Medea Benjamin's Powerpoint presentation on research and action on drones, part of the November 20, 2012 Webinar sponsored by Fellowship of Reconciliation. See http://forusa.org/militarism-watch
America Is the Target; Israel Is the Front Line _ Andy Blumenthal _ The Blogs...
Drones Webinar Medea Benjamin 20Nov2012
1. Predator/Reaper/Avenger
drones
SOURCES:
Google ‚Drones‛ and make yourself a ‚drones‛
google alert
Wikipedia (general atomics, predator, reaper, avenger)
US Airforce Official Site www.af.mil
AUVSI www.auvsi.org
6. Where has the US conducted drone strikes?
• Iraq
• Afghanistan
• Libya
• Pakistan
• Yemen
• Somalia
• Philippines
• Mali?
Where does the US have overseas drone bases?
Afghanistan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (for
Yemen), Djbouti (for Somalia), Seychelles (off coast of E
Africa), Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Turkey, Australia (Cocos
Islands)
8. Best statistics for Drone Strikes:
Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia
Bureau of Investigative Journalism
New America Foundation
The Long War Journal
*Be cautious about the usage of the word ‘militant’
9. Maezol Khan, 8 years old,
killed Feb 14, 2009
Ground Zero of Drone War- Pictures (http://tinyurl.com/c7coz25)
10. August 23, 2010
Syed Wali
• 5 houses targeted believed
to be of Haqqani network
• Killed mostly woman and
children
• No prominent Taliban/AQ
leader was killed
13. List of photos/victims’ names
Pictures of Drone Victims
List of names from Drone
Strike that killed many
civilians
We will be providing link
for a list of names of the
victims from several
countries at
droneswatch.org
15. Legal Issues
Issues:
• Self-defense is limited to imminent threat
• Non-military organization (CIA) cannot legally employ lethal force
Drones are illegal outside combat zones
• Targets must be directly participating in hostilities
• Nations cannot violate another nation’s sovereignty
• 2001 AUMF is for those “associated with 9/11”
Other sources:
Mary Ellen O’Connell is on the front lines in the battle against the legality
of drone strikes. Article
Madea Benjamin’s book Drone Warfare
Living Under Drones: http://livingunderdrones.org
16. Global Proliferation
• 76 countries possess drones
(GAO report)
• Main producers
US, Israel, China
• Israel is number 1
exporter, exporting 85% of
drones to 50 countries
• Iran has US spy drone; helping
Venezuela build drones
• Unprecedented growth in
market: projected value over
the next 10 years is over $70
billion.
21. Congressional Unmanned Vehicle Systems Caucus
Mission statement of the drone caucus: to address “The urgent need
to rapidly develop and deploy more unmanned systems in support of
ongoing civil, military and law enforcement operations.”
Feb. 14, 2012 new legislation passed, signed by Obama
Leadership:
Donations from drone companies to
drone caucus members from border
states, 2009-2012
Representative Amount
Buck McKeon (R-CA) $124,500
Jerry Lewis (R-CA) $108,000
Ken Calvert (R-CA) $106,500
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) $97,000
Duncan Hunter (R-CA) $96,225
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)McKeon Co-ChairBilbray (R-CA)
Buck Brian $54,500
(CA-25) Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) $52,500
Co-Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) $45,000
Contact your congressperson Source: http://tinyurl.com/d3fan8p
here : www.opensecrets.org
23. What can we do
about drones?
• Educate yourself—
buy Drone Warefare book CODEPINK
• Educate others- get Occucards
• Protests at bases, manufacturers
• Contact police departments and pass
Drone-Free Zones resolutions
• Outreach to Faith Community
Check Out:
Drones Watch
No Drones Network
Upstate Drone Action
Knowdrones
Veterans For Peace
CODEPINK
World Can’t Wait
Notes de l'éditeur
AUVSI membership $85 for individuals / $15 for students
Ck site of AeroVironment (http://www.avinc.com/) and AeroVironment in wikipediaMiniature UAV and Micro air vehicle in wikipedia
See Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (http://www.avinc.com/)Become a member…
How to reach pilots? Talk to them at bases, restaurants near bases; twitter
Slide: add sources (NickTurse?; anything from military or AUVSI?
List place to go for pictures droneswatch
According to Bureau of Investigative Journalism – 175 killed… many die by shrapnel, you won’t see them in US media
Put cover???
Add sources
Map?
Contact your police department; ask for PR person? Ask for meeting? Ask questions re EFF
60 individuals (bi-partisan: mainly republican but democrats as well) Donations from drone companies to drone caucus members from border states, 2009-2012 Representative Amount Buck McKeon (R-CA) $124,500 Jerry Lewis (R-CA) $108,000 Ken Calvert (R-CA) $106,500 Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) $97,000 Duncan Hunter (R-CA) $96,225 BrianBilbray (R-CA) $54,500 KevinMcCarthy (R-CA) $52,500 DarrellIssa (R-CA) $45,000 LorettaSanchez (D-CA) $43,500 Trent Franks (R-AZ) $34,500 Mike Conaway (R-TX) $33,000 Pete Olson (R-TX) $32,500 Henry Cuellar (D-TX) $32,400 Michael McCaul (R-TX) $30,500 David Dreier (R-CA) $16,000 Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) $16,000 Gene Green (D-TX) $8,000 Blake Farenthold (R-TX) $4,000 Elton Gallegly (R-CA) $2,000 Paul Gosar (R-AZ) $1,000 Steve Pearce (R-NM) $1,000 Total$938,625Source: Center for Responsive Politics, Investigative Newsource, Fronteras Desk
Medea’s action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXj7YfLRx5IAirbases being used