Guardian letter highlighting the brutality of the Islamic State – and US and UK foreign policy

Here is my letter responding to the recent Guardian report that noted the video showing the burning alive of a prisoner shows “a level of brutality shocking even by the standards” of Islamic State:

If the video of a prisoner being burned to death displays “a level of brutality shocking even by the standards” of Islamic State, how should we describe the actions of the US and UK around the world? According to a 2012 joint report from the NYU and Stanford University law schools on US drone strikes in Pakistan, “the missiles fired from drones kill or injure in several ways, including through incineration”. Similarly barbaric, in 2008 the Sunday Times reported British forces were using Hellfire missiles in Afghanistan, creating “a pressure wave which sucks the air out of victims, shreds their internal organs and crushes their bodies”.

Link to Guardian letters page