Over the coming months a group of committed peace activists will be moving a scale model of a Reaper drone from town to town around Indiana to emphasize the deadliness of our latest weapon of war. The model, one-fifth actual size, is one of several constructed by Nick Mottern of New York.
The reason we are doing this is because the majority of the American public believes the use of drones is acceptable, even though it has very little information about them.
The U.S. has used drones to kill thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. But our government routinely refuses to provide any official information on local reports of civilian deaths or the identities of most of those killed. Very few of these drone strikes kill high-level leaders of terror groups. A recent article in Foreign Affairs estimated “only one out of every seven drone attacks in Pakistan kills a militant leader.”
In addition to authorizing strikes in Pakistan, President Obama has authorized strikes in Yemen, Somalia, Libya and, most recently, the Philippines. Drones are Obama’s weapon of choice, evidently because no U.S. troops are at risk, and he can (illegally) conduct war without oversight from Congress.
In our “drone tour,” the U.S. government will be confronted with the following:
•extrajudicial killings
•violation of due process
•wars of aggression
•violation of national sovereignty
•killing of innocent civilians
We realize these are serious charges, and we have evidence to back each of them up. We also realize that this should not be the work of a peaceful government.
In addition to this “mobile drone,” another drone replica will be delivered to the home of Robert Rast in South Bend; Rast’s son was killed by a drone April 6, 2011. This is the first incident of an American serviceman killed by a drone, and the father is beginning a campaign he calls “Justice for Benjamin” in South Bend.
Anyone wishing more information about the drone tour should send an email to indianadronetour@yahoo.com.
DAVE LAMBERT
Fort Wayne
