Drone Operators Rebel, Accuse Obama Administration of “Killing the Innocent” and “Fuelling Terrorism”
Attacks Kill Civilians, Inspire Terror, Cause PTSD in Own Ranks
In a scathing attack on President
Barack Obama’s drone war, four former operators of the remote-controlled
killing machines declared that this kind of warfare is actually
fueling terrorism.
Meanwhile, the soldiers who pull
the triggers are cast aside when they break down under the incessant
stress of long-distance killing.
“This administration and its
predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most
devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the
world,” the quartet of former Air Force service members wrote in a letter to Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director John Brennan.
“We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay.”
Staff Sergeant Brandon Bryant, Senior
Airman Cian Westmoreland, Senior Airman Stephen Lewis and Senior Airman
Michael Haas said they felt compelled to speak out because staying
silent “would violate the very oaths we took to support and defend the
Constitution.”
“We came to the realization that the
innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred
that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a
fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay,” they wrote.
Nothing Surgical about Drone Strikes
An in-depth report by The Intercept, which relied on a “cache of secret slides,” found that the drone program fails miserably in its stated goal of of eliminating only the carefully selected targets.
The US military’s own records reveal
that innocents die during the strikes — routinely. During one particular
five-month stretch, 90% of the victims of drone attacks were not the
intended target.
The public, however, has been led to believe that the drone program works with a high degree of precision.
President Obama certainly
gave that impression in April, when he implied that two American
hostages killed in a drone strike represented a sadly unavoidable if
rare accident: “It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war
generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes —
sometimes deadly mistakes — can occur,”
The four former drone operators painted a
very different picture. “We witnessed gross waste, mismanagement,
abuses of power, and our country’s leaders lying publicly about the
effectiveness of the drone program,” they wrote. (For a devastating
picture of the drone war in just one country, Pakistan, see here.)
The veterans explained why they chose to
become whistleblowers: “We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies
like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone
program has overseas and at home.”
Killing the Innocent Leads to PTSD
Obama’s reputation as a reluctant
warrior has remained largely intact despite the intensive drone campaign
that has become an integral part of his anti-terrorism strategy. But
the men and women pulling the trigger from thousands of miles away are
paying a high price.
“When the guilt of our roles in
facilitating this systematic loss of innocent life became too much, all
of us succumbed to PTSD,” the drone operators wrote.
“We were cut loose by the same
government we gave so much to — sent out in the world without adequate
medical care, reliable public health services, or necessary benefits.
Some of us are now homeless. Others of us barely make it.”
WhoWhatWhy contacted the Air
Force to get a statement on the letter but did not hear back by the time
this article was published. If the Air Force does reply, this report
will be updated accordingly.
The quartet of former Air Force service
members said they hoped that Obama, Carter and Brennan would pay
attention to what they had to say. But the veterans added that their
insiders’ plea to reconsider drone warfare may be “in vain given the
unprecedented prosecution of truth-tellers who came before us like
Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden.”
We will be watching carefully to see what happens with this plea, and to those who made it — and we will keep you informed.
The original source of this article is Who What Why
Copyright © Klaus Marre, Who What Why, 2015
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