December 2016 Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A.
“We kill because we can” and drones make that choice easy. But does any person or any country have the moral or political right to kill just because they can?
Militarized drones have become the “weapon of choice” for the Obama administration. While he was Sec'y. of Defense, (2011-2013) Leon Panetta remarked, “It's the only game in town.” And from Pres. Barak Obama, “The CIA gets what it wants.”
Congruent with these remarks, the U.S. continues its wars in the Middle East, including 15 years in Afghanistan while in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Somalia the military's intent is to defeat ISIS. From 2009 onward the U.S. used drones in Yemen to destroy Al Qaeda. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been flying warplanes supplied by the U.S., guided by U.S. intelligence, and dropping U.S.-made bombs on Yemen. These bombs have destroyed homes, factories, funeral parlors, schools, and markets, and killed thousands of ordinary people. This campaign is aimed at crushing a rebellion among the Houthis that threatens Saudi control of Yemen.
Drones make it possible to kill others without endangering the lives of our military, the decider's life is not at stake, and thus they are named “the weapon of choice,” or perhaps the “weapon of cowards.” (G. Chamayou, “A Theory of the Drone” 2015)
Wielding deadly force to settle grievances has become the norm. Targeted killing with drones “represents a radically new and illegal use of state-sanctioned lethal force.” (Jane Mayer in the New Yorker 10/26/09) “Reaper” and “Predator” are well chosen names for the lethal drones. These are globalized manhunts. President Obama and CIA Director John Brennan reportedly meet weekly to determine who shall be on the targeted killing list, i.e. “suspected terrorists” who present a threat to the U.S. or an ally. A “suspected terrorist” is then tracked from one of the drone bases in the U.S. and the order is sent out to kill that suspect. Any persons close to the targeted individual will also be killed, a violation of international law.
“Signature strikes” or “crowd killing” are another form of drone attack. Multiple suspicious individuals are targeted on the basis of their association with other apparently suspicious persons, or we could say “they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” It is policy to assume that one of them is a “terrorist” and thus all may be killed by a drone strike.
There is a conversation within the Administration considering the possibility of the drone program being under the control of the Pentagon. While it is CIA controlled there is really no accountability, records of death and attacks. During Obama's administration that has been the policy.
Between 2009 and December 2015, the Administration claimed that it launched 473 strikes, mostly with drones,
that killed between what it said were 2,372 and 2,581 terrorist “combatants.” The assessment presents the White House’s account of the death toll from a method of warfare that defines Obama’s legacy in many parts of the world. Yet the count is incomplete, leaving out the civilian toll from drone strikes in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.
The upper limit of the civilian death toll from drones stands at more than 800 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, during the time period covered by Obama’s drones tally. This startlingly fast spread of drone warfare signifies a revolution in foreign affairs. In an unprecedented way it has transformed the U.S. Presidency into the most powerful national office in at least half a century.
Of course these attacks bring anger at the U.S. and are said to create new “terrorist suspects.” An additional source of rage and blowback is the particular kind of humiliation drone attacks bring about. Those on the ground are helpless before this mysterious entity in the sky. Pakistani tribesmen, devoid of the technology or any understanding of it, could neither fire at the object nor throw rocks at it. And there is no emotion more likely to result in violence than that of humiliation.
Warfare drones are controlled from Creech Air Base in Nevada by uniformed military personnel who work regular 8 hour shifts at computer screens in small window less cubicles and go home, never having direct human intervention with “suspects”. Horsham Air Base near Philadelphia recently reopened as a Drone Command Center. It will function as Creech and other bases do. From these bases drone operators follow the individuals who have been targeted and they then send a message to
Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The final order is sent from Ramstein, ordering the killing by an armed drone usually carrying a Hellfire missile. The list of suspects being targeted is compiled by Pres. Obama and CIA Director Brennan who reportedly meet weekly to determine who shall be on the list.
Why are drones the weapon of choice for the U.S. wars on “terror,” continuing for the last 15 years? The purported intent is to keep “Americans safe from terrorist attacks.” And drones “save the lives of U.S. military.” U.S. drone operators are quitting, suffering from psychic wounds - anger, depression, PTSD and some committing suicide. It is an illusion to think that someone, even those trained to kill, will not pay a price. Hence the great and persistent need on the part of those who conduct and justify war, any war, to convince us, the public, that their young men (and now women) did not "die in vain" - that those deaths had deep meaning for the overall community or nation.
What kind of system would wage these wars, that never end, be-cause the flames of hatred and revenge are always being fanned. The truth is that ISIS is still active, and thousands of people in the war ravaged countries are dying or becoming refugees.
It is writer Laurie Calhoun who has written, “We kill because we can.” That seems to sum it up. Our country, with its military technology, a Pentagon budget of $582 billion for 2017, and over a trillion with other costs considered, a defense industry making profits, and the easy kill with drones, seems to have settled for perpetual wars. War without losses or defeats becomes perpetual war. We eliminate the “enemy.”
No one in our government is saying “Stop the Wars” - neither Congress nor the Courts, and certainly not the Pentagon.
We are the only ones to say, “We are finished with wars.”
Marge VanCleef
coordinator of Philadelphia Area Anti-drone Network mvc@igc.org
Addendum: Arundhati Roy suggests that the "most appropriate metaphor for the insanity of our times" is the Siachen Glacier, where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have killed each other on the highest battlefield in the world.
The glacier is now melting and revealing "thousands of empty artillery shells, empty fuel drums, ice axes, old boots, tents and every other kind of waste that thousands of warring human beings generate" in meaningless conflict. And as the glaciers melt, India and Pakistan face indescribable disaster.” (2014)
DEATH WALK AGAINST DRONE WARFARE IN CENTER CITY/PHILA .. 1st Saturday
We oppose the wars and all bombings and have walked monthly for 7 years on 1st Saturdays, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00, This is a Silent Vigil … with hope that you will join us. Marge VanCleef mvc@igc.org
See www.Brandywinepeace.com for info on the Drone War Command Center in Horsham, PA
