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Drones

The One-Man Legal Machine Pursuing Justice For Pakistani Drone Victims

October 30, 2013 Humna Bhojani, www.alternet.org ,
Akbar can't get into the country to help his clients. As drone strike victims he represents travel to the U.S. to testify before Congress on October 29, they will be without their trusted lawyer. For the second time in two years, his visa application to enter has been held up by the U.S. As a special prosecutor at the National Accountability Bureau in Pakistan, Akbar cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on a couple of cases, and held a diplomatic visa to the US for two years. After resigning from his job, he worked as a short-term consultant for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Soon after, in 2010, he initiated drone litigation. “Everything changed completely,” he recalls. American diplomat friends plainly expressed their disapproval; USAID contacts made it clear that he would no longer get any USAID work.

Congress Disgraces United States Fails To Show For Drone Hearing

October 30, 2013 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
Alan Grayson (D-FL) organized an historic hearing on US drone strikes. It was the first time that drone strike victims told their stories to U.S. elected officials at a hearing. The Rehman family traveled halfway around the world from Pakistan to tell the story of their families loss; the killing of the families grandmother. Only five members of Congress bothered to show up. What does this show about the United States political leadership? It is shameful. Below are three articles describing the scene and the families ordeal. We need to help them change the hearts and minds of Americans especially our elected leadership. Please share this with the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call) and your representatives in Congress.

Tell Me, Mr President, Why A US Drone Killed My Mother

October 28, 2013 Rafiq ur Rehman, www.theguardian.com ,
The last time I saw my mother, Momina Bibi, was the evening before Eid al-Adha. She was preparing my children's clothing and showing them how to make sewaiyaan, a traditional sweet made of milk. She always used to say: the joy of Eid is the excitement it brings to the children. Last year, she never had that experience. The next day, 24 October 2012, she was dead, killed by a US drone that rained fire down upon her as she tended her garden. Nobody has ever told me why my mother was targeted that day. The media reported that the attack was on a car, but there is no road alongside my mother's house. Several reported the attack was on a house. But the missiles hit a nearby field, not a house. All reported that five militants were killed. Only one person was killed – a 67-year-old grandmother of nine.

Empire: America’s “Secret Wars” in Over 100 Countries

October 26, 2013 Andrew Gavin Marshall, www.hamptoninstitution.org ,
Obama's global terror campaign is not only dependent upon his drone assassination program, but increasingly it has come to rely upon the deployment of Special Operations forces in countries all over the world, reportedly between 70 and 120 countries at any one time. As Obama has sought to draw down the large-scale ground invasions of countries (as Bush pursued in Afghanistan and Iraq), he has escalated the world of 'covert warfare,' largely outside the oversight of Congress and the public. One of the most important agencies in this global "secret war" is the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC for short. JSOC was established in 1980 following the failed rescue of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran as "an obscure and secretive corner of the military's hierarchy," noted the Atlantic.

Historic Aquittal Of Anti-Drone Witness At Fort Hancock Air Base

October 26, 2013 Mary Anne Grady Flores, JusticewithPeace.org, www.popularresistance.org ,
In a historic decision five Catholic Worker activists were acquitted earlier this evening of disorderly conduct charges for blocking the main entrance to Hancock Air Base, home of the 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard, Syracuse, New York. Hancock is a Reaper drone hub whose technicians pilot weaponized drones over Afghanistan. The five went “pro se," defending themselves in the De Witt town court of Judge Robert Jokl. In his closing statement Fr. Bill Picard said, "We pray for you, Judge Jokl, to have the courage to do the right and courageous thing."

US Diplomat: Each US Drone Attack Creates ’40 to 60′ New Enemies

October 24, 2013 Jon Queally, www.commondreams.org ,
In an article published at TomDispatch earlier this week, the site's editor Tom Engelhardt gave the recent and ongoing counterterrorism strategy of the U.S. military an unkind moniker by dubbing it a perpetual "blowback machine." In the post-9/11 world, according to Engelhardt, "wherever U.S. military power has been applied," the consistent outcome of armed intervention—from the illegal invasion of Iraq and the NATO-backed overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya to the ongoing U.S. drone campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere —has been to "destabilize whole regions."

Fund For Pakistani Drone Victims Going To US-Based NGOs

October 23, 2013 Medea Benjamin, www.mondoweiss.net , , ,
The peace group CODEPINK recently discovered that every year for the past four years, a pot of $10 million has been allocated for Pakistani drone strike victims. That would make a total of $40 million, quite a hefty sum to divide among a few hundred families. But it appears that none of this money has actually reached them. The Pakistani Civilian Assistance Fund was modeled after the ones that exist in Iraq and Afghanistan, where money was allocated to help alleviate the suffering of civilians harmed by US military operations as part of a strategy to “win hearts and minds.” In the case of Pakistan, where the CIA operates its drones, the money is supposed to go directly to the families of innocent drone victims, or for needs like medical expenses or rebuilding homes.

US Drone Strikes Could Be War Crimes: Amnesty International

October 22, 2013 Jon Boone, www.theguardian.com ,
US officials responsible for the secret CIA drone campaign against suspected terrorists in Pakistan may have committed war crimes and should stand trial, a report by a leading human rights group warns.Amnesty International has highlighted the case of a grandmother who was killed while she was picking vegetables and other incidents which could have broken international laws designed to protect civilians. The report is issued in conjunction with an investigation by Human Rights Watch detailing missile attacks in Yemen which the group believes could contravene the laws of armed conflict, international human rights law and Barack Obama's own guidelines on drones.

Maine Drone Walk Gets Local Media Coverage

October 14, 2013 Bruce Gagnon, www.space4peace.blogspot.com ,
We walked along the Kennebec River yesterday as we approached Skowhegan. The colorful fall leaves on trees overhanging the narrow road made for a picturesque moment. We took a break at a beautiful park on the river and as we were preparing to leave a reporter from the Waterville newspaper stopped to interview us. The same story ran in three papers (Portland, Augusta, Waterville) across the state this morning. The Bangor Daily News also has an article today. It just goes to show though that if you get out and do the hard work - walking and reaching out to people across the state - that you can in fact make some level of impact. Last night, just before our pot luck supper began in Skowhegan, I played the video (just below on the blog) from TV coverage we got in Old Town. The Japanese were thrilled to see themselves appearing on American TV so quickly during the walk.

2013 Drone Summit – Drones Around the Globe

October 13, 2013 Staff, www.codepinkalert.org ,
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks the U.S. government has increasingly deployed drones in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. While the U.S. military and the CIA initially used drones primarily for surveillance, these remotely controlled aerial vehicles are currently routinely used to launch missiles against human targets in countries where the United States is not at war, including Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. As many as 3,000 people, including hundreds of noncombatants and even American citizens, have been killed in covert missions. Our nation is leading the way toward a new form of warfare – where pilots sitting on the ground thousands of miles away command drone strikes and where targets are (in military jargon) “neutralized,” and where unintended victims are dismissed as “collateral damage.”

Malala Yousafzai Meets President Obama, Asks Him To Stop Drone Attacks

October 13, 2013 Max Rivlin-Nadler www.gawker.com , , ,
"I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees," Yousafzai said in a statement after the meeting. "I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact."

VIDEO: Millions WorldWide March Against Monsanto

October 12, 2013 Dennis Trainor, Jr., www.acronymtv.wordpress.com , , , , ,
Millions March Worldwide Against Monsanto: Resistance Report O10: Saturday October 12- People in over 400 cities and 57 countries march against Monsanto. The worldwide action comes days ahead of Monsanto receiving the Nobel Prize for Agriculture- the prestigious World Prize of Food for creating GMO’s. Also in this episode of the Resistance Report. Is the Department of Homeland Security Preparing for Another Wall Street Collapse? (5:37) The Plunder of Africa (9:22 ) Veterans Arrested at Their Own Memorial (16:51 ) It’s the Drones, Stupid(19:21 )

Drones Will Soon Make Deadly Decisions On Their Own

October 10, 2013 Joshua Foust, www.nationaljournal.com ,
Scientists, engineers and policymakers are all figuring out ways drones can be used better and more smartly, more precise and less damaging to civilians, with longer range and better staying power. One method under development is by increasing autonomy on the drone itself. Eventually, drones may have the technical ability to make even lethal decisions autonomously: to respond to a programmed set of inputs, select a target and fire their weapons without a human reviewing or checking the result. Yet the idea of the U.S. military deploying a lethal autonomous robot, or LAR, is sparking controversy. Though autonomy might address some of the current downsides of how drones are used, they introduce new downsides policymakers are only just learning to grapple with.

Anti-drones Protesters Are Praised By Judge

October 10, 2013 Richard Norton-Taylor, www.theguardian.com ,
Six protesters who broke into RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, home of Britain's first unmanned drones base, were described by a judge at their trial on Monday as "dutiful people". He said it was only with a "heavy heart" that he found them guilty of criminal damage to the base. Judge John Stobart ordered the protesters to pay £10 compensation each to the RAF, £75 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge. He said he would welcome an appeal. The protesters argued that the use of unmanned drones was a breach of international law and accused the government of war crimes. Susan Clarkson, Christopher Cole, Henrietta Cullinan, Keith Hebden, Martin Newell and Penelope Walker all denied criminal damage to a fence belonging to the RAF on 3 June.

California Residents Call for ‘No Drone Zone’ in Their County

October 4, 2013 Staff, www.popularresistance.org
Some Nevada County, California citizens are taking domestic drone matters into their own hands and have drafted a local initiative banning drones from public use and requiring search warrants for law enforcement use. The County Counsel for Nevada County opposes the proposed initiative claiming citizens have no “jurisdiction” to pass such law since the FAA “governs all airspace” and the issue is preempted by federal law. County Counsel has commenced legal proceedings and has stopped the initiative process at this time.
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