u dont knw our grt
  religon scholars condem there act and i also as muslim condem there act in which innocent ppl murdered but u can`t justify these drones attacks which r killing so many innocent ppl inculding those childs who even cant kill an aunt how they could b terrorist….
- http://twitter.com/ArielFornari Ariel Fornari
  
  Hmmm is that so? Well, if you can spare time from your busy schedule, try enlightening yourself a bit with this piece of the historic memory of imperialism in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, then, maybe then, you just might get a hint at some of the historical antecedents to 9/11. http://links.org.au/node/2174
  Bahrain and the Anglo-American oil frontier