Drone strikes and extrajudicial killings are part of a larger system of permanent war that has existed for generations in the United States and shows no sign of abating. (Image: Predator drone via Shutterstock)
On September 14, 2015, Air Force Times published the advertisement shown here carrying the message from 54 U.S. military veterans urging U.S. drone operators to refuse orders to fly drone surveillance/attack missions.
In addition to Iraq Veterans Against the War, KnowDrones.com, Veterans for Peace and World Can’t Wait, the ad is supported by: Code Pink; Mennonite 1040 for Peace Committee; War Is a Crime.com and WorldBeyondWar.com and many people who contributed on GoFundMe and in response to appeals at the annual Kateri and Veterans for Peace conferences.
Air Force Times is a weekly newspaper, owned by Tegna Inc., with a circulation of over 65,000 that includes members of the Air Force, the Air National Guard, Pentagon officials and members of Congress and their staffs.
The ad comes at a time of increasing drone surveillance and attack missions, which are now underway in Syria as well as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
A Bureau of Investigative Journalism report indicates that other areas under drone surveillance and potential places of attack include: “Iran, North Africa, the Trans-Sahel (West Africa), Levant region (includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey as well as Syria), Gulf States and territorial waters.”
