Rep Peter King Quintessential American Politician

Where does his world end and the real one begin?

GOP Rep Says U.S. Drone Program Is One Of ‘Righteousness And Goodness’

By Nina Liss-Schultz
June 11, 2012

Despite the cloud of secrecy in which the United States’ drone program is shrouded, U.S. officials continue to maintain that drone strikes are an essential and beneficial part of U.S. counterterrorism strategy. But questions have been raised about the drone program, particularly related civilian casualties, potential blowback and the relative ease with which to deploy a drone versus a piloted aircraft.

But House Homeland Security Committee chairman Peter King (R-NY), in a CNN interview on Sunday, said he’s “not concerned” about the program’s negative fallout, particularly civilian casualties, adding that the U.S. drone policy is one “righteousness and goodness“:

KING: I’m not concerned [with the casualty rate]. My belief is that when you are in a war — and we are in a war — the idea is to kill as many of the enemy as you can with minimal risk of life to your own people.

…I wish we could all live in a world where we could hold hands and love each other. The fact is, that’s not reality. We have an enemy that wants to kill us. I live in New York. I lost 150 constituents on 9/11, and if we can save the next 150 by killing al Qaeda terrorists with drones then kill them.

There’s evil people in the world. Drones aren’t evil, people are evil. We are a force of good and we are using those drones to carry out the policy of righteousness and goodness. ICH