Monday, July 23, 2012

A Drone Tragedy Revealed in Indiana

On July 15, anti-drones activists from Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana met up in Dayton. Representatives from Know Drones delivered drone replicas for use in drone resistance work throughout the Midwest. (Read more at No Drones Illinois, No Drones Wisconsin, and the new No Drones Michigan websites.)


One of the drones delivered was for Mr. Robert Rast, and it is now on display at his home in Indiana (see picture above). Mr. 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.

It is important to note that for all the vaunted accuracy and great care in killing enabled by the Reaper and Predator drones, Benjamin Rast and Jeremy Smith were killed because of misidentification by the drone "pilots" sitting at consols in the United States. Mr. Rast told me that he has seen the video tape of the combat scene in which his son was killed as viewed by the "eye" of the Reaper that killed his son, and there is no way that anyone could tell friend from foe in what the Reaper "saw".

As one person commented about this story on Facebook, "Drones have been hailed as being capable of surgical precision death to the target. They are considered the "no risk," "clean" war weapon ...AND they are being used on victims in countries the US is not at war with, on people who cannot be actually identified beyond doubt, and who are even US citizens."

End the drone killings! (What are you prepared to do?)

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tell Congress: STOP THE DRONES!

Nearly every member of Congress from Ohio can be reached on Twitter. Below are their Twitter addresses. If they really represent us, now is the time for them to become responsive to our message: STOP THE DRONES!


OHIO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION

1st District - Steve Chabot: @RepSteveChabot
2nd District - Jean Schmidt: NOT ON TWITTER!
3rdDistrict - Michael Turner: @RepMikeTurner (CUSC caucus member*)
4th District - Jim Jordan: @jim_jordan
5th District - Robert E .Latta: @boblatta
6th District - Bill Johnson: @RepBillJohnson
7th District - Steve Austria: @SteveAustria (CUSC caucus member*)
8th District - John A. Boehner: @johnboehner
9th District - Marcy Kaptur: NOT ON TWITTER!
10th District - Dennis J. Kucinich: @repkucinich
11th District - Marcia L. Fudge: @marciafudge
12th District - Patrick J. Tiberi: NOT ON TWITTER!
13th District - BettySuttonNOT ON TWITTER!
14th District - Steven C. LaTourette: @SteveLaTourette
15th District - Steve Stivers: @RepSteveStivers
16th District - James B. Renacci: @repjimrenacci
17th District - Tim Ryan: @timryan
18th District - Bob Gibbs: @RepBobGibbs

*CUSC caucus members - Learn more about the Congressional drones advocates in Ohio and other states -- the members of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ohio Prepares to Protest Drones!

We met with representatives of Know Drones, as well as our counterparts from No Drones Illinois and No Drones Wisconsin, on Saturday and Sunday, July 14/15, to discuss educational and protest events in Columbus, Dayton, and other Ohio cities concerning drones killing and drones surveillance.

Drone activity has already started in Ohio: a July 10 report describes drone testing at Wilmington Air Park. In addition, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton is likely to be a key link in the plans to expand drone activity in the United States.


But public questioning of the U.S. drones program has already started in Ohio, too. For instance, read the editorial in the June 10, 2012, Akron Beacon Journal, "Drone Warrior".

To learn how you can help spread the word in Ohio about the need to stop drone killing and drone surveillance, please email us at nodronesohio [at] gmail.com.

UPDATE: July 22, 2012
According to the Department of Defense Report to Congress on Future Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training, Operations, and Sustainability (April 2012), Ohio has two locations that have been designated as potential basing locations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) [i.e. drones] (p. 8 ff.): Lacarne (for the RQ-11B Raven) and Wright Patterson Air Force Base (for the RQ-11B Raven and the Wasp).