Weaponized Drones Are The Real Threat To Security Say Protesters At Creech AFB In Nevada

Afghans inspect damage of Ahmadi family house after U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi) Source: Military.com

Amid the chaotic and embarassing retreat from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan came a drone strike on the Ahmadi family whose aid worker dad was transporting water in his car with little children aboard. "The Pentagon admitted Friday an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29 killed 10 civilians, including seven children, but not any terrorist planners as officials first claimed," according to Military.com.

Now it is even more urgent to demand the use of flying killer robots be banned. A large group of dedicated activists return each year to the Nevada desert where U.S. drone operators sit in trailers and decide to kill entire families without enough information to evaluate whether or not those targeted actually pose a threat to security. 

Weaponized drones are the real threat to security.

Here's the organizers' press release with detailed information on the week long protest.

2019: People protest against drone warfare at the entrance to Creech Air Force Base. Six people were detained and charged with misdemeanors during the week-long event, which is held several times a year. (John Locher/AP) Source: AirForceTimes.com

PROTESTORS FROM 12 STATES CONVERGE AT CREECH AFB FOR WEEK OF PROTEST TO DEMAND AN END TO REMOTE DRONE KILLING, AND BAN ON KILLER DRONES 

Kabul Killing of Afghan family, including 3 adults and 7 children, by U.S. Drone Last Month will be Memorialized

LAS VEGAS/CREECH AFB, NV – Anti-war/anti-drone demonstrators from the East and West coasts announced they are converging here Sept. 26-Oct. 2 to hold daily protests – which will include efforts to interrupt "business as usual"  – at the U.S. Drone Base at Creech Air Force Base, an hour north of Las Vegas, Nevada. 

U.S. anti-drone activists across the country will be holding solidarity protests at drone bases and in communities across the country during the same week, to amplify their common call for a ban on killer drones.  Contact Nick Mottern for more info:  (914) 806-6179.

In the aftermath of the horrific “mistake” from a U.S. drone attack on a civilian family in Kabul last month, that left three adults and seven young children dead, protesters are demanding that the U.S. cease its secret remote assassination program that they say is illegal and immoral. 

Vigils every morning and afternoon during commute hours will take place with varied themes each day. See schedule below. Nonviolent interruptions of flow of traffic into the base are planned during the week to oppose the inherent abuse, illegality and injustice of the U.S. targeted remote assassination program.  Rejecting the very nature of U.S. extrajudicial killings that has led to the death of thousands of civilians, protesters demand an immediate ban on all killer drones. 

Many military veterans, now members of Veterans for Peace, will be joining, including post-911 veterans. The event is co-sponsored by CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace and Ban Killer Drones.

At Creech, U.S. Air Force personnel, coordinating with C.I.A. officials, are, regularly and secretly, killing people remotely using unmanned armed drone planes, primarily the MQ-9 Reaper drones.  

Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere, since 2001, by U.S. drone strikes, according to independent investigative journalism.    

Over the last 20 years, the use of  armed drones have led to deadly atrocities that have included strikes on wedding parties, funerals, schools, mosques, homes, farm laborers  and in January, 2020, included direct hits on high level foreign military and government officials from Iran and Iraq.  

These drone massacres have, at times, resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians with a single drone attack. To date not a single U.S. official has ever been held accountable for these ongoing atrocities – Yet, drone whistleblower, Daniel Hale, who leaked documents revealing the high rate of civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes, is currently serving 45 months in prison.

“U.S. officials and military leaders exhibit total disregard for the value of human lives in the countries targeted under the so-called War on Terror,” said Toby Blomé, one of the organizers of the week long protest. “Over and over again, innocent lives are being purposefully sacrificed in drone strikes, in order for the U.S. to continue its 'counter-terrorism campaign,’” said Blomé.

“The Ahmadi family drone massacre that occurred in Kabul last month is not an example of accidental mis-judgement. It is an example of an ongoing reckless pattern of abuse whereby the U.S. assumes the right to kill a person on suspicion alone, just in case that person may be a threat, while also sacrificing everyone else who happens to be in the area,” Blomé added.

Organizers say that the only reason the truth about this recent drone tragedy was exposed is because it took place in Kabul, where investigative journalists were available to scrutinize the event. For 2 weeks after the incident U.S. military had insisted that they killed an ISIS affiliate. The evidence proved otherwise. Most drone strikes are underreported and not investigated because they occur in remote rural areas, far from international media.  

Participants of the week-long protest are calling for a complete ban on killer drones, an immediate end to the targeted killing program, and full accountability for the innocents killed, including reparations to the surviving victims of U.S. drone strikes, past and present.

“Given the murder of 10 innocent people in Kabul, including seven children, we know that the U.S. drone program is a disaster,” said organizer Eleanor Levine. “It makes enemies and it has to end now.”

Demonstrators are also calling for the immediate release of Daniel Hale  the drone whistleblower who exposed the criminality of the drone program. The documents leaked by Hale revealed that in many cases, up to 90% of those killed by U.S. drones were not the intended target. Demanding a pivotal shift toward justice, Shut Down Creech participants declare:  "Arrest the war criminals, not the truth-tellers.”

Mon, Sept 27, 6:30-8:30 a.m.  DRONE FUNERAL PROCESSION:  Dressed in black with white “death masks,” activists will process down the highway, in a solemn death march, carrying small coffins with the names of the countries that have been the primary targets of ongoing U.S. drone attacks that have led to high civilian casualties.  (Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Libya)

Mon, Sept 27, 3:30-5:30 p.m. "DRONE ATTACKS ARE…”  Participants will hold large bold signs with varied descriptive words to demonstrate the failure of the U.S. Drone Program:   ILLEGAL, RACIST, IMMORAL, BARBARIC, CRUEL, FUTILE, WRONG, DISGRACEFUL, etc.

Tues, Sept.28 , 6:30 - 8:30 a.m. THE DRONE MASSACRE MEMORIAL:  A long series of banners will be stretched along the highway, each one highlighting details of past U.S. drone massacres, including strikes that have hit wedding parties, funerals, schools, farm laborers and mosques.  Statistics on civilian deaths are included on each banner. This time, the horrific tragedy of the Ahmadi family killed in a Kabul neighborhood will be added to the historical record.

Tues, Sept 28, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  THE WAR IS A LIE;  To demonstrate the concept that the "first casualty in war is the truth,” a series of signs will convey examples: Presidents Lie, Congress Lies, Generals Lie, CIA lies, etc.  The messages will conclude with banners calling on more critical thinking:  Question Authority; Resist the Lies They Tell...Resist the Wars They Sell;  Truth-teller and Drone Whistleblower, Daniel Hale, will be featured:  "FREE DANIEL HALE.”

Wed, Sept 29, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.   GO BACK, WRONG WAY!  A nonviolent, peaceful action will be planned to “interrupt business as usual” and to resist the illegal and immoral activity that takes place at Creech Killer Drone Base.  Details will be available later in the week.  NO MORE DEATHS! Other nonviolent acts of resistance may be planned at other times during the week.

Wed, Sept 29, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  ALTERNATIVES TO WAR;  A series of signs will offer alternatives to the military working at Creech AFB:  Doctors NOT Drones, Bread NOT Bombs, Housing NOT Hellfire Missiles, Peace Jobs NOT War Jobs, etc.

Thurs. Sept 30, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.  “CREECHERS FOR THE PLANET”;  In a playful approach to connect the very serious global problems of climate crisis and environmental devastation with militarism, participants will dress in their favorite “Creecher Costumes” (Creature Costumes) and/or hold large animal puppets, while holding educational signs "connecting the dots”:  U.S. Military #1 Polluter, War is Toxic, End War for Climate Justice, U.S. Military = #1 User of FOSSIL FUEL, War in NOT Green:  PROTECT EARTH, etc.

Thurs. Sept 30, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.  TBD:  Creech AFB may or may not have a vigil.  Stay tuned for updates.  A Las Vegas Anti-drone Street Theater Action planned at the Fremont Street Pedestrian Mall (4:00 - 6:00pm) in Las Vegas.  Details to come later. 

Fri. Oct. 1, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.  FLY A KITE, NOT A DRONE;  In a colorful display of beautiful kites in the sky, participants will hold their final demonstration of the week, focusing on the positive benefits of alternatives to war, where all sides win.  The central large banner:  DIPLOMACY NOT DRONES!  The vigil will also honor the Afghan People, who have been forced to live under the terror of U.S. drones for 20 years, with immeasurable human losses.  The U.S. has “officially withdrawn” it’s troops and closed it’s bases in Afghanistan, the most droned country on earth; however, the drone strikes are expected to continue under Biden’s unspecified “Over the Horizon” policy.  Another large banner will declare:   STOP DRONING AFGHANISTAN:  20 YEARS ENOUGH!

Contact:  
Toby Blomé, 510.501.5412;  toby4peace@sonic.net
Eleanor Levine, 510-290-7071;  eastbaycodepink@gmail.com

For more details:   www.ShutDownCreech

'The Temptation Not To Question It' -- Daniel Hale, Drone Warfare Whistleblower

Afghanistan War veteran Daniel Hale pled guilty to revealing the truth about U.S. drone warfare on civilians. Although there's no indication he shared what he knew with opposing forces, he wrote an anonymous chapter in the book The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program (Scahill et al., 2016) and provided documents to the lead author.

Hale later pled guilty to charges under the Espionage Act and will be sentenced today. 

Hale's handwritten letter from prison explains his motivations for the choices that ruined his life and the lives of many others; it is full of eloquent wisdom. 

Some excerpts:

...I sat by and watched through a computer monitor when a sudden terrifying flurry of Hellfire missiles came crashing down, splattering purple-colored crystal guts on the side of the morning mountain.

Since that time and to this day, I continue to recall several such scenes of graphic violence carried out from the cold comfort of a computer chair. 

Source: "US Drone Strike 'Accidentally' Kills 30 Afghan Farmers" Axis of Logic, 2019

Not a day goes by that I don’t question the justification for my actions.

...

how could it be that any thinking person continued to believe that it was necessary for the protection of the United States of America to be in Afghanistan and killing people, not one of whom present was responsible for the September 11th attacks on our nation.

...

in spite of my better instincts, I continued to follow orders and obey my command for fear of repercussion. 

Yemen,  2014 from "Are US military drone strikes legal?" SBS Australia, 2014

Yet, all the while, becoming increasingly aware that the war had very little to do with preventing terror from coming into the United States and a lot more to do with protecting the profits of weapons manufacturers and so-called defense contractors

...

contract mercenaries outnumbered uniform wearing soldiers 2-to-1 and earned as much as 10 times their salary. 

...

I was starting to wonder if I was contributing again to the problem of money and war by accepting to return as a defense contractor. Worse was my growing apprehension that everyone around me was also taking part in a collective delusion and denial that was used to justify our exorbitant salaries for comparatively easy labor. 

The thing I feared most at the time was the temptation not to question it.

Source: The Indypendent, 2021

...

I believe that any person either called upon or coerced to participate in war against their fellow man is promised to be exposed to some form of trauma. In that way, no soldier blessed to have returned home from war does so uninjured.

...

on that day, years after the fact, my new friends [gasped] and sneered, just as my old ones had, at the sight of faceless men in the final moments of their lives. I sat by watching too, said nothing, and felt my heart breaking into pieces.

...

Left to decide whether to act, I only could do that which I ought to do before God and my own conscience. 

The answer came to me, that to stop the cycle of violence, I ought to sacrifice my own life and not that of another person.

So I contacted an investigative reporter with whom I had had an established prior relationship and told him that I had something the American people needed to know.

Respectfully,

Daniel Hale

Calling Out Civilian Deaths By Drone Under Yet Another Democratic Party Warmonger

Screenshot from video of protest blocking the road at Creech AFB on April 5. 

Group chanting, "Arrest Col. Jones, the war criminal, not Daniel Hale, the whistleblower!"  

Posted by Toby Blomé at https://shutdowncreech.blogspot.com

Today I am reposting a press release from the dedicated drone resistance that converges annually at Creech Air Base in Nevada. 

These people of conscience work tirelessly to shine a light into the dark crime of U.S. relentless bombing of civilians with each successive administration in Washington DC, whether Democrat or Republican. 

Many of them will risk arrest to bring attention to these atrocities.

April 2, 2021
Contact: Toby Blomé, 510.501.5412 Maggie Huntington.602.459.5257
For more details: https://shutdowncreech.blogspot.com

ANTI-DRONE PROTESTORS FROM AROUND U.S. CONVERGE THIS WEEK TO CONDEMN KILLING BY CREECH AFB DRONES

LAS VEGAS/CREECH AFB, NV – Anti-war/anti-drone demonstrators from the East and West coasts announced they are converging here April 4-10 to hold daily protests – which may lead to arrests – at the U.S. Drone Base at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

Many military veterans, now members of Veterans for Peace, will be joining. The event is co-sponsored by CODEPINK and Veterans for Peace.

At Creech, U.S. Air Force personnel, coordinating with C.I.A. officials, are, regularly and secretly, killing people remotely using unmanned armed drone planes, primarily the MQ-9 Reaper drones. 

Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere, since 2001, according to the activists.

In the aftermath of the recent and tragic U.S. massacres by lone gunmen in Georgia and Boulder, activists will hold daily two hour vigils between 6:30-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m., during commute hours to underline the connection between mass violence at home and the "normalized" mass violence of the U.S. covert drone program and U.S. military.

Over the last 20 years, U.S. armed drones have been used to commit horrible atrocities that have included strikes on wedding parties, funerals, schools, mosques, homes, farm laborers, and in January, 2020, included direct hits on high level foreign military and government officials from Iran and Iraq.

"A man walks past a graffiti, denouncing strikes by U.S. drones in Yemen, painted on a wall in Sanaa November 13, 2014"KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS

These drone massacres have, at times, resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians with a single drone attack. Not a single U.S. official has ever been held accountable for these ongoing atrocities, 

yet, an important drone whistleblower, Daniel Hale, who leaked truths about these atrocities faces potentially harsh sentencing later this July.

The daily vigils will include different themes each time, but two notable ones include:

Mon, April 5, 3:30-4:30 p.m. "WE STAND WITH Drone Whistleblower DANIEL HALE." On Wednesday, March 31, Daniel Hale pled guilty to being the informant who anonymously leaked classified military documents to an online media publisher, The Intercept, that revealed secret military statistics documenting civilian casualties under the covert U.S. targeted drone assassination program. (See The Drone Papers, 2015).

As a U.S. citizen and USAF analyst, Daniel acted out of conscience to reveal the truth about these serious war crimes that he felt the public had a right to know. Protesters will stand in support of Daniel's courageous act and demand that the real criminals be prosecuted, including the commanders of killer drone bases like Creech AFB, not the whistleblowers, who reveal the atrocities. Some of the messages will include: "Free Daniel Hale, Exposing war crimes is not a crime" "Prosecute the War Criminals not the Truth-tellers"

Tues, April 6, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m. THE DRONE MASSACRE MEMORIAL: Activists, will display a long series of banners, stretched along the highway, each highlighting details of past U.S. drone massacres, including statistics on civilian deaths.

"It is our hope," said Toby Blomé, one of the organizers, "that the military personnel that drive into the base everyday will reflect deeply about their role in this criminal activity that causes innumerable deaths and untold suffering around the globe, and that just maybe some of them will make the difficult but ethical choice to not participate.

"Militarized drones are expanding at an unbelievable rate, replacing conventional warfare, without any meaningful public debate. It is therefore the obligation of the military personnel to embrace their own individual responsibilities."

-END-

A pre-pandemic crowd of protestors at Creech in April, 2016.

Glorifying Drones And Recruiting New Operators Propaganda Effort Has Many Helpers

One of thousands of squares commemorating war victims in the Drone Quilt Project.
Art by Leeza Vinogradov

I'll admit here that I gave up on National "Public" Radio some years ago, around the time they began running promos for their agribusiness and other corporate sponsors. NPR's coverage of the Iraq war was so carefully tailored to show the view through approved windows that I began to lose respect for their journalistic integrity. More like the New York Times and The New Yorker magazine, really, puffing Obama while panning Republicans, signalling their fealty to the other corporate war party.

This week I invited others concerned about the rampant killing of civilians by flying killer robots to contact NPR objecting to their recent interview with drone contractor and author Brett Velicovich. 

Self-billed as a drone warrior, Velicovich continues to profit from using flying killer robots to attack others who couldn't possibly fight back as the "warrior" attacking them is remote and often thousands of miles away. Such courage! Such valor! (Such bullshit.)

The propaganda in favor of weaponized drones is pervasive and well funded. Veterans for Peace past president Leah Bolger posted this item to a no-drones listserv I'm on:

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is having a huge 8 month exhibit on drones.  They asked to display the Drones Quilt Project and I had reserved 6 quilts for them, but at the last minute they said they didn't have any room.  I talked to the curator -- Nick Mottern talked to him, Chris Antal talked to him -- but they wouldn't change their minds.  They said they were just exhibiting the history of drones (all kinds) and that they only had a couple of pictures of Predators, and that they didn't glorify them.  But then I noticed that they had scheduled this: 

BOOK LAUNCH Drone Warrior: An Elite Soldier's Inside Account of the Hunt for America's Most Dangerous Enemies By Brett Velicovich and Christopher S. Stewart 

Tuesday, June 27 (during Members Night) Lutnick Theater, $10 general admission; Free for members 

For nearly a decade, Brett Velicovich used drones to take down the world’s deadliest terrorists. He shared his harrowing experiences with Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Christopher S. Stewart. Hear them discuss their captivating book.

The Drones Quilt Project expanded on their coverage of this propaganda effort in a post noting that the museum with no room to display an art project based on civilian victims of U.S. militarized drones did manage to find space for Lady Gaga's drone dress.

Lady Gaga flies onstage via drones

Would you be surprised to know that the New York Times review of the museum exhibit mentioned the victims of drones exactly once, in the headline? "Drones Kill, Yes, But They Also Rescue, Research, and Entertain" was their sanitizing contribution to the practically non-existent national debate on the ethics of endless warfare via remote control bombing by robots.

Data compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Currently, the corporate media would have us very, very scared that the demogogue with bad hair has his finger on the red button of nuclear destruction. News outlets like the NYT thought it was great when Obama ramped up the budget for nuclear weapon research and development, just as they thought it was great when he became the president with ten times more drone blood on his hands than his predecessor.

A tiny bit of corporate media attention is given to the PTSD that drone operators -- presumably operators less tough than warrior Velicovich -- suffer from after viewing the "bug splat" of civilians who died when they pushed their buttons.

This is how the manufactured consent for endless wars at taxpayer expense is maintained: by controlling the information available to the public.

Here's the museum's self-description to provide the flavor of this sort of propaganda effort:

New York City’s Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex is an educational and cultural non-profit institution centered on the aircraft carrier Intrepid. The mission of the Museum is to promote the awareness and understanding of history, science and service through its collections, exhibitions and programming in order to honor our heroes, educate the public and inspire our youth. [emphasis mine] Join us for a dynamic, interactive and educational journey for all ages.

"Inspire our youth" is code for military recruiting. Or maybe it's code for recruiting youth in poverty, and inspiring youth in the upper classes to pursue higher education with an eye to contributing to the high tech killing. If successful, they could write a book and go on tour to display their courage.

Recruiting in Chicago got a big boost last week when Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, announced that no one would get their high school diploma until they were either signed up for a school or other program, employed -- or joined the military.

This strikes me as grounds for a whopping law suit and I expect the kickass Chicago Teachers Union will be one of those bringing legal action on behalf of the students. 

Managing information is one thing, but losing a relative to PTSD or suicide is another. The most fascinating actual news of the week was this article in Mondoweiss reporting on a study that linked combat deaths of U.S. military personnel to swing states that voted for the demagogue with bad hair in the last election. Because that candidate falsely represented himself as a non-interventionist, researchers Douglas Kriner and Francis Shen examined voting patterns and published "Battlefield Casualties and Ballot Box Defeat: Did the Bush-Obama Wars Cost Clinton the White House?"

In other words, running as a pro-war candidate may have alienated voters poor enough to actually know someone who came home in a box.

Now that the U.S. has robots to do some of the killing, the percentage of active duty military is extremely small, like 1% of the population. This helps corporate media and other propaganda organs to hype war as glorious. 

Source: PTSDInsight "The Veteran Suicide Crisis"

Tell that to the kids in my family whose veteran dad recently killed himself with a gun in their bathroom after suffering for years from combat-induced PTSD.

Are Nonviolent Protesters Criminals? #NoDrones

Anti-drone Activists Blocked Gate to Beale AFB with Life-Sized Figures of Drone Victims;  4 Arrested While "Putting A Human Face" on recent Civilian Drone Victims in Afghanistan

2 Other Activists were Arrested Yesterday while Sprinkling Ashes on the base to Represent the Symbolic Ashes of Innocents Incinerated by Drone missiles.

Contact:    Toby Blomé, 510-215-5974,        Shirley Osgood,  941-320-0291

Anti-drone activists blocked traffic at the Main Gate into Beale AFB for over 30 minutes today during early morning commute hour.  They stood across the gate entrance holding life-sized cardboard replicas of the 15 drone victims killed during a Sept. 27, 2016 U.S. drone strike in Eastern Afghanistan.  

As traffic backed up behind the blockade, activists read the name, age and occupation of each of the 15 Afghan Civilian men who were killed that night while sleeping in their beds in Achin district, Afghanistan. The men had been gathered to welcome a friend/relative returning from his hajj, or sacred pilgrimage to Mecca.  13 others were injured in the drone attack. The drone deaths included a 26 yr. old teacher,  a 70 yr. old village elder, a 30 yr. old principal, and laborers and farmers of varying ages, as well as a 17 yr. old youth according to a human rights organization based in Afghanistan.  

Activists were trying to humanize the lives of the victims that are so often kept anonymous by the media.  

Many of the activists gave heartfelt personal statements to the base personnel that witnessed the action. Four activists were later arrested for trespassing as they entered the base.  One was trying to deliver a group letter to the base commander, expressing opposition to the unlawful drone assassination program.  

Yesterday afternoon, two days before Ash Wednesday, 2 other activists were arrested while sprinkling ashes on the base to symbolize the ashes of the innocent people in faraway lands incinerated by remotely controlled drones.  All those arrested on Mon. and Tues. were cited and released the same day.  Northern California activists, including CODEPINK and Veterans for Peace members, gather at Beale AFB monthly to oppose the U.S. drone killing and the state of perpetual wars perpetrated by U.S. foreign policy.  

Beale controls the Global Hawk surveillance drone which is integral to the secretive and unlawful targeted killing program.  

Today's Arrestees:  Flora Rogers, Mike Rufo, Pamela Osgood, and Toby Blomé

Yesterday's Arrestees:  Sharon Delgado and Shirley Osgood

More photos also  here and here.  

To support the vibrant Shut Down Creech movement, visit their website or get involved in their next action set for April 23-29 (link to facebook event here).

Over 40 copies of this letter was distributed to base personnel, including Commander:

Dear Col. Broadwell and Beale Air Force Base Personnel, February, 2017

We come to Beale monthly to express our opposition to the U.S. drone targeted killing program and the state of perpetual warfare that the U.S. is executing globally. As many of you know, the Global Hawk surveillance drone plays a key role in the remote killing program, by doing surveillance over vast areas of the globe and assisting in tracking and identifying potential “targets/suspects.”  Drone operators and analysts stationed at Beale are directly involved in drone attacks and see the carnage on the screen on a daily basis.  This takes a serious toll on their lives as well, leading to high rates of PTSD, and even suicide.

The state of perpetual wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere is a huge global tragedy causing great grief to millions of lives in these countries in terms of displacement, death, serious injury, loss of family wage earners, destabilization of governments, a huge global refugee crisis and much more.  The single recent U.S. military encroachment in Mosul, Iraq is reported to be causing the displacement of over 450,000 lives.  How can anyone call these policies, that cause such vast suffering, successful or humane?

There are three recent incidences that we want to call your attention to:

September 27, 2016, U.S. Drone Strike on Civilian Gathering:  the “untold story”

(Achin District, Eastern Afghanistan) Dozens of men were gathered to honor a friend/relative who had returned from his hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, a muslim’s most sacred lifetime achievement.  15 men were killed, and 13 injured. The drone strike hit as they were sleeping in their beds.  According to independent sources, all of the men were civilians.  The U.N. called for a thorough investigation, but to this day we know of no investigation being conducted. Few Americans even know of this incident.  We have managed to get hold of some simple info of these men, whose lives were stolen so abruptly, to honor and memorialize them.  They had every right, as all humans do, to go to sleep at night and awaken in one piece, without threat from aggressive forces.  What message is the U.S. sending to Afghans by so carelessly taking their lives? At the end of this letter you will find the list of names and info of those killed.  Please take the time to look at it, and ask yourself:  Why are we so easily killing these people?

January 26, 2017, Navy Seals Raid in Yemen:  the “well publicized story”

A seriously failed U.S. Navy Seals night raid in a small Yemen village led to disastrous results:  29 civilians killed, including 6 women and at least 10 children. One was a young baby and another an 8 yr. old girl.  Many others were injured. 4 Navy Seals members were also injured and one 36 yr. old Navy Seals, Ryan Owens, was killed.  Ryan was the father of 3 small children. A $75 million Osprey aircraft crashed. Ryan Owens father, who is a veteran himself, said, “Don’t hide behind my son’s death to prevent an investigation.  I want an investigation.  The government owes my son an investigation.”   Sadly, atrocities committed during wartime are rarely investigated.  

We mourn the senseless and tragic loss of these lives.  There was no “imminent threat.”  There was no battlefield, except what the U.S. determined should be made into one.  Just a small Yemeni village.  The same little village that endured another U.S. military atrocity on December 12, 2013. On that grave day the U.S. decided to fire drone hellfire missiles on a wedding convoy.  

The groom, 2 of his children and 12 others were killed. The strike was supposedly targeting al-Qaida militants, but was later called “a mistake” by officials.  How many military atrocities must one little village in Yemen endure?  How would you feel if your own town was attacked by a foreign nation repeatedly over several years, killing your women and children?  Where will this lead?  How many schools, homes, health clinics, or college tuitions could be paid for with the $75 million it cost to build one U.S. Osprey?  One Global Hawk costs over $200 million.  How could we better spend our resources?

DRONE KILLING:  Obama’s legacy and Trump’s Inheritance:

In the first few days of Trump’s presidency, several U.S. drone strikes struck in Yemen.  Officials claimed that 10 militants were killed.  Were these suspected militants or actual militants?  Did the U.S. know their names, or the story of their lives?  Were they wage earners, students, farmers?  Who were they?  Does the U.S. have the right to execute a person in a foreign country on suspicion alone?  Do our police have the right to shoot and kill a person on suspicion alone?

According to leaked military documents, in a 6 month period alone in Afghanistan 90% of those killed by drones were civilians.  [The Drone Papers, The Intercept]   Is there any success in the continuation of these policies that continue to make more enemies in the world?  If we acted in a way that demonstrated that the value of a person’s life in a foreign country was as valuable as the Navy Seals member, Ryan Owens, who died, would we come closer to the possibility of a lasting world peace?  Please read over the statistics of the Sept. 2016 drone strike in Afghanistan,

and ask yourself what you could change or do to help create a world that is safer for everyone.

We of Occupy Beale Air Force Base say:

PLEASE STOP KILLING OUR MUSLIM SISTERS & BROTHERS.  Ground the Drones!  End the Wars!

15 Civilian Drone Victims,  September 27, Achin district, Eastern Afghanistan

55 Taj Mohammad labor 60 Noor Mohammad Farmer 70 Shaali Farmer 70 Subhan Shah labor 30 Haji Raees school pricipal 30 Leyas Kheel Farmer 70 Haji Mohammad Akbar village leader 25 Munar Driver 55 labor 60 Meer Rahman labor 26 Wakeel Teacher 30 Haji Abdul Karim labor 23 Haji Abdul Karim labor 17 Haji Abdul Karim labor 24 Syed Hakim labor