14 Arrests at Creech Air Force Base

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    FOR INFORMATION:

 

April 9, 2009       Jeff Leys - 773-619-2418

 

Www.nevadadesertexperience.org

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR ACTION RESULTS IN

 

14 ARRESTS AT CREECH AIR FORCE BASE

 

Indian Springs, NV – Late this afternoon, fourteen peace activists were arrested at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada.  The arrests occured during a ten day vigil which seeks to raise public awareness of the increasing use of unmanned drones in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Air Force personnel based at Creech control the Predator and Reaper drones being used in Central Asia.

 

The 14 people walked through the open main gate shortly after 3:00 p.m.  Air Force security personnel stopped them after they walked into the base.  They were seeking to engage in dialogue and conversation with the Air Force service members controlling the Predators and Reapers used in Central Asia.  In a gesture of good will, they offered to break bread and share pizza with Air Force personnel.

 

The Nevada State Highway Patrol responded as did the Las Vegas Metro Police Department.  The activists were arrested on the charge of trespass and transported to the Clark County Detention Facility.  The

14 are currently being booked and processed at the facility.

 

Those arrested include:

 

John Dear, S.J. (New Mexico) Kathy Kelly (twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize from Illinois) Dennis DuVall (Arizona) Renee Espeland (Des Moines, Iowa Catholic Worker Community) Judy Homanich (Binghamton, New York) Steve Kelly, S.J. (California) Mariah Klusmire (Albuquerque, New Mexico Catholic Worker community) Louis Vitale, O.F.M. (Oakland, California) Jerry Zawada, O.F.M. (Tuscson, Arizona) Sister Megan Rice, SHCJ (Nevada Desert Experience, Las Vegas, Nevada) Brian Terrell (Strangers & Guests Catholic Worker, Maloy, Iowa) Eve Tetaz (Washington, D.C.) Brad Lyttle (Chicago, Illinois) Elizabeth Pappalardo (Crystal Lake, Illinois)

 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C04%5C08%5Cstory_8-4-2009_pg1_11

 

Daily Times - Site Edition

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

 

US may extend drone attacks to Balochistan

* American officials say Washington intends to step up drone attacks in FATA

* Law professor says US should require investigation of all ‘targeted’ killings

 

Daily Times Monitor

 

LAHORE: Senior government officials have said the United States is proposing that missile strikes be extended to Balochistan unless Pakistan manages to reduce incursion of militants from there.

 

Influential American lawmakers support the administration’s position in this regard, the New York Times has reported. Senator Carl Levin, who heads the Armed Services Committee, acknowledged last week that “the price is very heavy” when missile strikes kill civilians, but added that the strikes were “an extremely effective tool”.

 

Intensify attacks: The missile strikes have been limited to the Tribal Areas for now, and authorities say they have killed nine of the top 20 Al Qaeda leaders. American officials say the missile strikes have forced some Taliban and Qaeda leaders to flee south toward Quetta. As Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to the region, arrived in Islamabad, the officials said the plan to intensify missile strikes in FATA underscored President Barack Obama’s goal to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as to strike at other groups allied with Al Qaeda.

 

Pakistani officials and some former American officials and analysts have been warning that strikes create greater risks of civilian casualties and could destabilise Pakistan. “You will be complicating and compounding anti-Americanism here,” said Lt Gen (r) Talat Masood. “How can you be an ally and at the same time be targeted?”

 

Legal issues: Some American experts say stalking individuals rather than tanks, for example, raises legal issues. Law professor Richard Murphy and former CIA lawyer John Radsan have argued in a recent article that like Israel US should require an investigation of all “targeted killings”. Marc Garlasco, a former military targeting official who now works for Human Rights Watch, said the drones had helped limit civilian casualties. He warned, however: “When you’re operating under very short time frames, like the CIA is in Pakistan, you are exponentially increasing the risk of killing non-combatants.”

 

One of the prized attributes of the drones is that they can linger over an area day after day, sending back video that can be used to build a “pattern of life” analysis to help confirm that the right people are being singled out for attack. Experts say the drones also carry laser-guided weapons with small warheads that are precise enough to kill a group of people in a street without damaging nearby buildings. Like the military services, the CIA uses computer software to assess possible collateral damage, and the fusing on the bombs can be adjusted to limit their impact. But in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it can also be hard to evaluate tips about the locations of Taliban or Qaeda leaders.

 

According to the former officials, generally the head of the CIA’s clandestine service or his deputy give the final approval for a strike. Top national security leaders have approved lists of people who can be attacked while lawyers determine whether each attack can be justified under international law.

 

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Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs