The Dubai Assassination and U.S. Drone Strikes
Funny how no one seriously objects when U.S. Predators carry out similar hits on al-Qaeda operatives but the whole world is in uproar when the Israelis target members of Hamas — an organization that is morally indistinguishable from al-Qaeda. ~Max Boot
By “no one,” Boot naturally means no one in Western governments. Plenty of people object to drone strikes in Pakistan for any number of reasons. Not that anyone cares, but I have been objecting to them for years. These strikes violate Pakistani sovereignty, ignore the stated demands of Pakistani authorities, often cause some civilian casualties, deepen the distrust and alienation of the civilian population in the western regions of Pakistan (and turn more of the Pakistani public against the U.S.), and for all those reasons they tend to be strategically counterproductive. They cause much of the same diplomatic and political damage that the apparent Israeli involvement in Mabhouh’s assassination is causing now. The difference is that the damage is being done in Pakistan instead of in Europe. Pakistan’s government complains, and we ignore it. Major European and Arab governments complain, and Israel cannot simply brush it off. The diplomatic fallout has been amplified because of the passport issue, and because the hit took place on the soil of a relatively friendly, U.S.-allied Arab state.
There is nothing amusing or peculiar about any of this. Our reliance on drone strikes is an error. There are several reasons that there are not more complaints in the Western media about drone strikes in Pakistan. One simple reason is that they are not captured on camera, and there is no ready-made evidence of their effects. Second, they happen in remote regions of Pakistan, which do not hold much interest for Western audiences. Third, Al Qaeda is pretty much universally reviled in the West, so no one cares how or why their members are killed.
As atrocious and appalling as their past and present conduct is, Hamas still retains in much of the non-American West some minimal legitimacy as a major faction in Palestinian politics. Hamas and Al Qaeda may be morally indistinguishable, but politically they have very different standings in the eyes of many other states. Israel’s major regional ally Turkey has a ruling party that is somewhat sympathetic to Hamas, while it is resolutely hostile to Al Qaeda and its affiliates. These are rather obvious political distinctions that Boot ought to understand, and the Israeli government must also understand these things. It is pointless to pretend that these distinctions don’t exist and to complain that the different reactions to drone strikes and the Dubai assassination prove a double standard. Whether or not there should be a double standard, Israel’s government has to take for granted that there is one. If Israel’s patron and the global superpower can get away with something, however misguided it may be, it does not always follow that it can act with the same impunity.
Israel’s government had to know the deteriorating international position it was in. After Lebanon and Gaza, and after the numerous spats with its own allies over the last year, Netanyahu’s government could not have been unaware of the political consequences that would follow this action. As Ronen Bergman said, either Netanyahu was not consulted in making the decision, which is hard to believe, or he miscalculated in going ahead. To order the assassination under the present circumstances showed at best poor judgment, and at worst a reckless disregard for the strategic interests of Israel.
Reliable “pro-Israel” advocates cannot seem to grasp this, but almost all Western objections to this action have nothing to do with any sympathy for Mabhouh or his cause. Just as objections to drone strikes in Pakistan have nothing to do with sympathy for Al Qaeda or opposition to U.S. objectives in the region, Western protests over the manner in which Israel fights it enemies is almost always motivated by an interest in keeping Israel from making counterproductive blunders that empower its enemies and isolate it from those states that would otherwise be willing to support Israel. There is probably no better ally of genuine anti-Israel sentiment than the reflexive apologists for every mistake and crime the Israeli government commits. As the old proverb goes, “The yes-man is your enemy, but your friend will argue with you.”
17 Responses to “The Dubai Assassination and U.S. Drone Strikes”
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Excellent post (as always). I don’t drop in much to make comments, as I mostly follow you through an RSS reader, but I just want to thank you again and ask you to keep it up.
Greenwald is usually excellent at highlighting the evil of the drone attacks, as well. So you’re not entirely alone, Daniel.
Larison makes some good points, but I think he makes the same mistake here as usual on Israel’s international standing: he puts too much emphasis on transitory events like this as opposed to the sea-change in the West itself since the 1970s. Yes, this little escapade was (contra Boot) an embarrassment to Israel, as was the botched attempt in Jordan in the 1990s, but what are/were the long-lasting effects? Where are all the erstwhile supporters of Israel who turned into enemies as a result of events like this?
The “double standard” (actually a single standard, when you look below the surface) exists, as Larison says. But the Israeli government is well aware of that fact and tries to act accordingly public relations-wise, although it often screws up. There will be no serious lasting consequences for Israel as a result of this scandal. Netanyahu’s decision may have been ill-advised, but it’s not a danger to “the strategic interests of Israel”. Max Boot is one of the most tendentious defenders of Israel around, but he’s right that Israel can’t use the “double standard” as a veto on actions that will piss off the Western world.
Larison’s explanation for the “double standard” on Dubai and Pakistan may be right, but it doesn’t explain other instances of the “double standard” – for example during the Iraq War, when American methods were way more reckless and brutal than anything Israel did in Gaza or the West Bank.
There is a difference:
The Israelis regard Arabs as vermin, a corollary to the view that Israel is entitled to steal everything from them–their land, their water, their homes, and their livelihood.
The Americans think they are helping benighted, if somewhat inferior, human beings, who will remain after being suitably liberated and enlightened, at which time the Americans will go home and ship them Bibles and hamburgers.
Still, Yankee ingenuity has managed to create four million Iraqi refugees in 7 years, for their own good, of course. It has taken the Israelis a lot longer. The dispossession of the Palestinians will be completed during the next war, to be provoked by an aerial assault on Iran.
Very well said.
I think the last sentence of this post should be the title of the post. I also think it should make its way into the discourse on Israel as much as possible.
Your personality is so very different from that of Andrew Sullivan. (Which is good!) If you were he, you would make “The yes-man is your enemy, but your friend will argue with you, Ctd.” the title of every post on Israel and its American yes-men for the next month or so.
Maybe he’ll read this post and do it anyway.
In the topsey turvey world of our Bureaucracies at War, drones are a good thing which only a drone could love. Their most immediate effect is to dehumanize user and victim(s) alike. They make a mockery of martial virtue. Their most lasting effect is to insure that for 200 miles around all the best people will hate you with invincible hate and forthwith set out to kill you. All in all, not bad for a days work in the cones of silence down Washington way.
As for Dubai, all I can say is that Clouseau lives. Johnny Roselli and his wonderful exploding cigars rehabilated after a mere 50 years! Who would have thunk it.
I wasn’t kidding when on Saturday I said I enjoy your column very much. You really should have posted my comments though.
Thanks to everyone for the comments.
Mike W: I’m not sure what you mean. Did you try to comment on my column at The Week, or did you try to submit a comment here? I don’t moderate the comments on my columns at The Week, so I do not control what does or does not get posted. If you submitted a comment here and it did not appear, I must have accidentally and mistakenly erased it when deleting spam. My apologies for any inconvenience.
One other point is that a predator drone doesn’t involve fraud or subversion.
The assassins apparently used cloned passports from Israeli dual-citizens – from Brittan, France, etc. and one can wonder what ideas others might get.
Apparently Israel used New Zealand (finding disabled people, and getting passports for them but with Mossad pics) for a while and there was a big row which was mostly censored here.
Pakistan and Yemen might worry about their airspace, but there are a lot of people with Passports from the EU going into Dubai, or New York for that matter.
Although most is “security theatre”, consider that today there is no integrity in the passport from Brittan – it might be the person, or it might be an assassin, or terrorist.
Israel has blown up its enemies before (I forgot which religious leader in Lebanon – he was disabled). But it hasn’t crossed some lines.
Maybe this will end dual-citizenship.
I’m with you on this post, just some minor details to point out:
“These strikes violate Pakistani sovereignty, ignore the stated demands of Pakistani authorities” Regular joes like us really don’t know what the Pakistanis think privately about the strikes, it’s possible that they allow them or even favor them. There have been reports that there are Blackwater, CIA and/or JSOC personnel in Pakistan and possibly even a drone launch site within Pakistan. Like so much of internal Pakistani discussion/action, we just don’t know.
“Major European and Arab governments complain, and Israel cannot simply brush it off.” Admittedly, Israel will take PR actions to appear to not brush it off, but in truth, that’s what they will do, and the matter will go away with weeks.
“Al Qaeda is pretty much universally reviled in the West, so no one cares how or why their members are killed.” While true, drone strikes in Pakistan have killed how many Taliban (Af and Pak) and how many al-Qaeda? Again, hard to know exactly, but I don’t remember any Obama era al-Qaeda kills. I don’t think the public record shows very many at all since we started drone attacks in Pakistan.
“Israel’s government had to know the deteriorating international position it was in.” Only the US opinion has any real bearing on Israeli actions, and its position in the US is untouched by this incident.
“To order the assassination under the present circumstances showed at best poor judgment, and at worst a reckless disregard for the strategic interests of Israel.” Netanyahu’s settlement policy could be described exactly the same way, but that won’t stop him from his recklessness.
Daniel, I find your drone aversion puzzling. The drones are simply a delivery system for ordinance. Pakistan protests while winking and nodding. I’ve read accounts stating that at least some drone attacks are planned and monitored by CIA teams within Pakistan itself. I think they are accurate. This reminds me of the bombing of Cambodia, when Prince Sihanouk was at the UN not protesting.
When you fight people who live tribal, communal lives, you cannot avoid killing their relatives and other non-combatants. I’m sure that by now, even the dumbest locals in FATA know that if they invite Mullah Omar over for dinner they may get a missile for desert. Putting aside the wisdom of our being in Afghanistan, the legitimacy of attacking enemies across lawless borders is well established. We pursued Apaches and Poncho Villa into Mexico when Mexico could not control it’s own international boundary. And in some cases we did so with Mexican acquiescence.
The difference between our drone strikes and Israel’s extra judicial killings is that we think we are in a war with a discreet organization for limited purposes. Israel is just following its ancient custom of killing the leadership of the Palestinians while grabbing their land. Israelis and Palestinians are just two semitic tribes fighting over turf and the Israelis have the upper hand. We on the other hand are in the Middle East out of pure stupidity.
“This reminds me of the bombing of Cambodia, when Prince Sihanouk was at the UN not protesting.”
Regardless of the actual merits of our drone strategy, I’m a bit skeptical of attempts to justify it by referring to our bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The bombing was not a military success (at least, according to accounts I’ve read), killed many civilians, and to the extent that it helped the Khmer Rouge come to power, was a disaster for Cambodia.
Ratufa: “Regardless of the actual merits of our drone strategy, I’m a bit skeptical of attempts to justify it by referring to our bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The bombing was not a military success (at least, according to accounts I’ve read), killed many civilians, and to the extent that it helped the Khmer Rouge come to power, was a disaster for Cambodia.”
It is amazing what right-wingers will come up with for justification, but in this case I can see the reasoning. Trashing Cambodia to the point where something like the Khmer Rouge could come to power and wreck evil is something that the US right has been using for the past 30 years. Quite dishonestly, of course, blaming liberals for the Khmer Rouge, but quite successfully.
I suspected that when I used that example, (Cambodia) it might unleash the ghosts of Vietnam. My allusion was to the fact that Prince Sihanouk had little to say about our bombing of his country when it suited him. The Pakistanis are quite content with our killing of al-Qaeda troublemakers while making a show of resenting our drone attacks. I suppose they really do resent them but in the end, they benefit. I have no interest in taking this thread away from the topic at hand.
At the risk of historical pedantry, it’s interesting how much this situation resembles the US – Mexican border situation during the 1880′s. The Mexicans deeply resented our desire to chase the Apaches into their territory but acquiesced because the Apaches were more damaging to them than us. There are parallels between the fight against al-Qaeda and the Indian wars, including litigation over indefinite detention and of course, military tribunals.
Some comments on the comments:
1. I doubt that Grumpy Old Man actually believes what he wrote (“The Israelis regard Arabs as vermin”). Probably he’s just blowing off steam, as grumpy old men are wont to do. Lest anyone takes him seriously, though, let’s note that the evidence is against his claim – both public opinion surveys and anecdotal evidence. A significant minority of Israeli Jews do hate Arabs (as a group, not necessarily individually). I’d actually expect much more hatred than that in a war that’s been going on for a century. Even so, my impression is that even most Jews who do hate Arabs also respect them as human beings, and certainly don’t think of them as “vermin”.
2. For probably the first and perhaps the last time, I’m in agreement with Norwegian Shooter.
3. While I accept Gordianus’ statement that Israel is grabbing “Palestinian land”, the rest of the truth is that Israel has been withdrawing from big areas of “Palestinian land” as well, most notably from Gaza a couple years ago. That included withdrawing from “Palestinian” land which had been settled by Jews under the Palestine Mandate, which mandated “close settlement by Jews on the land”. So a more precise formulation would be that Israel is both grabbing and releasing Palestinian land.
4. As always I really respect Larison’s reality-based approach, even when I disagree with him. It’s a refreshing break from the paranoid style common at many right-wing websites, including this one.
Aaron – hey thanks buddy.
@Aaron (1):
No doubt blowing off steam, and no public opinion surveys to cite, but I googled -Israel Arabs vermin– and came up with quite a few sites that suggest how widespread this sort of thing really is among Israelis:
http://www.israeluniverse.com/headlines-jan04.html
http://www.mombu.com/politics/iraq-war/t-israel-bombs-syrian-terrorist-vermin-sites-respect-right-wing-4105295.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Forum/Forum.aspx/t109391
Then there’s “drugged roaches” in a bottle:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rafael-eitan-534569.html