In Syracuse, 38 protesters were arrested in April 2011 at the New York
Air National Guard base at Hancock Field. Retired U.S. Army Col. Ann
Wright, one of those arrested, said: “Citizens have a responsibility to
take action when they see crimes being committed. … We see that our
government is committing crimes by the use of these drones, and that we,
as citizens, have the responsibility to act.”
The United States has made a series of attacks on targets in northwest
Pakistan since 2004 using drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles,
controlled by the CIA’s Special Activities Division. These attacks are
part of the U.S. “War on Terrorism” campaign, supposedly seeking to
defeat Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan. Most of these attacks
are on targets in the tribal areas along the Afghan border in northwest
Pakistan, and have increased substantially under the Obama
administration.
Pakistan’s government publicly condemns these attacks but has secretly
shared intelligence with the United States facilitating them. Pakistan’s
army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani not only tacitly agreed to the
drone flights but in 2008 asked the U.S.to increase them.
However, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated: “[D]rone
missiles cause collateral damage. A few militants are killed, but the
majority of victims are innocent citizens.” (Hindustan Times, April 23,
2011) In reality, a drone strike may kill 10 civilians for every
so-called militant.
The CIA claims that the strikes conducted since May 2010 have killed
over 600 militants and have not caused civilian fatalities, a claim that
experts have disputed and called absurd. Due to the related
controversy, the drone strikes were temporarily halted in November 2011
after NATO forces killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. However, they have since
been resumed, starting on Jan. 10.
These weapons are also soon to be turned on the citizens of the United
States as surveillance tools. A video from a 2007 investigative report
by local news in Houston, Tex., shows secret testing of unmanned drones
by the Houston Police Department. A similar program came to light in Las
Vegas, also initiated in 2007. This fleet of unmanned drones actually
has taken flight over the United States at the behest of Homeland
Security, working jointly with select police departments, and is lining
the pockets of the corporations that produce this technology.
Two protesters were sentenced to four days in jail plus a $250 fine and
$125 surcharge. One sentenced to 10 days plus the same fine and
surcharge, but with credit for time served, was expected out in five
days. Ellen Grady told the court that in light of the unjust verdict,
she should be sent to jail for the maximum term, which swas for for
fifteen days. Some defendants appearing after Grady also asked for the
max, but instead were fined $250, assessed a $125 surcharge, and given a
one-year conditional discharge. Fourteen were also ordered to perform
20 to 25 hours community service.
The last five members, among them Col. Wright, were given a one-year conditional discharge and fined $250 on Feb. 29.
Peace and justice advocates met in October 2011 to take action together
at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly the Nevada Test Site) and
Creech Air Force Base, the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force’s 432nd
Air Wing, which operates armed remotely piloted aircraft in Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere. Eighteen protesters were
arrested, found guilty of trespassing and sentenced to time served.
Civilians are not “collateral damage,” nor should they be
defined or classified as such, nor should citizens of any nation be
subjected to surreptitious domestic surveillance by the United States.
We stand in solidarity with the Afghan people to end this war of
imperialist adventure in their lands, and with the demonstrators who
stood up to the military and judicial powers to advocate for peace and
justice, both internationally and domestically.
