another moment about which to cringe

do you know what region of the world this flag symbolises?

it is the provincial flag of the north west frontier in pakistan. the north west frontier shares its borders with afghanistan and several disputed regions with neighbouring india and china, not the least of which is kashmir. it is in the north west frontier that the small village of damadola exists.

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you don't know damadola? you should. it and its townspeople should be given a bit of thought. if you know a small town--a village, really--in a lonely part of your country, in a place that's sparsely crowded, a place where small-town traditions are still carried on daily, a place that is peaceful, though some in the population have some alleged political radicalism in their thoughts or some purported religious fundamentalism instilled in them, if you know a place like this, or live in a place like this, or have friends or relatives living in a place like this, please picture it in your head. then, picture it the target of some far-off nation with a fearsome amount of weaponry at its disposal.
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a week ago, this small village was bombed by the u.s. military in an effort to wipe out the number 2 man, ayman al-zawahri, in america's sworn enemy, al-qaida. in the process of trying to kill one man, remote-controlled bombs were unleashed on an unsuspecting village instead of sending in an elite group of special forces to carry out the mission. in the process of trying to kill one man, bombs were dropped on a small, poor village and more than 10 people were killed and maybe dozens more injured. none of the dead or injured was al-zawahri. maybe up to four of the dead were al-qaida operatives. this would mean that the remainder of the dead—and the majority of the wounded—are just innocent bystanders, “collateral damage,” as the phrase is, i believe.
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“we got to take to that shot,” was an excuse offered up by an alleged anti-terrorism expert as a reaction to the bombing. consider that statement again: “we got to take that shot.”
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what shot was it exactly that was being taken, other than a cheap, cowardly one? what if the bombs had actually killed al-zawahri? how much of a difference would it really make? doesn’t anyone inside america understand that every time the u.s. government takes action such as this bombing on a small, remote village, it only galvanizes the rest of the world against america? there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people across the globe who would immediately step into al-zawahri’s role as al-qaida’s number 2. killing him is not going to affect america’s won-loss status in the “war on terror”--america has already lost. trying to kill him in such a cowardly manner is never going to work, either. bombing a city to bring an entire city to its knees is one thing, bombing a village for one man is quite a yellow other thing to do.
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what I really want to know, however, is this: why has there been such little public outrage in america at this bombing? perhaps americans are so used to such news that they’ve become numb to hearing it. or perhaps they are so brainwashed as to believe that such continued events are actually going to make life more comfortable and offer more security for themselves. or perhaps it’s because very few Americans have experienced the trauma or terror of having their, or another nearby, village bombed from the air by an empire with a massive arsenal. i would be willing to bet my last case of beer that if a far-off nation in asia bombed a small village in northern montana, near the canadian border, because that asian country believed the small village to be host to a dinner party where in attendance was alleged, on very poor intelligence, to be the number 2 mastermind of a terrorist group that the asian country believed to be one of its major threats to its national security, the american public would be not be silent, ignorant, or unconcerned about it. and you know I don’t bet cases of beer lightly.
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america may continue to go ahead and do whatever it is she wants, regardless of the world’s opinions to the contrary, but, ultimately, all such actions are going to do is bring down the american empire much sooner than people expect.