First Flower

in Yemen today
first flower blossoming
Ah! that sweet smell

Just kidding of course — this year we have been droning, meaning bombing Yemen since the beginning of January…those beautiful explosions…

Why do we send drones that massacre people? Because we can. Because our droners grew up watching Macgyver. Because our ethos, our very existence as a society needs an enemy in order to function. Because it is amazingly lucrative for the military-industrial complex. Because we are paranoid. Because it affords great conversation at barbecues and parties;

“what do you do?”

“I drone.”

It has always been this way, of course. In the 1960s–1970s the United States unleashed a secret carpet bombing campaign on Laos for nearly a decade, dropping 260 million cluster bombs - the most heavily bombed country in history, with more than 2.5 million tons of munitions during 580,000 bombing missions - equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years - more than all bombing by all belligerents in World War II, or 210 million more bombs than were dropped on Iraq in 1991, 1998 and 2006 combined.

Of 75 million bombs that failed to detonate, less than 1 percent have been cleared, and 25,000 people have been killed or injured by these bombs in the 35 years following the end of the bombing campaign. Today, an average of 300 people are injured or killed every year by these weapons, about half of them children, and most of the rest working men.

The economy is almost entirely agricultural (rice, in particular) yet one-third of the land remains littered with unexploded bombs.

Between 1996 and 2012, the U.S. contributed on average $2.6M per year to a general United Nations unexploded bomb clean-up program; the U.S. spent $17M per day for nine years bombing the country. The U.S. spent as much in three days bombing of the country ($51M) as it spent for the clean up over 16 years ($51M).

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, so far in 2015, reported US drone strikes: 53. Total reported killed: 35–44.

Here’s documented details of one of the strikes:

AFG005
January 16 2015
♦ 3 reported killed
♦ 1 civilian reported killed
Possible US drone strike

The Nazyan district police said in a statement that three people were reportedly killed in a US drone strike. Anonymous provincial officials told Press TV that a young boy was killed in the strike as he watched his herd of sheep.

Type of operation: Air operation — possible US drone strike
Location: Nazyan district, Nangarhar province

Droner’s rap