No Time for Trivia

I was having breakfast after training yesterday at my favorite greasy spoon with my favorite greasy frriend.  All was going well except it was my turn to pay.  Although technically since I did not remember whose turn it was I was not overly depressed by the thought.

I was just getting set to take my first bite when a fellow in a booth next to me hollers at the cook, who is also the owner of the place, “Hey! Dja hear?  Ya know those tayrists we killed the other day?  Well, we dropped a bomb at the funeral for them and killed 6 more tayrists!”   He even speculated that it might have been a “500 hunert pounder!”  Oh boy!

I was so…so very close to challenge this fellow on his source of information and his certitude that we indeed killed 6 “tayrists” in the bombing.  I wanted to call across to him and let him know that in every case where the stenographic MSM reports the Pentagon’s lies and PR on these drone attacks it is proved wrong by independent reporting later.  The fact that my friend was giving me the “don’t ruin my breakfast” look and I love the restaurant and the people that work there (all the waitresses have a crush on me) and did not want to cause a scene caused me to just mumble about assholes under my breath and stifle my desire to educate a clearly ignorant wandering wing nut.

Antiwar.com reports:

Dozens of Civilians, No Militant Leaders Killed in US Drone Strike on Pakistan Funeral

Sources involved in the rescue operation following yesterday’s US attack on a South Waziristan funeral procession reported that at least 35 civilians were among the slain, and that no prominent militant commanders were killed in the strike.

The drone strike, which according to current counts killed at least 80 people, is by far the single deadliest US attack on Pakistani soil since the practice began last year. Pakistani officials expressed muted discontent over the strike.

And the thing is, the US military does not pick these targets.  It is the CIA.  They are not responsible to a chain of command or rules of engagement in these assaults.  They often depend on hearsay evidence or anonymous tips.  They rarely succeed and only then at a price of  huge collateral damage. I hate rah-rah war supporters and simple minded chicken hawks that dream of  ”five hunert pounders” with a gleam in their eye.  I hate the ones that talk dozens of octaves higher than necessary in public to show their patriotism and…I don’t know, support for the carnage we are aiding in over there.

I do like my restaurant.  I do like my friend.  But the next time I hear that fellow cheering the death of my fellow innocent  planet earth inhabiters I think I may…vent.  Not loudly, but vent I will. And tactful I will not be.  Scene or no scene.

And then I am going to end by telling him my friend thinks he is an asshat.