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Indybay Feature

What You Should Know About War Drones

by wexit
Public debate surrounding the legality and morality of drone attacks on civilians in the Middle East and Africa has prompted a national campaign to stop the Obama administration’s unconscionable use of these robotic killing machines.

World Can't Wait will stand in solidarity with university students on Tuesday May 21 to say NO to drone warfare, 12 noon to 1:00pm in White Plaza, Stanford University.
Thousands of individuals have been killed by armed ‘Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles’ (UAVs) with no public accountability. The preponderance of victims has been civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time, many of them women and children. Adoption of the “double tap” tactic, where Hellfire missles are directed at first responders, defies international humanitarian law.

Traditional military installations and manpower are being replaced with drones, revolutionizing our perception of war:

“Drone warfare makes responsibility for killing more difficult to trace. Are assassinations without trial the new standard? Does killing remotely make the decision to do so easier? Does use by civilian entities eliminate regard for rules of engagement? Does secrecy of such operations make them less accountable to the public in whose name they are deployed?
-- Saybrook University Professor Marc Pilisuk

Ask yourself: what kind of society do you want?

U.S. occupations, bombs, and secret operations have wreaked havoc in the Middle East since 2001, sold to the public on the basis of being in the “national interest.” The Pentagon’s drone fleet has grown from a few dozen to 7,000 in that period. Drone strikes continue to escalate and spread into Africa. Chief architect of the drone program, John Brennan, has been installed as CIA director. Reliance on drones and the spies who support them can be expected to increase under this arrangement.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Another world is possible. We must stand up and speak out for a real end to U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, targeted drone killing, and threats on Iran.

The Network for Stopping Drone Spying and Warfare, http://nodronesnetwork.blogspot.com/ , can help you organize actions in your community to focus on the institutions that are part of the massive army of drones in the U.S. war on the world, to:

Identify drone factories, and arrange protest actions to call for an end to the manufacture of weaponized UAVs.

Conduct teach-ins at drone research and pilot training academies about how technology is being used to murder and terrorize hapless victims of American imperialism.

Vigil, banner and leaflet outside military installations where drones are flown.

It is up to people to stand for principle and morality when their institutions and public officials refuse to do so. The fates of those who are maimed or killed by our government’s policies are inextricably intertwined with our own: we must listen and respond to their cry for justice.
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