ucgdew – Reports from Hancock and Beyond

A New US Air Force Video Game Lets You Drone Bomb Iraqis and Afghans

February 3, 2020 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Alan McLeod, published on MintPress News, January 31, 2020 The United States Air Force has a new recruitment tool: a realistic drone operator video game you can play on its website. Called the Airman Challenge, it features 16 missions to complete, interspersed with facts and recruitment information about how to become a drone operator yourself. In its latest attempts to market active service to young people, players move through missions escorting U.S. vehicles through countries like Iraq and Afghanistan,

Why We Persist: Activists Have Protested US Drone Base for Over a Decade

December 27, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Ed Kinane, published on Truthout.org, December 22, 2019 “All human beings possess the basic right under international law to engage in non-violent civil resistance activities for the purpose of preventing, impeding, or terminating the ongoing commission of [international crime].” — International law expert Francis Boyle Nonviolent civil resistance against international crime is about effectiveness and persistence. Or as Dorothy Day might say, faithfulness. We sow seeds — awakening the cogs in the machine of imperial crime and informing those

American Atrocities Continue To This Day

November 7, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Ed Kinane, Published in the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, November 3, 2019 On March 16, 1968, at My Lai, a thatched-hut village in South Vietnam, demented U.S. soldiers slaughtered some 500 peasants. Fortunately — for our awareness of the savagery of war — news of this massacre leaked out. Later, conscience-stricken veterans publicly testified that My Lai wasn’t an “aberration” or the only GI massacre. Reports of other massacres emerged from other sources (especially the leaked “Pentagon Papers”).

Drones Fly, Children Die

July 2, 2019 ucgdew One comment

by Judith Bello Hancock Air National Guard Base was one of the first domestic drone bases to come on line. The base is located in a pleasant suburb of Syracuse New York, along side the International Airport. The 174th Attack Wing at Hancock is tasked with flying Reaper Drone missions over Afghanistan and other places on the far side of the world that they are unwilling to name. They also fly Drones berthed locally over the Adirondacks to the East

The False Narrative of Unmanned Drones and Trump’s Responsibility to Lead

June 24, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by George Cassidy Payne, Published on Talker of the Town, June 24, 2019 The unmanned drone narrative is wrong. Someone is always operating these highly sophisticated killing/surveillance machines. Militarized drones may be maneuvered thousands of miles away by human pilots, but they are always being flown by someone. More to the point, they are being used by human beings to launch missile strikes that have killed at least 2,000 people since the beginning of Bush’s “War on Terror.” Although estimates

8 Arrested Exposing Hancock AirForce Base Terrorism

June 24, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

by Ed Kinane, June 22, 2019 Shortly before 8 a.m. on Thursday, June 20, our Upstate Drone Action caravan of six or seven vehicles arrived, unannounced, at the main gate of Hancock AFB in De Witt, a suburb of Syracuse, New York. Two of us – accompanied by one of our videographers – proceeded to the guardhouse 50 yards in from East Molloy Road to read aloud and deliver a statement (below). The statement called on base personnel, in accordance

Drone Swarms Are Going to Be Terrifying and Hard to Stop

June 24, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

“Now the improvised explosive devices will find our war fighters.” by Alexis C. Madrigal Mar 7, 2018 One of the drones from a swarm that Russian military officials say attacked their air base in Syria Russian Ministry of Defense As regular people purchase more drones, the small, unmanned aerial systems keep dropping in price and growing in capability. Once expensive, under powered, remotely piloted toys with blink-of-an-eye battery life, consumer drones can now operate far more independently and for longer

A Big Win for Faisal bin Ali Jaber and for Reprieve

April 2, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

UK ‘on notice’ after court rules Germany Failed In Duty to Protect Innocent Civilians Reprieve, March 19, 2019 A German court today ruled that the Government must do more to ensure its territory is not used by the US to carry out unlawful US drone strikes in Yemen. The case marks the first time a European country has been found to play an essential role in US drone strikes, with the Court holding that Germany’s role means it has a

Five Witness Against Torture Activists Arrested In Washington DC

January 10, 2019 ucgdew Leave a comment

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Contact: Kathy Kelly 773 619 2418 Brian Terrell 773 853 1886 Five Witness Against Torture Activists Arrested for Bannering on the Supreme Court Steps as Part of “Stop Torture” protest January 9, 2019 ~Activists Participate in week long fast calling on the U.S. to Stop Support for the Murderous War in Yemen and Close the Prison Camp at Guantanamo On January 9, 2019, five human rights activists protesting all forms of torture were arrested while

Voices Rising for Yemen – Final Day

November 14, 2018 ucgdew Leave a comment

Header and photos all from Voices for Creative Nonviolence by Kathy Kelly, published on Voices for Creative Nonviolence, November 8, 2018 Over these past three days, Voices and a coalition of justice-minded organizations have been at and around the United Nations in New York City protesting the ongoing U.S.-Saudi attack on famine- imperiled Yemen. Details are available at www.vcnv.org along with next steps for people looking for ways to get involved. Participants Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell, and Jules Orkin write