Morally Bankrupt, US will now disclose "bystanders" killed each year in drone strikes

In case you missed it the Obama administration announced late Friday afternoon-just prior to the 4th of July holiday weekend- the "airstrikes it has conducted outside of conventional war zones like Afghanistan have killed 64 to 116 civilian bystanders and 2500 members of terrorist groups." [1] "Bystanders"...that's the cavalier, callous word choice by New York Times writers Charlie Savage and Scott Shane describing innocents killed revealing the Times' editors complete disregard of who the administration kills.

Presumably this is the administration's latest attempt at "transparency". The president even "issued an executive order making civilian protection a priority and requiring the government in the future to disclose the number of civilian deaths each year." I'm sure the survivors of "bystanders" killed in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia will now feel greatly relieved the practice of killing their loved ones will now be disclosed each year by the US.

It's hard to find the correct words. Chutzpa, arrogance, hubris, embarrassment-all dissembling of course-"disclosing" the unlawful practice of ordering assassinations authorized by the president in places where the country isn't at war killing-what the Times refers to as-innocent "bystanders" in the process.

Of course that's a war crime according to the Geneva Convention with US being an original signee.

But the since the end of WWII the US became an entity all to itself basically ignoring international law whenever it suited its purposes. A country cloaked behind the Constitution and the rule of law yet betraying itself as an empire that acts with complete impunity knowing it will never be held to account for the crimes it commits.

It's pretty simple really. When you're the victor in war you call the shots. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan lost the war so the leaders-except Hirohito in Japan-were prosecuted and found guilty for the war crimes they committed.

Now Germany and Japan are client states of the US all but surrendering their sovereignty following US diktat.

One supposes this latest "disclosure" of extrajudicial killing of innocents by Obama is a feeble attempt to try to allay his guilt. Ah, sorry pal, that stain is permanent. Live with it.

Then how about the majority of Americans when polled support these drone strikes that kill innocent "bystanders"? What about them? No Americans killed so it's okay?

They certainly don't have a sense of guilt.

But hey, it's the fourth of July holiday weekend. Go watch the fireworks.

That's America. What a country.