3/28/16 Monday 1:45pm
We (Ron and Ann) are headed down Highway 56 across Kansas and Oklahoma on our way to a national gathering in front of Creech Air Force Base north of Las Vegas, Nevada, to protest drone warfare. This is the second annual mass protest called “Shut Down Creech 2016”. (See shutdowncreech.blogspot.com.) We are looking forward to going to teach-ins to learn more information about drones in preparation for PeaceWorks’ drone protest at Whitman AFB scheduled for April 30 at 2pm. We are also going to connect with a national leader, Joy First, who will be giving a dinner presentation on drones in Kansas City entitled “Why Civil Resistance?” at 6pm Thursday, April 28, at Simpson House, 4509 Walnut, KCMO.
We plan on being at “Camp Justice” in the desert near Creech AFB this Wednesday through Friday, March 30-April 1. Creech AFB is home to weaponized drones like Reapers and Predators. Ann opines “These are the bad guys that supposedly are “precision” weapons, but they kill whole families. As a result, this encourages revenge violence against people in the country that has killed their family members. Drone behavior actually encourages terrorism on both sides!”
Ron notes, “We hear the President has a hit-list for people to be assassinated, and he meets with the Secretary of Defense every Tuesday to identify targets.” Drones are being sent to many countries, such as Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere. Many are in undeclared war zones, with no jury or trial, simply execution without due process for victims. Drones wipe out entire wedding parties and funeral processions and even kill those who come to rescue the victims afterwards. Ann says, “They are provocative and dangerous, actually war crimes. How would you like to feel the paranoia of drones overhead? They promote an atmosphere of fear. We even hear that children don’t go out to play anymore when skies are blue because that’s when drones come out.”
Four brave military drone operators are speaking out in the media as whistleblowers. Resigning in protest, they are sending President Obama a letter telling him that the negatives outweigh any positive use of drones. One of these whistleblowers is speaking at this year’s “Shut Down Creech” event.
A picture of last years’ protest is posted online showing some of the 150 protesters holding large signs. Over 32 were arrested in the non-violent demonstration. Ron comments, “We hope to be a counter-voice to the violence, trying to alert people to higher priorities. We know that each drone costs in the millions of dollars, for what? For terrorism? It certainly is NOT stopping terrorism!”
