A good article in the NYT regarding John Brennan’s upcoming testimony this Thursday on the clandestine drone attack campaigns taking place in countries like Yemen, Pakistan, and Sudan. It explores many individual examples of drone strikes that kill innocents or very low-ranking Al-Quaida members. But what struck me in this article was the points it made that seem similar to the Vietnam War. First, we are attacking countries that we do not understand socially, politically, or ideologically. Secondly, attempts on Quaida leaders that end up killing numbers of civilians could drive the ordinary Yemeni to action. This same thing happened in Vietnam. The American bombings of South Vietnam to force Vietnamese civilians into refugee camps so they could no longer aid the Viet Cong-dynamic is also present here. Like the Viet Cong, many Yemenis may not be for Al-Quaida, but joining “the base” is the only way to strike back at the U.S. which has taken close relatives or neighbor’s lives with drone missiles.
Sparking The Left 