OMNI
DRONE/ASSASSINATION NEWSLETTER #
22, March 25, 2018
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
Contents of Drone/Assassination
Newsletter #22
Newspaper Reports on the 188th
ANG USAF Drone Base at Ft. Smith
2016 NADG
Newspaper Report Read by Dick Bennett
2018 New Operations Construction Begins
Organizations Opposed to Drones
Veterans for Peace
Nick
Mottern’s 2 Newsletters
Know
Drones
Drone
Organizers Bulletin
Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare
World Beyond War
The
Nuclear Resister
BOOK
Cohn, Drones
and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues
FILMS
INDIVIDUAL
PROTESTERS: WHISTLEBLOWER
Cian Westmoreland
US Drones Around the World
Somalia
Ramstein
Contents #21
TEXTS
NEWS OF DRONE BASE AT FT SMITH,
ARKANSAS
(see earlier newsletters)
DICK’S ANALYSIS OF REPORT ON REAPERS IN FORT SMITH
Eric Besson.
”Base’s Fighter Pilots
Work in Office. Fort Smith’s Ebbing
Allows Peek at MQ-9 Reaper Mission.” Ark. Democrat-Gazette (Sept. 30, 2016).
The 188th
Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard officially transitioned from fighter
planes to the MQ-9 Reaper drones on August 1, 2016. The planes were the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs
nicknamed the “Warthogs.” The transition
began in January 2015.
The commander of the
188th is Col. Bobbi Doorenbos.
Dick’s comments on
passages of this report. The ADG
is one of the nation’s warrior mainstream media.
“…drones,
missile-carrying aircraft that can surveil and destroy the nation’s
enemies.” Of the 9 nations the US
currently bombs which are our enemies? Why are they our enemies? If rather, they are our political opponents,
what makes it legal or right to bomb them?
“…destroy the nation’s enemies”?
Who designates them as enemies to be killed? Have they been indicted, tried, and
convicted before being sentenced to death.
These are individuals accused of a crime and without any due process are
killed. Doesn’t that sound like murder?
What is
the public reaction to the transition from conventional to unmanned aircraft?
“News of
the transition shocked Fort Smith…some in the community feared the base…would
be diminished or closed….Employment has remained steady.” Is employment the only concern by the people
of Ft. Smith? Or did the reporter simply
fail to ask the right questions?
Here’s a rich subject begging to be followed up, because it gives a
demeaning, mercenary picture of the city.
Col. Doorenbos is reassuring: The
base is filling 148 openings, including “three dozen intelligence analysts and
two dozen Reaper pilots.”
Why are
past missions kept secret?
We are told that this “type of aircraft”
is flown “against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” and in other
countries. “Officials declined to say
where the aircraft controlled from Fort Smith have flown and how many missiles
have been remotely fired from the base since it became operational.” Why is the information secret? How can such information jeopardize the 188th’s
mission or the security of the US?
Why are
the facts of the Reaper attacks undisclosed?
We are told that “Right now we do 24/7
combat missions every day.” And the
reporter Eric Besson quotes from the Air
Force Times (March 2016) the percentage of Reaper flights in all Air force
missions against ISIS. And “according to
the Department of Defense” the total
number of “strikes in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.” But not the statistics for the base that
would assist reporters in assessing the Pentagon data on combatants and
civilians killed, which is not reliable. The facts, the details also might
disturb some Ft. Smith citizens and cause them to start asking questions, like
how many civilians did you kill today?
Maj. Gen. Mark Berry, commander of the
state’s Air and Army National Guard said: the 188th is “flying on a
day-to-day basis. . .in different theaters in the world to provide for the
safety and security of all citizens of the United States.” This conditioning assertion is said a thousand
times a day by the Pentagon and the victims of its propaganda. If the drones were closed down today, how
would the safety and security of the citizens be diminished? We citizens are paying billions not only for
these drones, but for our brains to be numbed and dummed by all the Generals
and all of their subordinates, and the members of Congress, all paid well by
the military industry and the taxpayers, while we bomb 9 countries
lawlessly. Mr. Besson of course doesn’t
ask these questions, because he marches lockstep just as the Lockheed-Martin
and the Secretary of War have trained him to.
Cost of
the aircraft
Drones are cheap compared to fighter
planes, but still exhorbitantly expensive, “an unbelievably profitable
business,” according to the film Drone. Take the new operations center, which would
enable two flights a day. Col. Doorenbos
said it would cost $15.9 million. But of
course that means jobs at Ft. Smith.
Not drones
She does offer some wake-up by insisting
on calling the aircraft “remotely piloted.”
Not drones, not unmanned. Our
pilots fly the Reaper, our pilots drop the bombs. Perhaps a dozen humans are “in the loop for
everything that aircraft does.” And what
it does is gather intelligence and drop missiles on “enemies.” Each Reaper “can carry up to four Hellfire
missiles.” (Look them up on your
computer to see what they can do for hellfire!)
Moral
injury
That means it’s not an easy job, but
rather “challenging for folks,” causing
some pilots and family members to experience PTSD (although the Col. doesn’t
say that). Recognizing the potential
emotional consequences, “Ebbing keeps a full-time chaplain and director of
psychological health on staff and offers support to spouses and families,” Col.
Doorenbos said. Fortunately, the
Hellfire missiles “are known for their precision” and another officer, Col.
Dodroe, said the remotely piloted aircraft are used for surveillance “95% of
the time.” So moral injury is kept to a minimum.
(Look that up too beginning with scruples.)
So what might a perverse critical thinker
conclude from this newspaper report?
One: the Air Force public relations team which named the aircraft Reaper blundered,
if it wished to cover up civilian killings, for the title evokes a reaping
machine that does not discriminate, or the Grim Reaper, Death, often
personified as a shrouded skeleton bearing an also undiscriminating
scythe. Two: secrecy, job anxiety,
fear-mongering, threat propaganda, and the promise of safety and security from
“enemies,” maintain a docile public. Three:
the newspaper is part of the public relations branch of the US Empire.
Building on Guard site
starts
Project to house 3 wing missions
Posted: February 14, 2018 at 1:01
a.m.
·
FORT SMITH -- The Arkansas Air National Guard broke ground
Tuesday on construction of a 40,000-square-foot building that will put all
three of the 188th Wing's major missions under one roof.
In a ceremony at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, the
188th's commander, Col. Robert Kinney, said the $14.2 million building that
will house the wing's remotely piloted aircraft, distributed ground station and
intelligence surveillance reconnaissance missions in one structure is expected to
be completed in 2020.
"Upon completion, this Razorback Operation Center, as
this facility will be known, will be the only facility in the world which will
house all three mission sets," Kinney told the crowd of about 100 military
officials, congressional representatives, community leaders and airmen.
Among those present Tuesday were Arkansas Adjutant General
Maj. Gen. Mark Berry, Arkansas Air Guard Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Joe Wilson,
Col. [Ret.] Steve Eggensperger representing Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Fort Smith
Mayor Sandy Sanders.
Berry said he believed the 188th's missions were important
in maintaining the nation's national security, an asset that will employ many
airmen and guarantee the long-term survival of the Arkansas National Guard.
Combining the three missions under one roof, Kinney said,
will lead to innovations, efficiencies and synergies that will help operators
and analysts collaborate to solve problems in carrying out their missions
around the world.
"This just didn't happen," Sanders said. "It
took a lot of support from the governor's office, the congressional delegation,
and it demonstrates the confidence in the leadership of the 188th."
The 188th's missions are more important today given the
complicated world for the military to navigate. Kinney said the newly released
National Defense Strategy, among other things, refocuses attention on strategic
competitors Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and transnational groups such as
ISIS and al-Qaida.
They will challenge the United States, short of armed
conflict, he said, and blur the lines between civil and military force.
"We here at the 188th are primarily focused day to day
on the counter-insurgency fight," he said. "In parallel, we will
continue to prepare for the strategic fight as the National Defense Strategy
provides."
The 188th took on the new missions after losing its
long-held flying mission in 2014 when the wing's A-10 Thunderbolt IIs,
nicknamed the Warthogs, were reassigned.
Kinney said the wing was put on a tight schedule to
transition to the new missions, completing six years of hiring in six months
and training more than 500 personnel in two years.
The remotely piloted aircraft mission moved into a
5,000-square-foot classified facility where combat missions took place around
the clock. The distributed ground station targeting mission is in a
3,500-square-foot classified space. A renovated 20,000-square-foot operations
space houses the intelligence surveillance reconnaissance group headquarters.
Putting those missions into action was accomplished in
three years, Kinney said.
"We do support combat and command requirements
24/7/365 around the world," Kinney said. "I can't talk about where
those are, but we certainly have that capability."
NW News on 02/14/2018
ORGANIZATION’S OPPOSED TO
DRONES
VETERANS FOR PEACE
MIKE MOTTERN’S TWO NEWSLETTERS
Our mailing address
is:
Nick Mottern
Knowdrones.com is intended to provide basic information about
the use of killer drones and to encourage an international ban on attack
drones.
The Drone Organizers Bulletin is intended
to provide anti-drone war organizers with breaking developments and analysis
with respect to the U.S. drone war and actions by organizers in the U.S. and
other parts of the world to stop drone attacks and win an international ban on
attack drones.
KNOW DRONES
https://www.knowdrones.com/
You may be coming to
this website not knowing much about drone war. Or you may
be a drone operator and know a great deal. Whatever your knowledge or experience, we
hope that what you find here will help you understand that drone war – intensive, long-term aerial surveillance and killing
by the military or police - is ...
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Who We Are. ... also
written about the financiers of the U.S. drone ...
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In the face of the
blackout in the Presidential campaigns of any ...
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About; Our Mission ·
What We Do · Who We Are. KnowDrones ...
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A stark example is
the drone killing in Afghanistan in April 2011of ...
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WHAT YOU CAN DO. 1.
Contact your U.S. senator and member ...
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DRONE WAR BASICS.
... This is a gross underestimate of U.S ...
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DRONE ORGANIZERS BULLETIN
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DRONE ORGANIZERS
BULLETIN – SPECIAL – September 26, 2017
Nick Mottern 9-27-17 via mail74.atl11.rsgsv.net
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9:46 PM (13 hours ago)
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PLEASE PROTEST THE AFGHANISTAN WAR AND DRONE
WAR OCT. 2 – 8.
October 7, 2017 is the 16th anniversary of the first U.S. drone
attack ever, occurring in Afghanistan and coming one day after the
U.S. invasion of that country. [Continue reading...]
7 ARRESTED AT HANCOCK “RICH MAN’S WAR; POOR PEOPLES’ BLOOD”
PROTEST
Here is a press release announcing a very original protest, and
attendant arrests, at Hancock Air National Guard base on September
25, 2017: [Continue reading...]
GERMAN PRESS IGNORES MASSIVE ANTI-DRONE WAR PROTEST; ITALIANS MOBILIZING
Elsa Rassbach, CODEPINK Germany, reports that a former editor of the
leading German television prime time news program has filed a public
complaint against the broadcaster ARD for deliberate “concealment” of
a important news story: [Continue reading...]
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DRONE ORGANIZERS BULLETIN – SPECIAL – October
3, 2017
Nick Mottern via gmail.mcsv.net
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10-4-17
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9:08 PM (13 hours ago)
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CODEPINK DRONE
RESISTANCE WEEK at Creech Air Force Base
This is part of an international unified protest,
calling for Global Action Against (Foreign) Military Bases and US
Global Militarization in the month of October, called "It’s Time
to Resist.” This is the first annual global day of action, to build a
unified front against US foreign military bases and military aggression
around the world. 95% of all the world’s foreign base are U.S. bases.
Activists from countries in Italy, Germany, Afghanistan, the
Philippines, and elsewhere will be participating in this months unified
call to action in their own countries to protest the global military
expansion of U.S. bases on their soil, against the will of the local
people and in violation of their sovereign rights. October
7th is the focal point to draw attention to the 16 anniversary of
the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
IT'S TIME TO RESIST | Global day of action
This event is also part of another international call
for to protest militarization in space, called, “Keep Space for Peace.”
High tech US killer drones operated from Creech AFB are the main weapon
of choice in the rapidly expanding so-called "cyber wars"
propagated by the U.S. globally. “The terms Cyber Wars and Drone Wars,
are serious misnomers," says organizer Toby Blomé. "This is
not warfare at all. There is no battlefield. People and their friends
and families are being killed while sleeping in their beds , while eating
their meals, and while attending schools, mosques, wedding parties and
funerals. Just as the victims of the Mandalay Bay's mass shooting on
Oct. 1 had no warning of the terror that was going to reign down on
them, so is the unannounced terror of US drone missiles and bombs. This
is just cold-blooded murder.”
When: October 5-11, Twice Daily
Vigils: 6-8am and 3-5 pm,
Where: At southeastern gate of Creech Air Force Base,
State Hwy 95, Indian Springs, Nevada, as hundreds of airmen enter and
exit the base daily during commute hrs. Creech is a major control
center for US remote targeted killing by armed drones, including the
Predator and Reaper drones. Thousands of innocent children have been
killed by these drones.
What: Anti-drone activists will be converging from multiple
states, as far away as Indiana, Arizona, California and Hawaii, to
participate in a week long protest. Members participating include:
CODEPINK, Women for Peace; Veterans for Peace and others. A direct
action, where some activists will risk arrest to protest the war crimes
of drone killing committed at Creech AFB will occur later in the week;
Details to be announced later. Note: A Saturday action in Las
Vegas is being planned that will tie in the terror of the Mandalay Bay
mass shooting with the terror of ceaseless US Global Militarization.
Details to be announced later.
Details of Vigil Themes:
Thurs. (10/5) AM: SHUT DOWN CREECH….STOP KILLER
DRONES. Protestors will demand base conversion to a facility
that serves people and supports human needs. Put an end to cyber
warfare! Opening Day for a week of protest at Creech AFB, in
participation of a global call to Action Against (Foreign) Military
Bases:
IT'S TIME TO RESIST | Global day of action
Large banner: Stop Global Domination: No Foreign
Bases, No Drone Bases!
Activists will begin to set up: "Victims of
Terror" Altar: Victims of Mandalay Bay, and Victims of US
bombs and Drone missiles will be memorialized in a public altar at the
base entrance. “We mourn for victims of all forms of terrorism."
Thurs.(10/5) PM (and Tues. am): Honoring Other
Countries and their People that the US is bombing by
displaying flags from each of the nations. Specific countries include:
Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya and Somalia. Some
protestors will be wearing ethnic dress from these countries. Messages:
"END ENDLESS WAR", "Respect National Sovereignty”,
"Occupation is a Crime."
Friday (10/6) AM: Drone strike on Wedding
Party. Re-enactment of wedding party drone attack at the base
entrance. In the last 16 years the US has bombed numerous wedding
parties, many by US drone missiles. To include a public reading of the
details and tragic stories of the many wedding parties attacked by the
US, to commemorate the victims and their loved ones that have been
killed. Theme: END THE TERROR OF DRONE KILLING AND ENDLESS WARS. END
the War in Afghanistan. 16 years too long! Chant: From "Mandalay
Bay to Afghanistan, Stop the terror,
Take A Stand!" Friday PM: End the
War in Afghanistan! 16 Years too long! Troops Home NOW! End
the war and occupation on one of the very poorest countries of the
world. US bombs and drone missiles have killed tens of thousands of
people in Afghanistan. NO MORE TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME!
Saturday, October 7: Action in Las Vegas, details to be announced later.
Activists will tie in the tragic act of violence and terror at the
Mandalay Bay with the persistent and ceaseless violence and terror of
US drone killing and endless wars. A handout will be available
highlighting the similarities and differences between the Mandalay Bay
mass shooting with the mass killings from US drone missiles and
bombs…..but emphasis will be on the "ambiance of “terror” that
embraces both. An altar for the victims of both will be displayed.
Mon. (10/9) AM: Funeral Procession with coffins
to mourn the deaths of victims of US bombs. Procession along
highway 95 at the entrance to Creech: Dressed in black, with white
masks, carrying coffins with labels of each of the 7 + countries the US
is bombing. "Victims of Terror" Altar: Victims
of Mandalay Bay, and Victims of US bombs and Drone missiles will be
memorialized in a public altar at the base entrance. “We mourn for
victims of all forms of terrorism.” A handout will be available
highlighting the differences and similarities between the terror of US
drone attacks and bombing and the terror caused by mass shooting like
Mandalay Bay that is so prevalent in US society.
Mon. PM: #ENOUGH! Support Afghan Peace
Volunteers Activists to wear white clothing, with blue scarves to honor
and support the many years of work the youth of Afghanistan have done
to bring peace to their poor nation and to promote world peace. Their
campaign here: http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog/enough/
Tues. (10/10) AM: "DRONES ARE….” (Messages
will include: Drone Warfare is Terrorism, Drone Strikes are War Crimes,
Drones Make Enemies)
Tues. pm: Repeat: Honoring Other Countries and
their People, that the US is bombing by displaying flags from each
of the nations. (See Thurs., Oct. 5, am)
Wed. am: To Be Determined.
Wed. (10/11) PM: Last Splash: "MAKE JOY NOT
WAR!" (Weds. afternoon…our last goodbye vigil) Colorful
Chinese Ribbon Dancing on Wed. afternoon. Wearing colorful
clothing, and using attractive and flowing colorful ribbons, and a
positive message, activists will encourage Creech airmen to consider
joining them on the side of peace, and for the Good of All.
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DRONE ORGANIZERS BULLETIN – SPECIAL – DECEMBER
2, 2017
Nick Mottern
12-2-17 via gmail.mcsv.net
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3:00 PM (29 minutes ago)
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DRONES AGAIN
ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF A NEO-COLONIAL WAR – IN NIGER
Amid the national clamor of shame over the Trump tax bill and
Russiagate, the Pentagon just announced that the human-rights oppressor
government of Niger is now going to allow the U.S. to undertake drone
murder in its country, a step that may have implications far more
serious than the tax rip-off or whether Trump goes to jail. [Continue reading...]
KILLER DRONES DESTROY THE ENVIRONMENT … AND MUCH, MUCH MORE ON THEIR
IMPACT
Thanks to Nydia Leaf, a long-time anti-drone warrior with the Granny
Peace Brigade in New York City, for sending this remarkable reporting
that focuses on the environmental destruction that may be traced
uniquely to drone war as well as war in general. [Continue reading...]
GREENWICH, CT RALLY AND MARCH – MARCH 24, 2018
Please set aside Saturday, March 24, 2018 to come to
Greenwich, CT, home of billionaire hedge fund managers and others of
extreme wealth, to participate in the Greenwich Rally and March for
Peace and Economic Justice. The next bulletin will contain
information on schedule and speakers.
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DRONE ORGANIZERS
BULLETIN
SPECIAL DIVEST ISSUE, FEB. 4, 2018
Edited by Nick Mottern – nickmottern@gmail.com
CODEPINK DIVEST FROM THE WAR CAMPAIGN BEGINS – ACT ON DRONE WAR
CODEPINK’S Divest From The War Campaign, which is being launched in the week
of February 5 – 11, 2018, is possibly the organization’s most challenging
campaign yet .
The scope is so large
that the project may seem daunting to the point of inducing a major case of
hands-up-in-the-air WhatCanIdo?ism.
But the game plan is
simple. It involves going to a member of a church or college board of
trustees, or a union pension fund official, and asking to speak to the group
about divesting in military industry stocks. Or, more specifically, you can ask
the group to sell its stock in companies responsible for key parts to the MQ-9
Reaper drone, the work horse of U.S. drone killing and a weapon responsible for
more than 10,000 deaths, all in violation of international law.
See: https://www.knowdrones.com/
Here is a list of
Reaper part makers that are public companies and that, therefore, sell
stock. (The maker of the basic Reaper airframe, General Atomics, is a
privately-owned company and therefore does not sell stock.)
Reaper Drone Component
Makers
· Boeing: Intelligence workstation and mission
planning system; laser guidance for bombs.
· Honeywell: Turboprop engine, navigational and
targeting equipment.
· L-3 Communications: Sensors; satellite
communications link; tactical data link.
· Lockheed Martin: Hellfire missiles; Paveway
laser-guided bombs.
· Microsoft: Software for detection of humans
and human-made objects.
· Northrup Grumman: All-weather surveillance
radar.
· Raytheon: Targeting system that can be
connected to Hellfire missiles; AIM-92 Stinger missiles.
If you are able to get
divestment from any one of these companies you will be affecting major war
industrialists. For example, here is link to Boeing’s military aircraft
portfolio: http://www.boeing.com/defense/
Questions? If you have any questions about the divestment campaign, please
be in touch, and if I don’t have an answer I will be able to direct you to
someone at CODEPINK who can help.
Visit Honeywell? If you live in northern New Jersey or metropolitan New York
City, you may want to visit the annual shareholders meeting of the Honeywell
Corporation, that will be held at Honeywell headquarters in Morris Plains, NJ,
in April, 2018. A colleague and I have attended the shareholders meeting
for the last two years where he asked Honeywell to stop producing components
for nuclear weapons, and I asked the company to stop making components for
Reaper drones. If you are interested in attending, you will need to buy
at least one share of Honeywell stock now. If you are interested in
attending, please be in touch.
https://www.interfaithdronenetwork.org/
The Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare grew out of two developments: the
formation of the CD-based Interfaith Working Group on Drone Warfare with many
faith groups participating in spring 2014; and the first Interfaith Conference
on Drone Warfare in January 2015 at Princeton Theological Seminary, facilitated
by the ...
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about lethal drones
- looking up at a lethal drone flying overhead ...
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The Interfaith
Network on Drone Warfare has produced a 34 ...
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Drone. Directed by
Tonje Hessen Schei. A half hour version ...
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The Interfaith
Working Group on Drone Warfare, co-chaired by ...
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International action
and agreement on standards will be key to ...
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The Interfaith
Network on Drone Warfare has produced a 34 ...
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https://www.peacecoalition.org/...interfaith...drone-warfare/562-interfaith-conference-...
Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons: Is
it Legal? Is it Constitutional? Is it Just? Click to watch 6-minute recap of
Massachusetts Peace Action conference, held November 4, 2017. Click for edited
transcripts of the talks published in Public Books. Right now, the most
important step you can take to prevent presidential ...
https://medium.com/.../to-work-at-peace-resources-available-from-interfaith-network-...
Nov 16, 2017 - To work at peace: Resources available
from Interfaith Network on
Drone Warfare. By Carol Blythe. “I
no longer love blue skies. In fact, I like gray skies; the drones cannot fly
when the skies are gray.” That's what Zubair Ur Rehman told a U.S.
congressional committee about a U.S. drone strike that killed his ...
https://www.facebook.com/Interfaith-Network-on-Drone-Warfare-312336595791554/
Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare. 30 likes. The Interfaith Network On Drone Warfare works to reduce the use of lethal drones
and encourage Just Peace....
www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/tag/interfaith-network-on-drone-warfare/
by s.strauss@pachurches.org | posted in: Drones, Uncategorized | 0. In this crazy time where mass shootings,
threats to immigrants, and attacks on the very programs that many of our
neighbors depend on (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and many others), we
often forget about the more global issues that also …
https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/two-new-videos-on-drone-warfare-582
Dec 4, 2017 - The Interfaith
Network on Drone Warfare has
produced two new videos for congregation. They've also edited three
documentaries into half-hour versions. Each of these films are short enough to
be used in a Sunday school or adult education class. All of the films include
study guides and promotional flyers.
Billboards Opposing Drone Wars Are Going Up
David Swanson, World Beyond War via WorldBeyondWar.org david@worldbeyondwar.org via sg.actionnetwork.org
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Feb 23, 2018 (1 day ago)
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Billboards Opposing Drone Wars Are Going
Up All Over Syracuse, New York
World Beyond War has been raising funds
for and renting billboards in opposition to war. We’ve run into
censorship from numerous billboard companies but persevered, and more
billboards are on their way.
First we put this message up here in
Charlottesville, Va., and then in Baltimore, Md. (see explanation of
the 3% calculation here):
Now we’re putting these two images up on
billboards in Syracuse, NY, where drone pilots participate in U.S. wars
from Hancock Air Base:
For 8 hours a day for 16 days in March,
these two images will be on either side of a billboard truck driving
around downtown Syracuse and the University of Syracuse. Then,
from April 2 to May 27 each image will be on two of the four
stationary billboards located at 115 South Street, 700 East Washington Street, 1430 Erie Boulevard East, and 1201-1208 South Salina at Raynor Street. Then,
from May 28 to July 22, one image will be on two and the other on
one of three billboards at 700 East Washington Street, 909 East Genesee Street, and 1758 Erie Boulevard East.
Why Syracuse?
The Syracuse area hosts Hancock Air
National Guard base where the Guard’s 174th Attack Wing conducts drone
assassination and target identification missions using MQ-9 Reaper
drones in Afghanistan and probably elsewhere. It has been announced
that the numbers of drone operators being trained at Hancock will
be doubled.
The billboard
ads are being undertaken in the context of what amounts to a whiteout of information on drone and other air operations
in Afghanistan. Pentagon reports on drone and other air attacks in
other nations are inadequate at best, and these reports when they come
have been inaccurate and have grossly under-reported casualties. The
U.S. government has made no reports and taken no responsibility for the
emotional devastation of drone attacks on children as well as adults,
as documented by the Al Karama Foundation’s “Traumatising Skies.”
Overcoming Censorship
Some companies have refused to rent
space for billboards opposing drone wars. No company has questioned the
facts of the messages, apart from one company asking us to say that
drone wars “may” make us less safe, adding the word “may.”
It is hardly
disputable that drones make orphans, or that they kill innocent children. That drone wars make us less safe
ought to be obvious after what the “successful” drone war has done to
Yemen, following the April 23, 2013, testimony of Farea al-Muslimi before the
U.S. Congress that drone strikes were building support for terrorists.
But don’t take it from him or me, when a leaked CIA document admits that the drone program is
“counterproductive,” and numerous recently retired top U.S.
officials agree.
For the most part companies have given
no explanation for refusals to display these graphics. In some cases,
they have said the graphics made them “uncomfortable,” or they’ve asked
that we stick to “positive-oriented messaging.” Those companies that
have written policies that I’ve seen for what they accept have in no
case had a policy that explained their refusal, other than their
declaration of their right to refuse for any reason whatsoever.
While some companies in Syracuse said
no, and others yes, every company in Forth Smith, Arkansas has, thus
far, said no, without any explanation. These include:
RAM Outdoor Advertising: 1-479-806-7735
Ashby Street Outdoor: 1-479-221-9827
Billboard Source: 1-940-383-3500
Feel free to ask them to explain.
Remember that politeness is most effective. RAM Outdoor Advertising did
say: “Thanks for sharing your potential creative. I’ve shared it with
the owners and they have decided that your creative will violate our
lease agreements. We will have to decline your ads.” I requested to see
the “lease agreements” and received no reply.
Fort Smith is the home of the 188th Wing
of the Arkansas Air National Guard at Ebbing Air National Guard base,
which controls Reaper drones for assassination and target
identification. It appears drone operations will expand there also.
Freedom of Speech
World Beyond War billboards are funded
entirely by contributions made by supporters of ending war who
want to help put up more billboards. We will continue to solicit such
contributions and to work to overcome censorship.
One of the more common, if ludicrous,
defenses of war making is that it somehow defends one’s rights. Yet,
freedom of speech and of press is routinely restricted in the name of
protecting the war making.
Following the recent school shooting in
Florida, we pointed out that the shooter had been trained by the U.S.
military in a JROTC program funded by the NRA, and that this
information was publicly available and not disputed. Major media
outlets chose to avoid that story in order to focus, instead, on the
undocumented (and, as it happens, false) claim that the shooter had
worked with right-wing groups.
Google, Facebook, and other big forces
on the internet are working hard to steer ever more traffic toward big
corporate outlets and away from voices of dissent. Congress has
eliminated net neutrality.
Whistleblowers are now up against the
risk of prison time.
Protesters at inauguration parades face
felony charges.
In my town in Virginia, Charlottesville,
we are still forbidden to take down any war monuments, and still have
no public peace monuments, but the local government has just
made it a crime to hold a public demonstration without a permit
obtained 30 days ahead.
In some airports and perhaps other
locations, this story that you are reading will be blocked by internet
services on the grounds that it constitutes “advocacy.”
Is this the “freedom” for which the wars
endanger and impoverish and indebt us?
What you can do
1. Politely phone the companies above
and ask them to explain their censorship.
2. Send us ideas for good locations for
billboards anywhere in the world.
3. Send us donations with which to put up more
billboards
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“Resisting Drone Wars.” The Nuclear Resister (March 14,
2018). Reports on protests at Hancock Field, Creech, Beale
AFB, Des Moines. --Dick
BOOKS
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Drones and Targeted
Killing (2nd ed)
Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues
edited by Marjorie Cohn; foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. 2017.
“This book provides much-needed analysis of why America’s targeted
killing program is illegal, immoral,
and unwise.”
—from the foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Very important book… In a few
months we will commemorate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, which,
despite the limits of the day, established the founding principle of modern
law: presumption of innocence. Today that principle has been
rescinded. Guilty verdicts are no longer to be rendered by a jury of peers,
but by a White House session deciding who we are going to kill today—along
with whatever unfortunates happen to be in the vicinity of the drone
attack. As these valuable essays show, Obama’s global terror campaign
is a menace to the world, and Americans are not likely to escape
unscathed.”
—Noam Chomsky
EXPERT ANALYSIS OF AN ILLEGAL
AND IMMORAL PRACTICE
2ND UPDATED
EDITION
The Bush administration detained
and tortured suspected terrorists; the Obama administration assassinated
them; and the Trump administration will likely do both. Assassination,
or targeted killing, off the battlefield not only causes more resentment
against the United States, it is also illegal. In this interdisciplinary
collection, human rights and political activists, policy analysts, lawyers
and legal scholars, a philosopher, a journalist and a sociologist examine
different aspects of the U.S. policy of targeted killing with drones and
other methods. It explores the legality, morality, and geopolitical
considerations of targeted killing and resulting civilian casualties, and
evaluates the impact on relations between the United States and affected
countries.
The book includes the
documentation of civilian casualties by the leading non-governmental
organization in this area; stories of civilians victimized by drones; an
analysis of the first U.S. targeted killing lawsuit by the lawyer who
brought the case; a discussion of the targeted killing cases in Israel by
the director of PCATI which filed one of the lawsuits; the domestic use of
drones; and the immorality of drones using Just War principles.
Contributors include: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Phyllis Bennis, Medea
Benjamin, Marjorie Cohn, Richard Falk, Tom Hayden, Pardiss Kebriaei, Jane
Mayer, Ishai Menuchin, Jeanne Mirer, John Quigley, Tom Reifer, Alice Ross,
Jay Stanley, Cian Westmoreland, and Harry Van der Linden.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School
of Law in San Diego, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and
deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic
Lawyers. Her books include Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang
Has Defied the Law; Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and
Honor of Military Dissent (with Kathleen Gilberd); and the edited
volume, The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration
and Abuse. Cohn is a recipient of the Peace Scholar of the Year Award
from the Peace and Justice Studies Association. She testified before
Congress about the Bush torture policy.
Olive Branch Press
Media Reviews
“Very important book… In a few
months we will commemorate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, which,
despite the limits of the day, established the founding principle of modern
law: presumption of innocence. Today that principle has been rescinded.
Guilty verdicts are no longer to be rendered by a jury of peers, but by a
White House session deciding who we are going to kill today—along
with whatever unfortunates happen to be in the vicinity of the drone
attack. As these valuable essays show, Obama’s global terror campaign
is a menace to the world, and Americans are not likely to escape
unscathed.”
—Noam Chomsky
“Armed unmanned drones have radically reduced the practical constraints
on the use of force, and in so doing present challenging legal, political
and moral issues. This hard-hitting collection offers multiple
critiques of drone targeting, raising – if not resolving -- many of the
questions that must be asked as nations increasingly develop and deploy
unarmed drones as a security tool.”
—David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center
“Just weeks before 9/11, U.S.
Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, told the Israelis: ‘The United States
government is very clearly on the record as against targeted
assassinations. They are extrajudicial killings, and we do not
support that.’ This extraordinary collection shows how two presidents
abandoned that principled stand and, more importantly, the need to reclaim
it.”
—Mary Ellen O'Connell, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
“Cogent and powerful… this book
is a rapid-fire attack on the US policy of targeted assassination by drone
or other means… Most importantly it is a reasoned and legalistic addition
to the demand that this policy end now and forever.”
—Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch
“Marjorie Cohn’s new book Drones
and Targeted Killing: Legal Moral and Geopolitical Issues makes the
unanswerable case that targeted killing, off the battlefield, is illegal
and unjustifiable… I wholeheartedly commend this book.”
—Richard Harvey, Socialist Lawyer
“Marjorie Cohn’s
anthology Drones and Targeted Killing is timely and makes a major
contribution to the growing literature on targeted killing and drone
warfare. I highly recommend it.”
— Mark Woods, Radical Philosophy Review
“Knowledge, it is said, is
power. If so, this book places a great deal of power in the hands of the
reader . . . The crucial messages . . . are that the
use of drones threatens us all and that we can do something about them.”
—David Gespass, Guild Review
“An illuminating insight into the opaque world of drone warfare
. . . This is a thought provoking, informative book on an
important issue. It is well worth reading, sharing and discussing.”
—Charles Sevilla, Los Angeles Daily Journal
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FILMS
https://www.interfaithdronenetwork.org/
The Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare grew out of two developments: the
formation of the CD-based Interfaith Working Group on Drone Warfare with many
faith groups participating in spring 2014; and the first Interfaith Conference
on Drone Warfare in January 2015 at Princeton Theological Seminary, facilitated
by the ...
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about lethal drones
- looking up at a lethal drone flying overhead ...
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The Interfaith
Network on Drone Warfare has produced a 34 ...
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Drone. Directed by
Tonje Hessen Schei. A half hour version ...
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The Interfaith
Working Group on Drone Warfare, co-chaired by ...
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International action
and agreement on standards will be key to ...
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Individual Protesters
The van that a drone whistleblower lives in needs repairs
RootsAction Education Fund via uark.onmicrosoft.com
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Oct 5, 2018 (4 days ago)
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Former
U.S. Air Force drone technician and whistleblower Cian Westmoreland is still speaking to the
world community about the pressing need to disarm drones, and he
needs your help.
He has just been to Australia and Italy, generating amazingly substantive
and honest media about the U.S. drone program in both. This reporting
criticizes the use for drone warfare of the secretive signals
intelligence sites in Alice Springs Australia called Pine Gap and Naval
Air Station Sigonella in Italy. Cian draws attention to the
responsibility of nations to resist drone strikes that violate
international laws.
"Drones are completely network-dependent platforms, with
responsibilities for strikes distributed between many individuals across
specializations, agencies, companies, and nation-states," Cian
says.
"Most recently, Donald Trump has demanded authorization for the
CIA to do their own strikes, which removes yet another layer of
accountability. It is not only a legal question, but an existential
question as well. The sensors in drones are proliferating under the guise
of 'smart city' technology, and finding their way into the fabric of our
daily lives.
"Automation is an incremental process by which tasks that are
performed by people are replaced by algorithms with their own built-in
biases. Fully automated weapons systems already exist, and are
estimated to find their way onto the battlefield in less than three
years."
We hope that you’ll keep supporting Cian Westmoreland’s important
work as a drone whistleblower. You can show support now by making
a donation to the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship.
Cian has been traveling the world challenging the current and future
uses of this technology for nearly two years at a financial detriment to
himself. Your donations have been extremely helpful in getting
him from point A to point B, and through his work at Standing Rock, in
Australia, and in Italy.
Half of your assistance will go directly toward helping him repair the
van that he currently lives in. To fix the fuel line and the
suspension will cost roughly $3,000. The other half of your donation
supports the RootsAction Education Fund's ongoing efforts against drone
warfare.
Anything helps. Thank you all for your continued support.
Please support the work of Cian Westmoreland by making a tax-deductible
contribution to the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship Program of the
RootsAction Education Fund.
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We hope
that you’ll keep supporting Cian Westmoreland’s important work as a drone
whistleblower.
Here’s an update on some of Cian’s recent work:
On
the 5th of November, Cian spoke at a General Assembly in Berlin along
with 69 other delegates from around the world. These delegates were
addressing issues ranging from mining in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo -- where a war has raged for over a decade, taking 7 million lives --
to the abuses animals endure in our factory farms.
Cian opened his speech -- after a video of Faisal bin al Jaber, who lost
two members of his family to a U.S. drone strike in Yemen -- with words of
author David Mitchell from a book that Cian first read in Afghanistan:
"Our lives are not our own, we are bound to others, past and
present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."
During the speech, Cian delivered emotional testimony on his role in
Afghanistan; he called for a ban on UCAVs (armed drones) and a preemptive
ban on killer robots. And Cian offered a deep apology to the people of Afghanistan.
You can show support for Cian’s work
now by making a tax-deductible donation to his Drone Whistleblower
Fellowship.
"My crimes still keep me up most nights,” he said at the Berlin forum.
“I was just following orders... Numbers, triple digit numbers on
performance reports and awards.”
He added: "Numbers, they were human beings, people with mothers,
sisters, fathers, brothers, sons, daughters, lovers. Entire lives
filled with dreams and hopes reduced to numbers; easily digestible to the
bureaucrats who sent us there."
This
forum compels parliamentarians to face the uncomfortable realities of their
decision-making processes, and educates citizens on everything that went
unspoken that year. It’s about putting faces to numbers, and creating real
democracy.
Your help has been critical in facilitating important international
dialogue on the issue of drones, and Cian sends his humble thanks.
Cian’s van is still in disrepair, and his laptop was recently stolen after
speaking in Italy. Travel brings many uncertainties, and traveling for this
work is nothing easy. Help him continue our work
and get on solid footing.
Anything helps. Thank you all for your continued support.
Next, Cian will speak about the Sigonella Air Base in Italy at the Festival
della Pace in Brescia, and the need for a forum for "colluding
nations" to demand transparency and hold their governments accountable
for the violations of international laws they helped the United States
commit with UCAVs and through surveillance.
Please support the work of Cian Westmoreland by making a tax-deductible
contribution to the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship Program of the
RootsAction Education Fund.
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US ARMED DRONES BOMBING AROUND
THE WORLD
Pentagon
Foresees at Least Two More Years of Combat in Somalia
WASHINGTON — Amid its escalating campaign of drone strikes in
Somalia, the Pentagon has presented the White House with an operational plan
that envisions at least two more years of combat against Islamist militants
there, according to American officials familiar with internal deliberations.
The proposed plan for Somalia would be the first under new rules quietly signed by
President Trump in October for
counterterrorism operations outside conventional war zones. The American
military has carried out about 30 airstrikes in Somalia this year, twice as
many as in 2016. Nearly all have come since June, including a Nov. 21 bombing
that killed over 100 suspected militants at
a Shabab training camp.
In a sign that the Defense Department does not envision a quick
end to the deepening war in Somalia against the Shabab and the Islamic State,
the proposed plan is said to include an exemption to a rule in Mr. Trump’s
guidelines requiring annual vetting by staff from other agencies — including
diplomats and intelligence officials — of operational plans for certain
countries.
IMPORTANCE OF RAMSTEIN TO GLOBAL DRONE WAR
Nick Mottern via uark.onmicrosoft.com
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10-29-17
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10:23 AM (8 hours ago)
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to James, Sandra, cres, Rosalie, Bruce
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Hi Dick:
From what I understand
from press reports, communications from U.S. drone control bases to attack
drones in the Middle East and perhaps globally, pass through Ramstein.
Thank you for keeping
alert and pressing ahead.
Nick
Contents Drone/Assassination
Newsletter #21
HISTORY OF DRONES
(See No. 20:
Terminator Planet: The First History of
Drone Warfare, 2001-2050 by Nick Turse and Tom
Engelhardt; The Changing Face of Empire and
Tomorrow’s Battlefield by Nick Turse;
“Transferring
CIA Drone Strikes
to the Pentagon”
by Micah Zenko.)
History of Arkansas Air National Guard 188th
Fighter Wing, Ft. Smith
Governors Request: Save the Warthogs, the Flying
Razorbacks
Mottern, History from 1920s to 2018
Andrew
Cockburn, Kill Chain. Inside Multibillion Dollar Military, CIA,
Corporate
Assassination Warfare
(For
21st c. see Drone Newsletter #20: Eye in the Sky feature Film
starring
Helen Mirren; The Good Kill feature Film by
Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, Lord of War);
National Bird
Documentary by Sonia Kennebeck, and Drone Newsletter #19.)
(BOOKS ON DRONES: #22 will contain an
annotated list of books and
films.)
RESISTANCE, PROTESTS
Noam Chomsky on the US Terroristic Global War
Mottern, Know
Drones
Des Moines
Volk Field, WI
Norman Solomon, “Killer Drones.” The Assassination MQ-Reaper Becoming
Normalized in New York State.
Germany v. Armed Drones
Review of Drone
Warrior
DRONE
(2015) directed
by Tonje Hessen Schei, 58 minutes.
END DRONE NEWSLETTER #22
