Drone pilots. (photo: Getty)
Former
Drone Operators Are 'Horrified' by the Cruelty of the Assassination Program
By Murtaza Hussain, The
Intercept
27 November 15
U.S.
drone operators are inflicting heavy civilian casualties and have developed an
institutional culture callous to the death of children and other innocents,
four former operators said at a press briefing today in New York.
The
killings, part of the Obama administration's targeted assassination program,
are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program's goal of
eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to
children as "fun-size terrorists" and liken killing them to
"cutting the grass before it grows too long," said one of the
operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also
described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some
operators had flown missions while impaired.
In
addition to Haas, the operators are former Air Force Staff Sgt. Brandon Bryant
along with former senior airmen Cian Westmoreland and Stephen Lewis. The men
have conducted kill missions in many of the major theaters of the post-9/11 war
on terror, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We
have seen the abuse firsthand," said Bryant, "and we are
horrified."
An Air
Force spokesperson did not address the specific allegations but wrote in an
email that "the demands placed on the [drone] force are tremendous. A
great deal of effort is being taken to bring about relief, stabilize the force,
and sustain a vital warfighter capability. … Airmen are expected to adhere to
established standards of behavior. Behavior found to be inconsistent with Air
Force core values is appropriately looked into and if warranted, disciplinary
action is taken."
Beyond
the press conference, the group
also denounced the program yesterday in an interview with The Guardian
and in an open letter addressed
to President Obama.
At the
press conference, Bryant said the killing of civilians by drone is exacerbating
the problem of terrorism. "We kill four and create 10 [militants],"
Bryant said. "If you kill someone's father, uncle or brother who had
nothing to do with anything, their families are going to want revenge."
The
Obama administration has gone to great lengths to keep details of the drone
program secret, but in their statements today the former operators opened up
about the culture that has developed among those responsible for carrying it
out. Haas said operators become acculturated to denying the humanity of the
people on their targeting screens. "There was a much more detached outlook
about who these people were we were monitoring," he said. "Shooting
was something to be lauded and something we should strive for."
The
deaths of children and other non-combatants in strikes was rationalized by many
drone operators, Haas said. As a flight instructor, Haas claimed to have been
non-judicially reprimanded by his superiors for failing a student who had
expressed "bloodlust," an overwhelming eagerness to kill.
Haas
also described widespread alcohol and drug abuse among drone pilots. Drone
operators, he said, would frequently get intoxicated using bath salts and
synthetic marijuana to avoid possible drug testing and in an effort to
"bend that reality and try to picture yourself not being there." Haas
said that he knew at least a half-dozen people in his unit who were using bath
salts and that drug use had "impaired" them during missions.
The
Obama administration's assassination program has come under increasing scrutiny
in recent months. This October, The Intercept published a cache of classified documents leaked by a
government whistleblower that showed how the program killed
people based on unreliable intelligence, that the vast majority of people
killed in a multi-year Afghanistan campaign were not the intended targets, and
that the military by default labeled non-targets killed in the campaign as
enemies rather than civilians.
The
operators said that they felt increasing urgency to speak out in the wake of
the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week; they believe drone
assassinations have fed the rise of the extremist group the Islamic State,
which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Westmoreland
said of drones: "In the short term they're good at killing people, but in
the long term they're not effective. There are 15-year-olds growing up who have
not lived a day without drones overhead, but you also have expats who are
watching what's going on in their home countries and seeing regularly the
violations that are happening there, and that is something that could
radicalize them."
In
their open letter to Obama, the former drone pilots made a similar point,
writing that during their service they "came to the realization that the
innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that
ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS," going on to describe the program
as "one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and
destabilization around the world."
At the
press conference today, the pilots echoed these sentiments. "It seems like
our actions of late have only made the problems worse. … The drones are good at
killing people, just not the right ones," Bryant said. "Have we
forgotten our humanity in the pursuit of vengeance and security?"
C 2015 Reader Supported News
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. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"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
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