Drones Blowback: Recruiting Sergeant for Terror

Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama deployed drones to Pakistan as part of their counterterror strategy, without taking into account how much “drone strikes are hated on a visceral level, even by people who’ve never seen one or seen the effects of one,” to quote top U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Terrorists such as Faisal Shahzad, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev all cited the civilian casualties from drone strikes among their litany of anti-American complaints.

The inescapable truth is that you cannot bomb, kill, invade, occupy, and torture, and then expect no pushback, no retaliation, no blowback. Nor can you cynically arm or fund extremist groups to fight your “official enemy” and then assume those extremists groups won’t one day turn on you or your allies.

The Intercept is an investigative nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing fearless, adversarial journalism. We believe journalism should bring transparency and accountability to powerful governmental and corporate institutions.

[jkondas]

I believe the intercept is the most important projects of our time ..

[dabay]

Drones are used to assassinate people indiscriminately with no due process and no accountability for the people ordering or carrying out the assassinations. Any dead bodies found are automatically classified as terrorists if they are male and of a certain age - this type of behaviour by the USA quite understandably pisses off everybody, especially the families of the local people who were executed by the US. The US makes it near impossible for the survivors to get even a acknowledgement their family members were killed wrongfully, and of the 1 or 2 cases where the evidence is so overwhelming that US couldn't keep denying it, they added insult to injury by offering only $2k compensation for assassinating their whole family.

[marialentini]

Manufacturing consent for a manufactured war on terror. For money.

[cindyrolle]

Thank you Medhi for giving us the truth in reporting. More like you are needed.

[abdulalimomar]

Children are angels and when you kill them. God will punish without doubt. The Pharaoh was punished.

[patrickflynn]

Anwar Al-awlaki's daughter was killed during the Yakla raid by bullet fire from a helicopter. But her brother was extra-judicially by a drone strike.

[geronimoillanipi]

Yes every action have a reaction and terror will create a terror.

[jayje-]

Right on spot like you always are Mehdi.

[Redpoppy]

Someone said among the lines of "If you want less war in the world, DON'T participate in it". It really is that simple 99% of the time.

[stephanealegoria]

Drones is not only seeds of terrorism it is the end of local rebellion against the globally powerful. It is unique in that matter in humankind history where resilience could only count on local indignation.

[Han-esqu]

Do u think US don't know
Or it is

[richardtrump]

People are pissed at being killed by drones? Ya think!!??

[robschnl]

"Eye in the sky" & "Good Kill" tells it all

[andysammy]

I love this guy, Mehdi Hasan you boss!

[ZaferKhanAlpha]

Thanks for bringing the reality to front which no one wanna listen to.

[citizen]

Hello @The Intercept. At 6:27 you quote a WSJ piece dated March 2015. This date must be mistaken as, obviously, Trump didn't take office until January 2017. Was the piece from March 2017?

[koibito]

lol 1:06 why isn't the person's real court room persecution put up why the cartoon ???

[yhazt]

Hey @TheIntercept I love the Blowback videos, but could you guys add the links the various articles and videos you guys cite? Thanks!

[gojirazilla]

The human cycles of violence should be clearly understood by all for what it is, like dancing, it requires at least two partners. We can only break this cycle if only we can recognize in ourselves are all others and conversely all others in ourselves. Rather than saying I'm from X, Y, or Z country, or X, Y, or Z race/people/tribe/etc., how about saying, "I'm a fellow citizen of the earth, and are we not all citizens of the earth, are we not all earthlings together, sharing together a planet of limited resources? Are we not one species, and as such, should we have a higher obligation toward one another?" We are always so quick to point a finger at some "other" when in the end it's just human on human violence; though we are such a clever species that we can come up with 1001 ways to justify it (the violence) in any form.

[kakayou]

If some one killed my family member I would get revenge no matter what they called me. Terrorist or whatever.. let them give me whatever name. I dont care