Did we just kill a kid?

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by TOM McNAMARA
Rennes, France.
In the spring of 1944, in the quiet little town of Alcolu, South Carolina, two young girls, Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 8, were brutally murdered while picking flowers along a railroad track. Their bodies were found in a nearby water filled ditch. The cause of death was determined to be multiple blows to their skulls with a metal railroad spike. A Mr. George Stinney was soon arrested for the murders. While there was no physical evidence or eyewitness accounts linking the defendant to the crime, unfortunately for Mr. Stinney, the two girls were white. He was black.
Two white police officers were able to get a confession out of Mr. Stinney within an hour, behind closed doors. It was the only evidence offered up during his trial, a trial that was held in one day and lasted only two and a half hours. It was attended by 1,500 people, all of them white. Blacks were not allowed in the courtroom. Mr. Stinney, his family having been driven from their small town, faced the trial alone. Council for the defense offered no evidence on its client’s behalf, and it requested no psychiatric evaluation of the defendant. A guilty verdict was reached after only 10 minutes of deliberation by the (all white male) jury. No recommendation for mercy was given. Had Mr. Stinney’s lawyer filed a simple one sentence appeal, the execution would have been automatically stayed for at least a year. But this was impossible due to the fact that Mr. Stinney did not see his attorney again from the time he left the court. Furthermore, his attorney never spoke to any members of the defendant’s family, let alone inform them that they had the right to appeal the death sentence. Just 81 days after his arrest, on June 16, 1944, Mr. Stinney would walk into the execution chamber.
There is one more tragic element to this already tragic story. Mr. George Junius Stinney Jr. was just 14 years old when he was put to death. He was the youngest person (legally) executed in the United States in the 20th century.
Being small for his age, weighing just 95 pounds (approximately 43 kilograms) and only five feet one inch tall (approximately 1.5 meters), it was with great difficulty that the death sentenced was carried out. But carried out it was. His small body was propped up with books in order to get him to fit properly in the electric chair (the original designers having carelessly overlooked the fact that one day their device might be used to execute a small child), allowing for an electrode to be attached to his right leg.
One commentator reported that George said nothing as the mask was lowered over his face. But after the first 2,400 volts passed through the boy’s small body “the death mask slipped from his face and his eyes were open when two additional shots of 1,200 and 500 volts followed.” George’s head “went up and the mask came of his face … and saliva and all was coming out of his mouth and tears from his eyes.”
The Governor, Olin Johnson, had received hundreds of letters and telegrams asking for leniency for the young boy. But facing a primary election in July, the Governor was not inclined to grant clemency. One telegram compared the execution of a child to something that Adolf Hitler would do. A stinging and bitter accusation considering that American troops had just landed on the beaches of Normandy ten days earlier in the D-Day invasion to liberate France from Nazi occupation and terror. On that one day alone, 9,000 Allied soldiers would die or be wounded fighting the Germans.
It can be argued that the execution of a 14 year old child was a social aberration from a bygone era. A simple anomaly. An isolated case that “fell through the cracks.” A repulsive event from a period when America was still suffering from racial and social ignorance. Surely, as a society, the United States has progressed far beyond the days of when it tolerated the State sanctioned execution of children, has it not?
Two pilots are sitting in an air-conditioned windowless room in New Mexico. Before them sit an array of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. 6,250 miles away (about 10,000 kilometers) they are controlling a Predator drone that is circling lazily in a figure eight pattern over Afghanistan. They are observing a crude house made of mud when the order is given to launch a laser guided Hellfire missile at the target. With just seconds to go till impact, a small child walks out from behind one of the corners of the structure. A flash on the control screen confirms the impact and explosion, with parts of the structure collapsing and the child disappearing.
“Did we just kill a kid?” the co-pilot asks the pilot.
“Yeah, I guess that was a kid,” the pilot replies.
Confirmation as to whether or not a missile strike had just been carried out on a child was requested. “No. That was a dog,” comes the anonymous response from a military command center.
The pilots review the video of the drone strike that had just taken place.
A dog on two legs?
One of the pilots is no longer in the Air Force, declining to renew his enlistment contract when it was up. After 6,000 flight hours and six years of military service he says “I saw men, women and children die during that time. I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn’t kill anyone at all.” He has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by doctors with the Veterans’ Administration.
While the above incident could be deemed an “accident,” apparently the targeted murder of children is now accepted US military policy.
Lt. Col. Marion “Ced” Carrington, Commander of 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, states, “It kind of opens our aperture. In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent” as well. While the Lt. Col would not elaborate on what exactly are the rules of engagement when encountering potential child combatants, reassuringly he tells us that he advises the soldiers serving under him to use “courageous restraint.”
Apparently this “courageous restraint” was lacking on October 14, 2012, when US Marines operating in Helmand province requested, and got clearance for, an airstrike on “shadowy figures” thought to be in the process of setting up an improvised explosive device (IED). The assailants killed in the strike turned out to be three children who were 12, 10 and 8 years old.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a part of NATO and the organization that is nominally in command of the war (the reality being, of course, that it is a US led affair), said that it may have “accidentally killed three innocent Afghan civilians.” Family members of the victims reported that the children were sent to gather dung, which is used for fuel.
America’s first war in Iraq and its associated sanctions are believed to have resulted in the deaths of over half a million children. America’s second war in Iraq is believed to have resulted in the deaths of over 600,000 Iraqis (most of them between the ages of 15 and 44). America’s targeted drone attacks in the Tribal Regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have reportedly killed between 474 and 881 civilians, including 176 children
If these were the actions of China, Russia, Iran, or any other country on Earth, we would be able to see them clearly for what they are. War crimes and crimes against humanity of the highest order. We would also realize that they are the actions of a society that is in moral decline.
Why it is impossible for the vast majority of Americans to see this is incomprehensible.

That's truly unfortunate if a kid died for no reason, however, there are details you will probably never know. The parents could have been on the other side of the building loading a RPG to take down a helo full of evacuating soldiers. We are fighting cowards over there. They hide in bushes, shoot and run, hide behind children. Go spend some time on youtube and watch military helmet cams and try to get as close as you ever will to what is actually going on. Many of our soldiers have died waiting for orders to open fire just so they can confirm that stuff like this isn't going to happen.

I think I asked you this before, but have you ever served your country in any way? Any humanitarian aide? Have you ever even donated to a charity? Or do you just sit back and judge from a chair with your Westboro Baptist T-Shirt on spilling feces from your mouth like it's a fondue machine?

We would also realize that they are the actions of a society that is in moral decline.

Our society is in moral decline because we have more takers than givers. People who take their freedoms for granted while not having to do a damn thing to earn it.

Our society is in moral decline because of people like you. People that feel they can push their ignorant, un-informed opinions on people while being completely intolerant of the opinions and freedoms of others. The problem here is you Tommy.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ght=austrailia

Yet another fumbling attempt to label me and put me in a controllable box
(we can do a short history of postings directly involving name calling and other assorted forms of slander if you wish,of which none has ever come from my side)
Several people here on Fauna(the ones still left) know me,been in my house
been in my world for many,many years.I have many very cool and unique animals here that have never gone public or discussed in such formats
On their worst day,I seriously doubt one could come to such final assessments likened to those levied here.
My civic and humanitarian duties,activities and investments are my business.
They are highly selective and diligently tended.
I stand accountable to nobody,fictitious assumptions be damned
Its my world to choose what cards are played and what strings are pulled
Social media acceptance I think for myself and agree to hold my beliefs
on my views of the world I live in,come to my world and see first hand
how a true Native American lives in the fluffy world of the governmental white man.I hold no position to be "right" or "win" anything,your next and or final breath is the very least of my concerns(be very clear on that)

I fear no man,the human species does not scare me
I fear no impending doom for mankind,be it physical,intellectual or governmental.

Originally Posted by Focal

I think I asked you this before, but have you ever served your country in any way? Any humanitarian aide? Have you ever even donated to a charity? Or do you just sit back and judge from a chair with your Westboro Baptist T-Shirt on spilling feces from your mouth like it's a fondue machine?

Our society is in moral decline because we have more takers than givers. People who take their freedoms for granted while not having to do a damn thing to earn it.

Our society is in moral decline because of people like you. People that feel they can push their ignorant, un-informed opinions on people while being completely intolerant of the opinions and freedoms of others. The problem here is you Tommy.

Warning: That's enough of the personal attacks on this site, fella. If that is what you want to engage in, then this is not the site for you. I personally don't give a damn what you think about another member. If you don't like what he writes, don't read it. But this personally derogatory crap WILL stop, one way or another.

You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We'd all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We'd all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright

You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We'd all want to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you'll have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright

You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We'd all love to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
Alright

Revolution by the Beatles. What's my prize?

I've had some time to sit and think about my actions and I apologize. This is not the atmosphere for this type of language nor should readers have to see this behavior. I wouldn't allow this in my own home and I have no clue what I was thinking.

Good day.