bugsplat derby

in a cozy office in the US,
maybe at langley, or
creech air force base,
north of vegas,
there is an officer watching video
feeds of suspected targets in
“afghanistan, pakistan, bosnia, serbia, iraq, yemen,
libya & somalia,”
just to name a few.

this officer is piloting
unmanned aerial vehicles,
which operate by remote control,
allowing her/him to suspend these
drones
(interestingly named
“mq-1 predators” & “mq-9 reapers”)
for 18 hours in the air,
hovering in a manner that no manned
aircraft can,
in what the CIA terms
“an unblinking stare,”
this supposedly allows the officer who is
waiting,
to select the most opportune time to fire its
hellfire missles,
therefore minimalizing the
collateral damage due to the precision of
the attack &
a successful elimination of a target is referred to
by the CIA as a
“bugsplat.”

this “secret” drone program,
initiated in 2004 by the CIA,
has allowed the US to kill 2,551 people
in their bugsplat derby---
think tanks
like the new america foundation
in washington say that
the majority of those killed have been
targeted militants,
yet when civilians were polled,
a suspiciously different story was revealed as
“only 16% believe that drones accurately
target militants.”

with 118 attacks last year in pakistan &
50 already in 2011,
mr. obama & co. are facing
questions of the ethical nature of drone attacks---
many feel that it is ok to use drones for surveillance,
but when they are used for attacks,
the killing of innocent civilians is not held accountable in the
same fashion as regular warfare,
concerning the military chain of command,
not to mention that the supposed “rules” of
war are violated
when the officer in their comfortable office
needs to take a piss,
knowing that in a few minutes,
said target will be out in the open and ready for a
precise, low-to-no-civilian-casualty bugsplat,
but,
instead of waiting,
they push the button & then get up to run to the
restroom,
coming back after lunch to see what damage has been
done---
just like they were at home playing call of duty.