The US Drone War Is Still Alive

Though it's not in the headlines at the moment, the U.S. drone war is alive, with targeted killing in the president's arsenal. While it appears (and that's an accurate term when considering a secret program) that U.S. strikes have slowed in Pakistan, last year there were more strikes and deaths in Yemen by the U.S. than any previous year.

As hundreds of people organize protests for the Spring 2014 Days of Action to Stop Drone War & Surveillance, we share the work of novelist Teju Cole. These appeared last year as seven Tweets:

Seven short stories about drones
By Teju Cole (@tejucole)

1. Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Pity. A signature strike leveled the florist’s.

2. Call me Ishmael. I was a young man of military age. I was immolated at my wedding. My parents are inconsolable.

3. Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather. A bomb whistled in. Blood on the walls. Fire from heaven.

4. I am an invisible man. My name is unknown. My loves are a mystery. But an unmanned aerial vehicle from a secret location has come for me.

5. Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was killed by a Predator drone.

6. Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His torso was found, not his head.

7. Mother died today. The program saves American lives.

The last Tweet of the series: Everything we know so far about drone strikes:Everything We Know So Far About Drone Strikes