Wisconsin Lobby Day
Against Drone Warfare
January 15-20, 2014
Organized by:
Wisconsin Coalition to Ground the Drones and
End the Wars
Wisconsin Network for
Peace and Justice
To participate or for more information: Joy First joyfirst5@gmail.com
Drones are immoral, illegal, and ineffective
What Should Members of Congress Do?
DRONE WARFARE IS IMMORAL:
*Between 3500-6000 people (over 200 have been children) are
killed by drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and other
places around the world. (
Bureau of
Investigative Journalism. www.thebureauinvestigates.com
)
*Only 2% of those killed are high-level targets. (
Living Under Drones. Study by Stanford and NYU Law Schools. www.livingunderdrones.org )
*Drones constantly flying overhead are terrorizing entire
civilian populations. (
Living Under
Drones. Study by Stanford and NYU Law
Schools. www.livingunderdrones.org
)
*US soldiers involved in the drone program have high rates
of suicide, PTSD, and anxiety.
DRONE WARFARE IS ILLEGAL:
*Drones are a violation of international law – the UN
Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, and the principles
of the Nuremburg Tribunal. They also violate
the U.S. Constitution, international human rights laws, the laws of war, and
the law applicable to the use of inter-state force.
* The
people who are killed have not been given any kind of due process. They have not been charged, tried, or
convicted of any crime. They are
summarily murdered by our government.
*In
a report to the UN Human Rights Council, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial
executions, Philip Alston, has said that the use of drones by the CIA amounts
to, “a license to kill without accountability.”
*The
Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared that U.S. drone warfare is a war crime.
DRONE WARFARE IS INEFFECTIVE
*Drones
are not making the world safer. Many people
being attacked by drones operate by the rules of tribal law and when someone in
their tribe is killed, they are obligated to take revenge.
*Yemeni
activist, Faera Al-Muslimi, testified before Congress and said that one drone
strike instantly radicalizes people against the United States in ways that al
Qaeda propaganda never could.
STORIES FROM VICTIMS SHOW
DRONE WARFARE VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
More
and more stories coming out from people whose lives been shattered by drones.
One
story was told by a thirteen-year-old girl who had been out selling gum with
her father in Afghanistan. When they
returned to their village, they found their home demolished. They found the pieces of her mother and two
of her brothers scattered on the ground and in a tree. The trauma rendered her father mute, and the
girl became responsible for the rest of her family. She led them into Pakistan where she begged
on the streets to try and make money to support her family.
Another
story is about a ten-year-old daughter who died with her mother in a drone
attack. She was clinging so tightly to
her mother when she died that the family could not separate them and they were
buried together.
Entesaar
al Qadhi is a young politician from Yemen who reported at the International
Drone Summit in Washington, DC that they didn’t even know who al Qadhi was
until the US came. She said, “We don’t
support terrorism. Why must we suffer
terror attacks?” She wants what everyone
wants – to live in her home in peace.
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR MEMBERS
OF CONGRESS TO DO?
**Remember
that Wisconsin has a military base where drone training is being
conducted. Volk Field has just opened a
$4.5 million drone training facility. We
can demand an end to funding training for drone pilots at this Wisconsin base.
**We
can demand that Congress better exercise real oversight over the drone program
– whether it’s done by the military, the CIA, or private contractors. In order to do so members of Congress need to
receive pertinent information, whether it’s classified or not.
**We
can demand an end to funding for the drone warfare program worldwide.
**As
we approach the mid-term elections this fall, we will make drone warfare an
election issue, letting members of Congress know that they must assure constituents
that they will do everything possible to stop this illegal, immoral, and ineffective
program that not only denies people around the world their human rights, but
also makes us less safe in the long run.
First
Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) called the U.S.
on the carpet for dodging the call from the international community to
come clean about its drone killings. Then Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and
Walter Jones (R-NC) submitted a bill calling for drone transparency. So
... are we finally going to get the truth?
