Obama Drones On

Independence Day parade West Athens, Maine 7/4/09

Drone is a word that means lots of things -- it's a nickname for the au courant drug also known as "bath salts" that causes paranoid delusions and violent attacks. Hey, maybe that's what the big boys at the  head of the multinational corporations that really rule the world are high on! (I figured it was just money and greed.) It's a worker bee that dies when the frost comes. It's a continuous monotone that lulls people to sleep, like a speech composed of words not backed by substance.

And it is one of the most evil and destructive inventions of man, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It is used extensively right now in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Yemen. Drones strikes are estimated to kill about 1 militant for every 10 people, most of them innocent bystanders or, in the amoral parlance of your tax funded military-industrial complex, "collateral damage." But that's old news.

From a Between The Lines interview with Kathy Kelly on civilians killed by drones (contains links to many other good sources on drones, democracy, and terrorism).

In new news this week, Israel just shipped jumbo drones to France, ending a 42 year arms embargo.

And India began deploying drones against the Maoist rebels, indigenous people of the jungles who fight to defend their land from capitalist exploiters and thieves. Those drones were made in Israel also.

Meanwhile international journalists investigated and refuted the claim by the CIA that no civilians are killed by drones in Pakistan. And a journalist on the ground noticed how drone strikes are reported as successful at killing terrorists -- but never seem to mention the women and children whose ribbons of flesh festoon nearby trees after the attacks. So Noor Behram took his camera on the road in Waziristan and started counting.

Those who have been paying attention all along have a United Against Drones website, and some, including my CODEPINK sisters, will vigil at bases where drones are flown by remote control. They will stand outside the bases with signs pleading with the drone operators to stop and think about what they are doing, to consider that killing people via joystick in not just "a job" no matter what your commanding officer tells you. Join them on July 26 at Beale Air Force Base in Marysville, Calif.

Of course, there is no remote control way to fix our national karma. The U.S. will have to stop doing wrong, and make amends.

Mark Roman and friends at Raytheon in Northampton, Mass., June, 2011.

One thing for individuals to do: contact the White House and your reps in Congress (202-225-3121) to let them know how you feel about slashing Social Security and funding for the homeless and the hungry, in order to keep buying and using drones.

Oh, and maybe think about getting rid of that game system that trains your youngsters to be joystick killers.