Lockheed Martin - $1.15 a share dividend for killing kids

Reports are emanating out of Pakistan, for example, of civilians
living under the perpetual threat of the drones, of people being
driven insane by the fear that their families will be killed by their
dreadful Hellfire missiles, and, when they are, of not even being able
to identify them from what remains of their body parts. In these
communities, people are afraid to shop, to go to work, drive their
cars, and to send their children to school or outdoors to play. They
are afraid to go to mosques or gather anywhere for public meetings,
which have been repeatedly struck. And they do not rush to the aid of
the surviving wounded in need of medical care lest they be stricken in
the act by a follow-up drone strike. Their communities have been
brazenly converted into war zones by Mr. Obama, whose self-authorized
attacks reportedly have killed more than a hundred children even as he
takes care to provide armed guards to protect his own two daughters.
And while the president brazenly lies that his attacks are only
killing terrorists, in point of fact the follow-up attacks against
first responders cannot possibly be confined to terrorists. Killing
innocent people without judge or jury who have not been convicted of
any crime is murder, pure and simple. These actions surely fit the
Webster definition of fascism as it relates to “nationalism” and
“militarism.”

The only honorable course for dealing with this tyrant is impeachment
and trial for murder. His knowing accomplices in the Pentagon, CIA,
and the Congress need to be prosecuted with him. Such prosecution
might also extend to the officials of  Lockheed Martin Corp.,  of
Bethesda, Md., manufacturers in Orlando, Fla., of the Hellfire
missile. This war-enabling corporation blandly identifies itself as “a
global security and aerospace company” involved in “advanced
technology systems, products, and services.” Its Board of Directors
authorized a first quarter 2013 dividend of $1.15 per share,
suggesting that business is good. Meanwhile, survivors of many cities
in Pakistan are mourning the loss of their family members and friends.
Survivors must also live with mutilated and incapacitated loved ones,
including children maimed for life. They are also mourning the loss of
 homes, businesses, incomes, education, and sanity swept away by the
Hellfire strikes. This is nothing less than the mass torture of large
civilian populations, as deplorable as anything experienced by
Londoners during the World War Two Nazi blitz, and a very crime
against humanity as well. As the UK Guardian newspaper reported last
June 21st, the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Christof
Heyns, says the drone killings “challenge the system of international
law that has endured since the Second World War.”

Sherwood Ross


(Sherwood Ross is the author of “Gruening of Alaska”(Best Books) and
numerous magazine articles and blogs on political subjects. To support
his Anti-War News Service or comment reach him at
sherwoodross10@gmail.com)