Are you for real? Would you rather send your son or daughter over there to do the same thing a drone can do from a safe location? Maybe we should send them a telegram telling them not to be so mean ! We have the technology USE IT! Bring all our troops home NOW! Get a grip . Maybe we should tear down all those surveilance cameras and dashboard cams that protect our police also . Your living in a perfect world that doesn't exist ! Sorry Doc, stick with doctor stuff Your way out of line here.

I commend Dr. Fenichel for his letter. These killings of innocents by the drones are the best tool in recruiting terrorists. For every terrorist killed, many innocent victims lose their lives too. It is not only morally wrong, it is not a good stategic move. I am surprised that Obama is finding this action acceptable. Power corrupts.

Steve - I wonder if you think terrorism poses a threat to American. If you do, then do you think we should address it? And, if you do, then how?

Perhaps you think that it is sufficient to change the cultural factors that contribute to terrorism. America is trying that and it is not sufficient, at least not if we want to eliminate or neutralize terrorism as soon as possible.

Another alternative is conventional fighting. That seems to be utterly inefficient if not counter-productive.

It is dificult to get at the basis for the conclusions presented in your essay. There's a lot of critical info missing. Perhaps your message would be more effective if you provided that info in the scarce space permitted by the editor rather than the inflamatory and hyperbolic rhetoric that suffuses it.

For example, why not tell the reader whether you think terrorism is a problem and how we should handle it if it is a problem rather than devoting so much precious verbage to accusing the president of being more monsterous than the Newtown mass-murderer?

For what it is worth, I think terrorism is horrible and that the most cost-effective way to eliminate or control it is a combination good intelligence, special ops missions, and drone surveillance and attacks. I think everyone wants there to be no innocents killed and I hope that government is keeping it to a minimum. I understand that it is easy for me to take that position in the abstract, but how else to do it?

Killing the innocent is not an effective way of countering anything, much less terrorism. The right was thumping its chest over Obama's seeming apology for American foreign policy. I think we should have apologized. We were the aggressors in Iraq ... started a war there (under false pretenses no less) and invaded a sovereign country. And really the use of drones is much the same thing. Drone strikes are taking place in sovereign countries. They're killing civilians too. How many Iraqi civilians were killed as a result of our aggression? How many innocents did we kill and maim to take down one man? The same is true for countering terrorism. The way to kill a snake is to strike the head.

I can see this from both sides. There are no ideal solutions for countering terrorism. But we cannot become what we are fighting. We are raining terror down on the innocents as well with these drone strikes. We got Bin Laden thru counter intelligence and a Navy Seal strike. It took time but collateral damage was limited. Take out the bad guys. But don’t spill the blood of innocents.

Obama has a clearer world view than his predecessors. Instead of being the neighborhood bully he has been seeking consensus with other nations. Terrorism is a problem for Middle East nations as well and we need to work together to find a solution. Otherwise we will be preceived as an aggressor.

It’s a small world we live in after all.

Eric - You say "Take out the bad guys. But don’t spill the blood of innocents." How you gonna do that? And, assuming your solution would be effective (and it would necessarily be novel), then what do we do about terrorists until your solution is implemented?

International law and US law that require judicial due process. These laws are based on the idea that there is no person, group or nation with a superior right to determine guilt and innocence and to pass sentence.

So then Nick - What do we do about terrorism - a clear and present danger?

Nick -

First - You waste a lot of word on innane pedantry.
Next - So our terrorism/terrrorist policy should be let the host country take care of it and if they do not then that's it? (" Governments have police and the responsibility needs to be put on these police. If these governments do not want to take action, what right do we have to do so? And, further, do we really understand what is going on in these places.") I think that policy led to 9-11. And do I really have to make another obvious counter-point that some host countries support terrorist organizations with whom they share a common enemy so will not eliminate thatl group by way of "police action" or any other?

It is a "miracle" how Mr. Lavner's thoughts have morphed into the mysterious DocJoe's.

Both the "doc" and Mr. Hide demand an explanation for the horror of 911. In an attempt to satisfy (the unsatisfiable), Bin La den's pre 911 demand that America remove her military bases in his country, Saudi Arabia, or face the consequences.
This was a non-starter for the US government. King Faisal, though a tyrant to his own people was "our" tyrant and had to be protected by the US in the service of oil interests.

Bin La den's threat came to reality. Now post 911 Drone remote killings have become as American as Apple Pie.

Over 75 countries including China and Iran possess Drone technology. Will the same laws the US uses to justify its extrajudicial murders apply if these countries follow our lead?

What might be a solution for the increasing world madness of murder?
The International Court of Justice at the Hague has put on trial some world class tyrants.
From Serbia to Liberia perps have faced charges of Human Rights abuses. Many of these "leaders" were brought to justice by the US government.

The only way to give accountability to American officials who feel it is their God given right to kill with Drones is for the American people to demand that the USA abide by the International World Court and American politicians be held accountable. US Drone extrajudicial killings, I believe, would end immediately.
Steven Fenichel, MD

Steve - More of the same and no response to the questions I pose. You chose instead to re-create my response using noting in it (re: "what caused 9/11").

You can re-read my response or rely on this here: I'll rephrase, more succinctly - Is terroism a problem for america and if so then how do we solve, or at least effectively contain, it?

You are not obligated to respond (you have already reacted - and to something entirely different, but not responded).

DocJoe - I'm at a loss to decipher Steve's comment. Nonetheless, how is Steve's version of the cause for 9/11 relevant to this issue? More puzzling - if his version is correct, is he saying that this justifies the attack? Does our refusal to accomodate Al Queada's demands justify crashing planes into buildings on US soil killing more than 3,000 innocents but Al Quaeda doing that to us does not justify us using drones to kill terrorists (and unintended - not intended like 9/11 - innocents) who did this and whose entire reason for living is to kill more innocent americans?

Link below is to a C-Span lecture by Medea Benjamin who is one of the most knowledgeable people concerning Drones. Anyone watching it will fully understand the issue and the dangers of ignorance in this matter.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/307210-1
Steven Fenichel, MD

Steve still will not answer the questions.

"Even Senator on Intel Committee Can't Get Details on Obama (Drone) kill list".

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/15-4

Scathing NY Times editorial on Drone killings by Mr. Obama:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/opinion/who-says-you-can-kill-americans-mr-president.html?_r=1&;

from the editorial page of The Press.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/commentary/michael-kinsley-public-deserves-an-explanation-of-drone-killings/article_b58f83e3-ae0c-57ef-b81e-24bd2db573cb.html#.UPjo3hSq3SA.email

Steve still not answering questions to fill in the gaping holes in his argument....

Emperor Obama's killing ways challenged:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/opinion/to-kill-an-american.html?_r=0

Cheapening heroism Obama style:

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/politics/pentagon-creates-new-medal-for-cyber-drone-wars/article_418467d3-e60d-52a0-8d36-

Steve continues to take cheap shots, especially cheapened by his refusal to answer questions fundamental to his argument. Nice going Steve - lob verbal bombs and refuse to make the case to justify it. Sound familiar?

What heroism has become in the American Empire:

http://news.yahoo.com/nintendo-medal-military-award-drone-111006056.html
Steven Fenichel, MD

Senator Rand Paul challenging extrajudicial murder by the Obama regime:

http://news.yahoo.com/senator-leads-filibuster-brennan-nomination-cia-head-020410432.html

Rand Paul - Strange bedfellow. Steve - perhaps you should read the entire text of Paul's "filibuster" before promoting it.

Wake Up America Before It's Too Late.. (September 2015 Americans will be in a virtual Drone surveillance lock down unless it's stopped.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-air-force-stops-reporting-data-afghanistan-drone-084024541.html

Is Mr. Obama able to differentiate truth from lies?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34574.htm?utm_source=ICH%3A+Obama+Budget+Slashes+Social+Security&utm_campaign=FIRST&utm_medium=email