Christopher Aaron

Posted on October 1, 2023 by mekorganic

Christopher Aaron worked for the CIA on the U.S. drone program. After a while, he began realizing how wrong it is and quit. Finally, he gathered up his courage and began speaking out publicly, despite little or no protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Former CIA counter-terrorism officer Chris Aaron concludes after his experience in the drone program that: “We absolutely are sowing the seeds for the next round of people to hate us.” There is “a lot of guess work” involved in drone targeting he says, and he believes that “we are essentially setting ourselves up for what we would have to call a perpetual war.”

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Christopher Aaron’s Website

Christopher Aaron (@iGlobaIGoId) / Twitter (suspended) Former CIA drone officer, turned anti-war advocate @NYTimes cover story: https://t.co/Pt0376h8oW. Seeker of expanded human potential.

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2021-12-21 What modern drone warfare means for both civilians and soldiers

2021-09-04 A CIA drone analyst apologizes to the people of Afghanistan

2016-06-24 2016 Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare: Faithful Witness in a Time of Endless War Drone Warfare and God’s Call to Peacemaking. Session includes: Medea Benjamin, activist, co-founder of Code Pink and author of Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control; Christopher Aaron, former CIA Drone Program who resigned over ethical concerns and Bob Smith coordinator of the Brandywine Peace Community. Recorded June 24, 2016.

2016-05-05 Truth and Justice Radio: Blowing the whistle on the U.S. drone program

2016-04 10 Multifaith Anti-Drone Conference – Session 1 This discussion followed a screening of the 2014 documentary “Drone,” and features whistleblower Christopher Aaron, Kambale Musavuli (Friends of the Congo), and ex-CIA officer Ray McGovern.

2016-03-30 Inside Drone Warfare Symposium – Chris Aaron “Inside Drone Warfare: Perspectives of Whistleblowers, Families of Drone Victims and Their Lawyers,” was a symposium held at the Boyd Law School at UNLV on March 30th, 2016. The event was organized by Veterans For Peace and Knowdrones.com and was open to the public.

2016-03-30 At UNLV, whistleblowers call for accountability in military drone program

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Michael Haas 

Posted on October 1, 2023 by mekorganic

When Michael Haas, a former senior airman with the US air force, looks back on the missions he flew over Afghanistan and other conflict zones in a six-year career operating military drones, one of the things he remembers most vividly is the colorful language airmen would use to describe their targets. The aim of the missions was to track, and when the conditions were deemed right, kill suspected insurgents. That’s not how they put it, though. They would talk about “cutting the grass before it grows out of control”, or “pulling the weeds before they overrun the lawn”.

Haas is one of four former air force drone operators and technicians who as a group have come forward to the Guardian to register their opposition to the ongoing reliance on the technology as the US military’s modern weaponry of choice.  The targeted killings of hundreds of people in conflict zones – many of them almost certainly civilians.

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2016-03-14 9 Things We Learned from Pissed Off Drone Operators

2015-12-07 Former Drone Pilots Denounce ‘Morally Outrageous’ Program

2015-11-19 FORMER DRONE OPERATORS SAY THEY WERE “HORRIFIED” BY CRUELTY OF ASSASSINATION PROGRAM

2015-11-09 Life as a drone operator: ‘Ever step on ants and never give it another thought?’

2014-04-17 Former Drone Operators Reveal Air Force Plays Key Role in Secret CIA Assassination Campaign

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in CIA, Drones, Military-Industrial-Media Complex, war crimes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Drone Activists

Posted on September 28, 2023 by mekorganic

Chris Antal

Christopher Aaron

Medea Benjamin

Brandon Bryant

Marjorie Cohn

Nick Davies

Daniel Hale

Michael Haas 

Lisa Ling

Stephen Lewis

Kathleen McClellan (Lawyer) pending

Ray McGovern

Keagan Miller

Nick Mottern

Bill Quigley

Archbishop John C. Wester

Cian Westmoreland

S. Brian Willson

Ann Wright

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Drone Assassination Program

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Cian Westmoreland

Posted on September 28, 2023 by mekorganic

Cian Westmoreland’s Articles on Real News Network

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2021-10-27 The Drone Whistleblowers feat. Lisa Ling, Cian Westmoreland, Keagan Miller & Christopher Aaron

2020-11-19 School of Resistance—Episode Ten: Speaking the Truth is Not a Crime Will Free Speech Save Our Democracy? With Ece Temelkuran, Cian Westmoreland, and Renata Ávila

2019-04-26 U.S. Air Force drone tech turned human rights activist speaks at UO

2017-04-17 Network Centric Warfare: Diffused of Responsibility · Cian Westmoreland

2016-12-27 The Global Assassination Grid: The Infrastructure and People behind Drone Killings

2016-10-21 Former Drone Technician Cian Westmoreland on the Harsh Realities of Drone Warfare

2016-09-21 Interview with drone tech Cian Westmoreland

2016-04-28 Inside Drone Warfare Symposium – Cian Westmoreland

2016-04-20 Whistleblower’s Review of “Eye in the Sky”

2015-12-29 IS INCREASED DRONE WARFARE INEVITABLE?

2015-12-28 FROM DRONE TECHNICIAN TO WHISTLEBLOWER

2015-12-15 Former Drone Pilots Denounce ‘Morally Outrageous’ Program

2015-11-19 Drone Strikes Fuel the Hatred that Led to Paris Attacks, Ex-Drone Pilots Say

2015-11-18 Obama’s drone war a ‘recruitment tool’ for Isis, say US air force whistleblowers

2015 ‘It Feels Like Murder’ talks about the indiscriminate targeting that means that civilians are dying

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Brandon Bryant

Posted on September 28, 2023 by mekorganic

Brandon Bryant (whistleblower): He is an American whistleblower who exposed the U.S. military’s drone program and its civilian casualties. He worked as a camera operator for the Predator drones from 2006 to 2011, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He has spoken out about his experience and the ethical issues of drone warfare in various media outlets and forums123. He has also been involved in local politics in his hometown of Missoula, Montana, where he faced charges for allegedly threatening city council members in a YouTube video2.

Wikipedia

Brandon Bryant the Documentary: Drones & Deceptions Full length & free documentary look at the story, myth, and character of former drone operator, Brandon Bryant; poster child of the documentary DRONE from Tonje Hessen Schei, as narrated by a former drone pilot himself, Maj Rick Rynearson (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb…. This documentary explores how frauds like Brandon and Cian Westmoreland capitalize on secrecy to mislead the public, bolstered by unethical lawyers like Jesselyn Radack.

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2013-10-22 Confessions of a Drone Warrior

2013-07-13 Jury acquits man accused of threatening Missoula City Council

2021-02-03 The Corrupt Use of Military Drones | Brandon Bryant

2020-03-30 DRONE WHISTLEBLOWER CHARGED WITH MAKING ONLINE THREATS TO CITY COUNCIL — BUT SOME OF ITS MEMBERS WANT THE CASE DROPPED

2020-02-11 Freedom for Brandon Bryant – GoFundme

2020-02-09 Former US Drone Operator Describes American Military as ‘Worse Than Nazis’

2020-02-07 Former US drone operator recalls dropping a missile on Afghanistan children and says military is ‘worse than the Nazis’

2020-02-06 DEATH FROM ABOVE I killed a child with a drone and watched them die – but my superiors claimed it was ‘just a dog’

2020-02-05 Missoula man threatens to “exterminate” the City Council

2016-02-18 The Untold Casualties of the Drone War

2015-11-20 “Numbing & Horrible”: Former Drone Operator Brandon Bryant on His Haunting First Kill

2015-10-15 Germany’s role in the US drone war

2015-08-06 A Former Drone Pilot’s Guilt Kept Him Awake at Night

2014-04-14 Federal Judge Dismisses Suit Challenging Drone Strikes That Killed Americans

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Activists

Posted on September 28, 2023 by mekorganic

Many more to come!

Chris Antal

Brandon Bryant

Nick Davies

Bill Quigley

Archbishop John C. Wester

Cian Westmoreland

S. Brian Willson

Ann Wright

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Archbishop John C. Wester

Posted on September 28, 2023 by mekorganic

John C. Wester (born November 5, 1950) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico since 2015. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Utah from 2007 to 2015 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California from 1998 to 2007.

Wikipedia

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2023-07-28 Nuclear Disarmament & The Archdiocese of Santa Fe

2023-03-19 Archbishop apologizes for priest abuse

2022-11-30 Archbishop Wester’s pastoral letter boosts nuclear disarmament efforts

2022-01-28 Wester’s powerful letter part of hopeful trend: bishops arguing for nonviolence

2021-03-31 Two Catholic bishops join LGBT group to condemn discrimination against transgender people

2018- 02-25 Wester: The arch-activist

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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S. Brian Willson

Posted on September 27, 2023 by mekorganic

S. Brian Willson (born July 4, 1941) is an American Vietnam veteran, peace activist, and attorney-at-law. Willson served in the US Air Force from 1966 to 1970, including several months as a combat security officer in Vietnam. He left the Air Force as a Captain. He subsequently became a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace (Humboldt Bay Chapter 56, California). Upon completion of Law School at American University in Washington, D.C., he became a member of the District of Columbia Bar. As a trained lawyer and writer, he has documented U.S. policy in nearly two dozen countries. Since 1986, Willson has studied on-site policies in a number of countries, among them Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Haiti, Iraq, Israel (and Palestinian territories), Japan, and Korea, both North and South. Documenting the pattern of policies that he says “violate U.S. Constitutional and international laws prohibiting aggression and war crimes,” Willson has been an educator and activist, teaching about the dangers of these policies. He has participated in lengthy fasts, actions of nonviolent civil disobedience, and tax refusal along with voluntary simplicity.

He is best known, though, for what happened on September 1, 1987, when Willson, along with a small group of protesters, sat down on the railroad tracks in front of the Concord Naval Weapons Station in California. A U.S. Navy locomotive ran over Willson, severing both of his legs below the knee.

Website

Wikipedia

Brian’s Articles on the 4th Media

Book – Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson

The Sept. 1, 1987 Tragedy at Concord, CA Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) and December 1, 1987 Perspective of the People Invoking the Nuremberg Principles at CNWS

Nuremberg Actions at the Concord Naval Weapons Station

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2017-10-19 Brian Willson, a profile in pacifist courage at the Awareness Film Festival

2012-03-12 Brian Willson “Blood on the Tracks” Presentation

2011-10-28 “Blood on the Tracks”: Brian Willson’s Memoir of Transformation from Vietnam Vet to Radical Pacifist

2007-09-01 Peace activist Brian Willson returns to the tracks where he lost his legs

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Nick Davies

Posted on September 27, 2023 by mekorganic

Nick Davies spent 40 years as a journalist, mainly doing investigative work for The Guardian, before retiring in 2016. [He has no connection with the Nick Davies who worked for the Daily Mirror.]

Towards the end of his career, he was centrally involved in three landmark stories: uncovering the phone-hacking scandal in Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper empire; initiating the alliance of news organizations which published US war logs and cables obtained by Wikileaks; and working as part of the team which handled the British end of Edward Snowden’s leaks about the US National Security Agency. A consistent theme through almost all of his work was the exposure of those who abused power – corporations bullying governments, governments perverting policy, powerful individuals exploiting the vulnerable.

Nick’s Website

Wikipedia

Nicolas’ on Common Dreams

Nicolas’ on TruthOut

Informed Comment – Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

Book – Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq

Book – War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict

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2022-10-12 Medea Benjamin & Nicolas Davies: Negotiations “Still the Only Way Forward” to End Ukraine War

2013-02-06 Nick Davies interview: ‘Don’t get sucked into thinking the stories in the other papers are the ones you should cover’

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Drone Assassination Program

Drone Activists

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Chris Antal

Posted on September 27, 2023 by mekorganic

Chris Antal is the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Rock Tavern, N.Y. He served five years as a military chaplain in the New York National Guard and in the U.S. Army Reserve, with one tour on active duty in Afghanistan (2012-13). 

Chris Antal on U,S, Secret Drone killing policy

On April 12, Antal resigned his commission as an officer in the Army because of his conscientious objection to the United States’ drone policy.

In a letter addressed to Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama, Antal wrote, “The executive branch continues to claim the right to kill anyone, anywhere on Earth, at any time, for secret reasons, based on secret evidence, in a secret process, undertaken by unidentified officials. I refuse to support this policy of unaccountable killing.” In doing so, he joined other previous members of the armed forces who have addressed Obama to criticize his drone strike policy, including four former members of the Air Force who penned a letter in November of 2015 warning the president that the strikes “served as a recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay.”

The legal scholar and former Obama administration official Rosa Brooks spoke about the so-called Global War on Terror, “We have the Executive Branch making a claim it has the right to kill anyone anywhere on earth at any time for secret reasons based on secret evidence in a secret process undertaken by unidentified officials.” In short, I do not know what mission I should be retrained to support – the very nature of that mission is secret. When I joined the Army, I did not swear an oath to defend secret and unaccountable killing. I took an oath to defend the Constitution – a set of laws that, I believe, this type of warfare significantly undermines. 2015-02-12 In drone warfare we ought not trust

2020-08-21 Webinar Series on Resilience: Moral Injury and Moral Distress

2016-07-26 I Refuse to Be an Empire Chaplain’

2016-06-12 Chris Antal, Former Army Chaplain Who Resigned Over Military Policy

2016-06-03 “I Refuse to Serve as an Empire Chaplain”: U.S. Army Minister Resigns over Drone Program (incudes disturbing drone war comments by Bernie Sanders)

2016-05-27 The Army Chaplain Who Quit Over ‘Unaccountable Killing’ of Obama’s Secretive Drone Program

2016-05-14 Chaplain resigns via letter to Obama, rips drone policy

2015-02-12 In drone warfare we ought not trust

2011-11-11 A Veteran’s Day Confession for America – Chris Antal Sermon A Veteran’s Day Confession for America

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Drone Activists

Drone Assassination Program

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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