Thursday, November 15, 2012

Drones: What are YOU prepared to do?

In recent days and weeks, there have been a growing number of public events designed to educate the public about the problem of drones and drone killing. The speakers range from Congressmen . . . to high-profile antiwar figures . . . to people engaging in civil disobedience . . . to participants in the recent Code Pink Pakistan delegation . . . to leaders of drone education tours.

The common thread in all these events is -- or should be -- the message they all give to audience members: Now it's time for YOU to carry this conversation forward!

The only hope we have is to get a far greater number of people involved in the talking about and resisting the drones menace. All of us belong to groups -- whether church groups, book groups, community associations, peace and justice groups -- where the issues of drones and drone killings can and should be discussed.

As anyone who has attended any of the drone education events knows, the background information needed to carry this conversation forward is relatively easy to obtain. The big need is for people who have the courage to take the conversation to the next step. There are really just five questions, and everyone is able to participate in discussing them:
(1) Is it wrong? Whether you come at it from a faith perspective, or another ethical grounding, or a political philosophy, or just gut instinct, everyone is capable of looking at the facts surrounding drone killing and addressing this most important question. (For some examples of people tackling this problem, see the Awake to Drones project.

(2) Is it urgent? (A good place to start is by looking at the proliferation of drone bases, drone training, and drone experimentation in the U.S.)

(3) Who's in control? Many people disagree about who, really, is calling the shots when it comes to U.S. warmaking. Does Congress have anything to say? Is it all just the President? CIA? The generals? Or some other forces? We need to be honest with ourselves about how far out of control the drones have gotten.

(4) What kind of resistance is effective? Every day, there are new efforts to resist the rapid increase in drone warfare, drone killing, and drone surveillance. (Many examples are on the No Drones Network site.) What's effective? That's still being determined. That's why your participation and thinking is needed.

(5) What are YOU prepared to do? The only hope we have is to get a far greater number of people involved in the talking about and resisting the drones menace. All of us belong to groups -- whether church groups, book groups, community associations, peace and justice groups -- where the issues of drones and drone killings can and should be discussed.

As anyone who has attended any of the drone education events knows, the background information needed to carry this conversation forward is relatively easy to obtain. The big need is for people who have the courage to take the conversation to the next step. There are really just five questions, and everyone is able to participate in discussing them:
(1) Is it wrong? . . . .

Monday, November 5, 2012

Challenging Dronotopia: Introduction

by Nick Mottern
From: Challenging Dronotopia

This is a report about an educational expedition on US drone warfare and drone surveillance that George Guerci and I undertook into parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in September and October 2012.

This was the final leg of the 2012 Know Drones Tour1, the purpose of which was to not only to educate the public about drones but to learn what people are thinking politically across the country and to explore ways of increasing peace activism.

We carried with us two, eight-foot-long replicas of the MQ-9 Reaper drone; the Reaper is the workhorse of US global campaign of drone assassination and terror2. The replicas were extremely valuable in emotionally engaging a public immersed in an America-First culture, desperately trying to avoid the sadness of war and trying to survive economically and emotionally amidst the wreckage of a manufacturing economy.

Our method was to talk to people for as long as they wanted, to be respectful and not argumentative, and to explain what drones are, what they are doing and what they will be able to do. We said that the drone is an extremely dangerous weapon in part because it energizes fantasies of killing without consequences. We constantly had to respond to the argument that drones are saving lives.

In our presentations and conversations, we provided the following information and analysis, much of which may be familiar to you:

Drones, unmanned aircraft, have been used in various forms on a very limited basis since the early 1900s. For instance, Joseph Kennedy, a brother of President John Kennedy, died in World War II while flying a drone bomber that exploded just as he was about to bail out and have control of his plane shifted to radio control. At the beginning of the 21st Century advances in micro-technology and satellite communication have enabled a dramatic expansion in the use of drones. The US Air Force is now training more drone pilots than pilots for manned aircraft; indeed there is a shortage of drone pilots. New drone control bases are being opened in Nashville, Tennessee and at Fort Benning, Georgia, adding to existing bases in the West and East.

Drone spending is growing in the US military budget. In universities and aerospace firms across the US, there are thousands of researchers, funded by hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars in military grants, working on an array of artificial intelligence, sensing, control and communications devices for new generations of drones. These drones, of all sizes, will have ever greater capabilities of attack and surveillance and the power to obliterate our privacy, safety and community, our sense of control over our own lives, our sense of identity, our economic health and our lives.

Nick Mottern speaking at the
Mennonite Church in Columbus, OH
Already US drones are doing this to thousands of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and the Philippines. Drones are being sent back to Libya and will be sent to Mali. Drone killing, sometimes called targeted killing, and terror generated by drones, has reached the point where Medact3, an organization of health professionals in the United Kingdom, has called for drones to be included in arms limitations treaties and made “the subject of specific legislation to limit and eventually stop their development, use and proliferation.”

Nevertheless, the drone is becoming a key weapon, if not the most important weapon, in US military and diplomatic strategy. This is in spite of the fact that US drone strikes are violating international and domestic laws; President Obama, in ordering these strikes, is a war criminal.

The drone, without a human pilot on board, and at risk, is the perfect weapon, as well as a symbol, for an American public wishing to be disengaged from feelings of responsibility and consequences of killing.

Although we are effectively at war in the nations under drone attack, Congress has made no objection to the attacks and has exercised no effective oversight on the drone wars; members of Congress receive substantial contributions from drone makers.

The major US news organizations enable public disengagement by failing to present images of victims of drone strikes, just as they have censored images of Americans and Afghanis who are being wounded and killed in more than 10 years of the Afghanistan War. Nor has the major press reported fully on the legal, moral and political implications of our drone attacks.

The major press has let stand without challenge the notion that drone attacks are saving US lives rather than the more accurate view that drones are increasing risk for Americans, essentially like throwing gasoline on a fire.

For example, the Quilliam Foundation, a British analytic group, believes that the killing of the US ambassador to Libya in September 2012 was in retaliation for the killing of a Libyan in Pakistan in a June 2012 US drone strike.

American Legacy
by Steve Fryburg
The US press also refuses to note that drones, and US troops, are engaged in long-term struggles to secure zones of safe operation and profit for Western corporations in resource-rich parts of the world. These struggles, described by Michael Klare in The Race for What’s Left, are never mentioned by major news organizations, much less the central and expanding role that drones will play in these struggles. Nor is there any talk of how “conquering” resource zones contributes to the profligate use of non-renewable resources and consequences like global warming.

Under a law enacted in 2012, drones of any size and carrying any type of weapon will be permitted to fly in US airspace as of September 15, 2015, provided “safety technology” can be perfected to prevent collisions. This presents a threat to personal privacy and to the right to peacefully assemble to protest, an essential right, particularly in the face of the erosion of the US economy.

In reaction to the human tragedies created daily by drones, a few Americans have undertaken symbolic blockades of drone control centers at Creech AFB in Nevada, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Hancock Air Base near Syracuse, NY. At least 60 people in total have been arrested in these witnesses. Some have been fined and others have been jailed. Most recently Brian Terrell was sentenced on October 11, 2012 to six months in federal prison in connection with his drone protest at the Whiteman base.

The most drone base protests appear to have been undertaken by the Upstate New York Coalition to Ground the Drones, directed against the Reaper drone control center at Hancock Air Base. The coalition has an excellent website.

In addition, the following peace and justice organizations have been working to educate the public about drone killing and surveillance:
Members of World Can't Wait and others
protest drones during the DNC in Charlotte
Medea Benjamin, co-director of Code Pink, and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, has been touring extensively speaking to speak against drone wars, as has retired Army Colonel Ann Wright. Medea led a delegation of 30 US peace workers, of which Ann was a member, on a visit to Pakistan in September and October to protest US drone strikes there. Kathy Kelly, director of Voices for Creative Non-violence, has traveled to Afghanistan numerous times and is helping Afghan youth who are working for peace and who want an end to drone warfare. Debra Sweet and her colleagues at World Can’t Wait have been persistent in using drone replicas to inject anti-war and anti-drone war messages at a variety of public events, such as the Democratic National Convention.

Joe Scarry, a political organizer in Chicago, is building solidarity and a forward dynamic among state “No Drones” groups through his state-focused blogs and nationwide blog network.

It is important to note that peace organizers in Indiana are conducting an on-going tour in their state opposing drone warfare.

Other nations and political/military organizations are building drones and beginning to use them. We must work not only to stop US drone attacks but for an international ban on weaponized drones and drone surveillance4.

We presented this message in key presidential election swing states within weeks of the election.

On September 17, we leafleted people lined up for an Obama rally at Schiller Park in Columbus, Ohio. While we were packing up our drone replicas, after the crowd went into the rally, we could hear President Obama greeting the people and then huge roars rising up over the trees into the afternoon sky as the crowd responded to him. It frightened me to hear this kind of adulation for a person who orders executions of people in faraway places, trashing international law, raining down death and carnage from the sky. I thought of the ferocious crowds in George Orwell’s “1984”.

But it may be important to consider the roars of the crowd as cries of desperation for a savior of personal and public dreams. Columbus has weathered the recession better than most communities in Ohio, the nation’s third largest manufacturing state, which has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the last decade. At the same time, Columbus is a city that looks to a new casino for hope, has a poverty rate of about 22 percent5 and has large swaths of dilapidated and abandoned houses. Most of its residents, like most Americans, are hounded by debt and fears of being unexpectedly laid off.

To stop US drone killing and spying, it appears that we in the peace movement will have to do more than document the death, illegality and immorality of drone war. We will have to show how drone warfare is key to sustaining the structure of global exploitation that is destroying lives, livelihoods and the environment here in the United States as well as around the world.


To read the rest of the report, download "Challenging Dronotopia: A report of the 2012 Know Drones Tour to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and suggestions for further action," from the Know Drones website.

Additional excerpts available at:
No Drones Network: Challenging Dronotopia: Part One - What We Experienced On the Road
No Drones Ohio: Drone Jobs, Drone Bubble, Drone Distraction
No Drones Virginia: Discussing the Deep Issues of Drones in Charlottesville with Nick Mottern from Know Drones

NOTES

1 For itinerary and other details on the Know Drones Tour see www.knowdrones.com.

2 To date, 15 replicas have been built and distributed to local organizers in the U.S. and four more are under construction to meet other requests. Further information is at www.knowdrones.com as well as a video, Less Distance from War, that lays out in a simple direct way, fundamental concerns about drone war and surveillance.

3 The Medact report was released after we completed the Ohio/Pennsylvania/Virginia tour, but the points it makes are ones that we made on the tour, including calling for an international ban on weaponized drones and drone surveillance.

4 The 24/7, day by day monitoring of individuals and groups that is possible with drones makes surveillance itself a weapon of intimidation and terror.

5 The State of Poverty in Ohio, Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, May, 2011.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Drones Activism: Big Stories in the No Drones Network

Below are links to some of the most viewed pages during the past 6 months on sites in the No Drones Network. Obviously, this is just a sampling of drones activism nationwide -- but a great place to start! (What are you prepared to do?)


CHICAGO: Taking the NO DRONES! Message to the Masses at Chicago's Air & Water Show: "As we sit here in comfort, and ooh and ahh over these war machines, it's important that we remember, that when the rest of the world hears these sounds, it means that their lives may soon be ending." (Read more . . . . )




WISCONSIN: Welcome to Oshkosh! (got drones?): David Soumis and Lars Prip from No Drones Wisconsin greeted visitors to the largest airshow in the country -- EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin* -- on Saturday, July 28, with the 1/5-size replica of a Reaper drone (which the recently obtained from Know Drones) and signs that said "Flight Emergency: A Drone Impacting Your Aircraft," "Fly Safe in U.S. Airspace: NO DRONES," and "No Drone Eyes in Our Skies." (Read more . . . . )



OHIO: Ohio Congressman Michael Turner: Stop the Drones!: The following is a letter to Congressman Michael Turner, who represents Ohio's 3rd congressional district. It was sent in connection with a visit to Rep. Turner's office on Friday, September 14, part of the Know Drones tour of the Dayton/Springfield/Columbus area. (Read more . . . . )







INDIANAPOLIS: My visits to Pakistan and Kurdistan: JoAnne Lingle of Indianapolis on the Code Pink peace delegation to Pakistan: "We want to reach out to the people there to show that we care about their lives; we want to show the American public how civilians are being targeted by drones; we want to come back to the US and tell the stories of drone victims. Our larger goal is to stop the drone strikes." (Read more . . . . )




MISSOURI: September 10: Put the Drones on Trial! Join Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ann Wright and Bill Quigley: The defendants, Ron Faust of Kansas City and Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, participated in the April 15 “Trifecta Resista” protest at Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base, from where killer drones engage in combat in Afghanistan by remote control. The protest at Whiteman is one of many in response to the US government’s increasing use of drones in recent years, but the trial in Jefferson City is the first time that charges have been filed not in local courts but in US District Court. (Read more . . . . )


CHARLOTTE: DNC Ends, NC Drone Protests Accelerate: Chapel Hill, Durham and Beyond: The week of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte was marked by protests against drones -- both in Charlotte itself, in Chicago (the site of Obama 2012 campaign headquarters), and in other locations. (Read more . . . . )





NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: Beale: Occupy Militarism, Ground the Drones, Shut the Base Down!: Protests and No Drones Encampments are held monthly at Beale Air Force Base, one hour north of Sacramento, near Marysville. Beale pilots control the Global Hawk, an important surveillance and reconnaissance drone that plays an important role in finding military drone targets and coordinating information before and during drone strikes. Pilots at Beale witness the carnage and devastation of drone strikes and are complicit in the assassination program. (Read more . . . . )


SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: San Diego: Protests of Drone Maker General Atomics Go Global: Members of the San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP) and a growing body of fellow protesters gather every week at the headquarters of the company that supplies the workhorse of the U.S. program of drone killing and drone surveillance -- the Predator and Reaper drones. Their goal in demonstrating outside the General Atomics facility is to heighten public awareness of the problems presented by drone technology, and to instigate oversight of drone use. (Read more . . . . )


FLORIDA: Why We Need to STOP the Raytheon Drones Killing Machine : A Raytheon spokesperson reportedly responded to the protest against his company's killer drone role by playing the employment card: "Here in Largo and St. Petersburg, Raytheon has more than 1,000 employees making communication products and systems that protect our national security and help keep America safe," said Peter Ramjug, according to the Tampa Bay Times. (See Drone maker Raytheon target of first RNC-related protest.) Apparently, the "communication products and systems" he refers to are the laser-guidance systems on the PAVE 500-lb bombs Raytheon supplies for drones. (Read more . . . . )


PENNSYLVANIA: September: Know Drones in Pennsylvania: Bethlehem and Bucks County: "Hino Haitham, a Lehigh University grad student born in Yemen, said the problem with the drones is not its planned use as law enforcement tools locally, but its current use as military weapons. Haitham's experience with drones came in 2009, when a drone strike in a village where she had family killed 40 civilians. 'They hadn't heard of Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida or anyone else like that,' she said. An international rights group has a lawsuit in the works regarding that strike, Haitham said." (Read more . . . . )


MARYLAND: Calling for End to Drone Research at Johns Hopkins University: On Tuesday May 8, nine activists, as part of an action organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR), occupied the office of the president of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for eight hours, calling on the university to end the drone research that is being conducted at the Applied Physics Lab (APL). (Read more . . . . )



INDIANA: A Drone Tragedy Revealed in Indiana: Mr. Robert Rast's son, Navy corpsman Benjamin Rast, was killed accidentally in a Reaper drone strike in Afghanistan in April 2011; that strike also killed Marine Staff Sergeant Jeremy Smith. Robert Rast has set the replica up in his front yard and sits with it, telling those who stop what happened to his son. (Read more . . . . )



For more actions No Drones activity around the country, visit the sites listed on the right-hand side of this page! (What are you prepared to do?)

Monday, October 29, 2012

Challenging Dronotopia: Part One - What We Experienced On the Road

The following excerpt is from "Challenging Dronotopia: A report of the 2012 Know Drones Tour to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and suggestions for further action," by Nick Mottern. (Download the full "Challenging Dronotopia" report.)


“U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.”

In the late afternoon of September 20, 2012, in Room 101 of Maginnes Hall at Leigh University, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a young woman student from Yemen touched off a blast of reality that startled and sobered 50 or so of her fellow students and townspeople attending a talk I was giving about US drone attacks and surveillance. Paraphrased, she said:

“I get the feeling that there are those in this room who value American lives much more than the lives of other people in the world. I am from Yemen. I am a city girl, but I live not far from a village where I have family members and where US drones killed 40 people who were doing nothing but minding their daily business. The people in the village have no idea why this happened, they know nothing of al-Qaeda; they are trying to sue the United States.”

After she spoke, there were other comments and questions, but her words hung in the air, a stark personal, undeniable witness to the fact that yes, US drone attacks are killing people and creating great suffering. For all of us there, drone killing now had a face, and the United States stood convicted. At the end of the Q & A, people went up to her to talk and to say they were sorry for what is happening; several, including me, gave her a hug and more thanked her for speaking out.

The woman, with a sweet, friendly disposition, speaking in a soft, direct but extremely firm way, crystallized what appears to be the main reason that the American public is so accepting of drone wars – that is, the widely-held feeling that Americans are exceptional. This notion and the mistaken belief that drones have enabled the US to enter an ideal state of warfare in which the US can kill without consequences are the twin fantasies fueling our drone wars, leading to the illegal killing of thousands and the terrorizing of tens of thousands more.

Her remarks were echoed the next day in the Q & A portion of a similar talk I gave at Lafayette College when a man from Pakistan said that the drones are a waste of money and effort: “You’re trying to win hearts and minds, and then you blow up people at a wedding the next day.”

The words of these people are so strange and compelling because the American press is so American-centered. Furthermore, it appears that there is a thorough-going determination among editors of major news organizations, perhaps toeing a government line, to prevent any images or commentary that could be considered “anti-drone” from reaching the American public. Certainly there is absolutely no TV coverage from the sites of drone attacks.

This truly deadly combination of America First-Ism and censorship is depriving the American public of empathy, an essential human emotion needed for learning and surviving. The woman from Yemen engaged our empathy, piercing, for that moment, the massive government/press conspiracy to suppress it.

The Tour and Our Goals

George Guerci and I visited Lehigh and Lafayette as part of the “Know Drones Tour” that took us to Dayton, Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, and Bethlehem, Easton and Lahaska, Pennsylvania, and Charlottesville, Virginia, between September 12 and October 6, 2012. This was the latest leg of the 2012 tour that has taken George, Kwame Madden, Geoff Smith and me, separately and together, since April 2012, to: Brooklyn, New York; southern New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; the northern tier of Maryland; and Hartford, Connecticut. The tour is focused primarily on Congressional districts of the 55-member Unmanned Systems (drone) Caucus, a body that is essentially a lobbying arm of the drone industry within the US Congress.

We went to Dayton/Springfield because this area, Ohio’s Miami Valley, is second only to southern California as a center for drone research and development, with the focal point Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is the home of Air Force Research Laboratory and the office that oversees the construction, maintenance and improvement of the Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk drones. In addition, Ohio Air National Guard drone “pilots” are controlling Predator drones from Springfield Municipal Airport, attacking in Afghanistan and probably Pakistan.

Our goals were to inform people about the legal, moral and privacy issues presented by drone killing and drone surveillance and to assist local organizers in recruiting people, particularly people in their 20’s and 30’s, to work to ban drone killing and spying, as well as to do other peace work. So we focused on college and university campuses . . . .


To read the rest of the report, download "Challenging Dronotopia: A report of the 2012 Know Drones Tour to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and suggestions for further action," from the Know Drones website.

Additional excerpts available at:
No Drones Ohio: Drone Jobs, Drone Bubble, Drone Distraction
No Drones Virginia: Discussing the Deep Issues of Drones in Charlottesville with Nick Mottern from Know Drones

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Debate Question: Will the Drone Extrajudicial Executions Continue?

A lot of people are working to get drones into the presidential debates that will be held Monday, October 22, and Tuesday, October 23.

How about this simple question?
"If elected, will you continue the present administration's policy of extrajudicial executions using drones?"
Use the web form on the Just Foreign Policy website to urge that drones be addressed in the Obama/Romney debate!

Larry King will be moderating the 3rd party debate -- to include Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Rocky Anderson, and Virgil Goode -- on October 23 in Chicago. He is accepting debate questions on Reddit.

You can copy and paste this message text if you wish:
I'm writing to urge you to ask a question on drones—and to press the candidates on concerns that have been raised about drones—during the foreign policy presidential debate scheduled for Monday, October 22.

I am personally working with people on the following projects across the U.S. to stop the drones:

California - http://nodronescalifornia.blogspot.com
Florida - http://nodronesflorida.blogspot.com/
Illinois - http://nodronesillinois.blogspot.com/
Indiana - http://nodronesindiana.blogspot.com/
Iowa - http://nodronesiowa.blogspot.com/
Kentucky - http://nodroneskentucky.blogspot.com/
Maryland - http://nodronesmaryland.blogspot.com/
Michigan - http://nodronesmichigan.blogspot.com/
Missouri - http://nodronesmissouri.blogspot.com/
New Jersey - http://nodronesnewjersey.blogspot.com/
North Carolina - http://nodronesnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/
Ohio - http://nodronesohio.blogspot.com/
Pennsylvania - http://nodronespennsylvania.blogspot.com/
Texas - http://nodronestexas.blogspot.com/
Virginia - http://nodronesvirginia.blogspot.com/
Washington State - http://nodroneswashington.blogspot.com/
Wisconsin - http://nodroneswisconsin.blogspot.com/

We all want answers from the debate participants on ONE QUESTION: "If elected, will you continue the present administration's policy of extrajudicial executions using drones?"
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Monday, October 15, 2012

New York Times: Report the Facts on U.S. Extrajudicial Executions

On Sunday, October 14, 2012, the New York Times published an editorial by its "public editor" entitled, "Questions on Drones, Unanswered Still".  It described the lack of clear reporting on U.S. drone killings, and observed, "The Times has not been without fault. Since the article ("Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will") in May, its reporting has not aggressively challenged the administration’s description of those killed as “militants” — itself an undefined term. And it has been criticized for giving administration officials the cover of anonymity when they suggest that critics of drones are terrorist sympathizers. Americans, according to polls, have a positive view of drones, but critics say that’s because the news media have not informed them well."

Below is a letter in response to the New York Times editorial from No Drones Network.


To the New York Times Public Editor:

I would like to see the New York Times cite the claimed legal basis (an actual legal complaint, an actual plaintiff's name, an actual finding of fact in a court of law, an actual legal ruling in a court of law) for each of the drone killings it reports. Where these things do not exist, affirmatively report this fact to your readers. Discontinue the practice of printing characterizations of victims by unnamed sources and/or where there is no verifiable basis.

If the facts are properly reported, the American public will be able to recognize these killings for what they are -- extrajudicial executions -- and will see they are completely disconnected from any legitimate or legal acts that can be properly carried out by a representative of the US government.

Joe Scarry
No Drones Network
Chicago

cc:

Medea Benjamin, Code Pink
Zeke Johnson, Amnesty International
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Nick Mottern, Know Drones
Debra Sweet, World Can't Wait

Monday, October 1, 2012

Is It Time for a "NO Drones" Caucus in Congress?

Were you aware that there is a group of over fifty (50) members of the U.S. Congress who have banded together to increase the use of drones ("unmanned aerial vehicles")? They are all members of the Unmanned Systems Caucus. The Congressional drones caucus is full of excitement about the opportunities for profit, as well as for the protection of the military contractors and bases in their districts.

Where is the caucus for members of Congress who want to protect people -- and guard against the dangers of drones? It's time for us to recognize the urgency of this problem, and start to demand that congressmen/women either take a stand with us in opposing drones or step aside and make room for those who will.

Below is a map showing the districts of current members of the Congressional drones caucus, followed by a state-by-state discussion of the drones situation. An important reference for everyone is the letter sent to Congressman Michael Turner of Ohio: this is a model of the kind of public pressure that can be put on supporters of drone killing and drone surveillance in Congress.


Alabama

Alabama congressman Mo Brooks is a member of the drones caucus.

Alabama has two (2) bases that have been approved for drone basing by the Dept. of Defense.

Notably, Fort Rucker in Alabama is home to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence -- the brain trust for the strategy of proliferating drones throughout the U.S. army.

Alaska

Alaska congressman Don Young is a member of the drones caucus.

Alaska has three (3) bases that have been approved for drone basing by the Dept. of Defense.

An article in the Alaska Dispatch -- Unmanned aerial drones the future of Arctic reconnaissance? -- says "H.R. 658, the FAA reauthorization bill, mandates that the FAA must designate six UAV test ranges in U.S. airspace within about six months. But a special clause, and the one most important to Alaska, will designate portions of airspace from the Aleutian Islands to the North Slope for 24-hour UAV use 'for research and commercial purposes.' The amendment was written by Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, with the University of Alaska Unmanned Aircraft Program in mind. That program, based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, has been on the cutting-edge of UAV technology, thanks to Alaska's myriad uses for the science."

Arizona

Arizona congressmen Paul Gosar and Trent Franks are members of the drones caucus.

Arizona has six (6) bases that have been approved for drone basing by the Dept. of Defense.

(NOTE: Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Arkansas

California

There are twelve (12) California members of Congress who belong to the drones caucus.

California has an extremely high concentration of military contractors, including the maker of the Predator and Reaper drones, General Atomics -- and has eighteen (18) military bases that have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing -- the highest count in the nation.

(NOTE: Six California congressman/women were signers of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Colorado

Connecticut

Congressman Joe Courtney of Connecticut is a member of the drones caucus.

Delaware

Florida

Congressmen Ander Crenshaw and Thomas Rooney of Florida are members of the drones caucus.

Florida is home to drone contractors like Raytheon, and there are nine (9) Florida bases that have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Georgia

(NOTE: Georgia Congressmen John Lewis and Henry C. “Hank” Johnson were signers of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use. In addition, Georgia congressman Austin Scott sponsored legislation to rein in domestic drone use (HR5925).)

Hawaii

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa of Hawaii is a member of the drones caucus.

Kaneohe Bay and Wheeler in Hawaii have both been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Idaho

Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho is a member of the drones caucus.

Boise has been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Illinois

(NOTE: Illinois Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Luis Gutierrez were signers of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Indiana

Indiana congressman Rep. Larry Bucshon is a member of the drones caucus.

Indianapolis is home to a major drones contractor -- Raytheon -- and Indiana has two bases (Camp Atterby, Jefferson Range) that have been approved for drone basing by the Dept. of Defense.

Iowa

Kansas

Congressman Mike Pomeo of Kansas is a member of the drones caucus.

Fort Riley, Kansas, has been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Kansas State University launched a bachelor’s degree program in operating drones, and currently operates about a dozen drones.

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland is a member of the drones caucus.

Maryland is home to two bases approved for drone basing, and was the site of a drone crash in June, 2012.

Maryland has also been the site of protests against the drone research at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

(NOTE: Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Massachusetts

(NOTE: Massachusetts Congressman James P. McGovern was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Michigan

Two members of Congress from Michigan are members of the drones caucus: Mike Rogers and Candice Miller.

The University of Michigan is one of 25 universities authorized to fly unarmed drones.

(NOTE: Michigan Congressman John Conyers was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Minnesota

(NOTE: Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Mississippi

Congressman Steven Palazzo of Mississippi is a member of the drones caucus.

Two sites in Mississippi have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Mississippi is also the U.S. base for the Israeli company Stark Aerospace, a drone maker.

Missouri

Two members of Congress from Missouri are members of the drones caucus: Todd Akin and Vicky Hartzler.

Missouri has been the focus of drone protests, since Wightman Air Force Base near Kansas City is a center for controlling drone flights around the world.

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

Two members of Congress from Nevada are members of the drones caucus: Joe Heck and Shelley Berkley.

Nevada is the site of one of the major drone control operations in the United States -- Creech Air Force Base -- and the killing being directed from Creech has been the object of frequent protests and the subject of a high-profile trial.

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Jersey congressman Rep. Frank LoBiondo is a member of the drones caucus. Read about the work of New Jersey activists to protest Rep. LoBiondo's participation in the drones caucus.

(NOTE: New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

New Mexico

Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico is a member of the drone caucus.

There are five (5) bases in New Mexico that have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing. Holloman Air Force Base was the subject of a widely-discussed article that appeared in the New York Times in July, 2012: "The Drone Zone.

The airspace over Colorado and New Mexico is highly contested. For full information, see the website of the organization Not 1 More Acre! The website describes resistance to efforts by the Pentagon with Joint Forces Special Operations (Air Force, Army and Marines) and its contractors to militarize all of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico for mega-billion dollar Joint Forces high-tech development, testing and training programs dedicated to robotic warfare for world-wide military operations.

New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) established a UAV Technical Analysis and Applications Center (TAAC) in 1999.

New York

Four members of the New York State congressional delegation belong to the drones caucus: Edolphus Towns, Maurice Hinchey, Richard Hanna, and Anne Marie Buerkle.

New York State has long been the focus of drone protests, particularly by the Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones, and the Hancock 38 action, the protest against drone operations directed from Hancock Air Force Base near Syracuse.

(NOTE: New York congressional representatives Charles Rangel, Jerrold Nadler, and Yvette D. Clark -- in addition to the above-mentioned Maurice Hinchey! -- were signers of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

North Carolina

(NOTE: North Carolina Congressman Walter B. Jones was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

North Dakota

Congressman Rick Berg of North Dakota is a member of the drones caucus.

Grand Forks AFB and Devils Lake in North Dakota have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing. There have been reports of airspace restrictions due to drone testing in the Devils Lake area. The University of North Dakota is a center for drone design and training, with an adjunct Tech School (training on maintenance and repair) in Thief River Falls, MN.

Ohio

Congressmen Michael Turner (3rd district) and Steve Austria (7th district) are members of the drone caucus.

Turner's district includes Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton. (See the letter sent to Congressman Michael Turner of Ohio.) There is additional information on Ohio drone basing plans on the No Drones Ohio website.

(NOTE: Oregon Congressman Dennis Kucinich organized a June 12, 2012, letter signed by 26 members of Congress calling on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Oklahoma

Oklahoma congressmen Dan Boren and Tom Cole are members of the drone caucus.

Two (2) bases in Oklahoma have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Small unmanned aircraft systems will be tested to help first responders deal with natural disasters and other emergencies in the restricted air space over Fort Sill; according to some accounts, Oklahoma is vying to become the "Detroit of drones."

Oregon

(NOTE: Oregon Congressman Peter A. DeFazio was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Pennsylvania

Congressman Robert Brady of Pennsylvania is a member of the drones caucus.

Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania has been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina is a member of the drones caucus.

There are two bases in South Carolina approved by the Dept. of Defense for drones basing.

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

There are seven (7) Texas members of Congress who belong to the drones caucus. Texas has seven military bases that have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

(NOTE: Texas Congressman Ron Paul was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Utah

Congressman Rob Bishop of Utah is a member of the drones caucus.

Utah has two sites approved by the Dept. of Defense for drones basing, including the famous Dugway Proving Grounds.

Researchers at Utah State University are also doing drone research.

Vermont

(NOTE: Vermont Congressman Peter Welch was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Virginia

Two members of Congress from Virginia belong to the drones caucus: Robert Wittman, from the 1st Congressional District (near Newport News), and Gerald Connolly, from the 11th District (Fairfax County and the area around Washington, D.C.).

Virginia has a high concentration of military contractors and military bases. Six Virginia military bases that have been approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

Washington

Rep. Norman Dicks of Washington is a member of the drones caucus.

In addition to being the site of manufacturing operations for military contractors like Boeing, Washington State is also the location of three (3) bases approved by the Dept. of Defense for drone basing.

(NOTE: Washington Congressman Jim McDermott was a signer of the June, 2012, Kucinich letter that called on the Obama administration to address questions about its drones use.)

Washington, D.C.

West Virginia

Wisconsin

(Read the correspondence between members of No Drones Wisconsin and Wisconsin congresswoman Tammy Baldwin on the drones question.)

Wyoming

Friday, September 14, 2012

September: Drones Protests and Resistance Activity Accelerates Nationwide


ILLINOIS - Occupy Obama drew attention to Barack Obama's drone victims with a funeral procession in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which ended up at Obama 2012 Campaign HQ. (Coffins were marked "hope" and "change.")

Anti-drone activity has continued around the country in recent weeks -- see descriptions below. (In addition, see the links at right for updates from other locations.)


NORTH CAROLINA - The Democratic National Convention (DNC) drew to a close, but the NOrth Carolina protests against the Democratic administration's drone killings continue.

CALIFORNIA - The City of Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission finalized "no drone zone" language to send to the full City Council for a vote. Consideration will likely be scheduled for November.

MISSOURI - A federal judge found drones resisters guilty of trespass . . . and meanwhile U.S. war crimes continue.

OHIO - During its tour of Ohio, the Know Drones tour put pressure on Ohio Rep. Michael Turner to Stop the Drones! This effort gained the attention of anti-drones groups around the country and was a heavily viewed web page.

Please send links to news of other drones protests around the country to Joe Scarry -- jtscarry [at] yahoo.com .

(See additional updates from the August/September period.)

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

August & September Seeing Drones Protests Breaking Out All Over

Here's a round-up of selected actions from around the country in recent weeks, plus several key upcoming events. (In addition, see the links at right for updates from other locations.)

MISSOURI - Please support the efforts of people in Missouri to shine a light on U.S. extrajudicial executions and other government crimes at the first-ever trial in U.S. Federal Court for an action at a drones base. See September 10: Put the Drones on Trial! Join Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ann Wright and Bill Quigley.

OHIO - During a series of events in the Dayton area ... Know Drones Tour to Highlight Choice: Green Energy or Non-Stop War for Resources? "If we are to begin a serious, effective mobilization to get off fossil fuels, we must close the door to the use of the military to 'capture' oil. The military option for access to oil must no longer be an option."

MARYLAND - Read about how activists in the Baltimore area are Calling for End to Drone Research at Johns Hopkins University. University research is a key front in resisting the drone proliferation.

ILLINOIS - Air shows have been important arena for educating the public about the menace of drones. See Taking the NO DRONES! Message to the Masses at Chicago's Air & Water Show for information on the action in Chicago in August.

FLORIDA - Another key arena is military contractors. Read Why We Need to STOP the Raytheon Drones Killing Machine to see how activists from CodePINK and others highlighted this issue in the St. Petersburg area.

WISCONSIN - Shoppers at the summer farmer's markets in Madison, WI, have been getting a taste of political education, as can be seen in this TASTE OF DRONES PHOTO ESSAY.