News Release

* War Crimes * Activists Against Killer Drones

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The Guardian reports: Afghan hospital bombing: “MSF labels U.S. Airstrike a War Crime as it Withdraws staff.”

The U.S. began bombing Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 — 14 years ago this week. Activists in upstate New York, including those involved in the Catholic Worker movement, are embarking on a walk from one killer drone base to another. Protests outside Hancock Air Force Base, home of the 174th Attack Wing, have resulted in scores of arrests and at least one activist is facing one year in prison.

JOHN QUIGLEY, quigley.2 at osu.edu
Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley’s books include The Ruses for War. He said today: “Nothing the Pentagon has said provides justification. The statement today is that the strike was requested by the Afghan army. But nothing was said to indicate that a military objective was nearby, so that the strike might be excused as inadvertent while going after a military objective.”

VICTORIA ROSS, Victoryross9 at gmail.com
Director of the Western New York Peace Center, Ross is coordinating a series of anti-killer-drone actions: “The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars is planning a walk to heighten public awareness of the mindless murder and relentless terror perpetrated in our names by the criminal use of killer drones on terror suspects. Outdoor markets, wedding parties, and village meetings have all been subjected to drone attacks. Not a way to make friends for America.

“Targeted drone assassination is Obama’s favored weapon against ‘global terrorism,’ and the Department of Defense now plans to increase its use of drones by 50 percent over the next four years.

“We are planning a 165-mile Walk Against Drones, from Hancock Air Base near Syracuse to the Niagara Falls Air Base. Both bases are sites of weaponized Reaper drone operations, including training and remote piloting of drones over Afghanistan.

“The Walk, scheduled for October 7-21, will include outreach programs at colleges and community centers along the way, including Rochester, Brockport, and Niagara Falls.”

ED KINANE, edkinane at verizon.net
Kinane is with Upstate Drone Action in Syracuse and has participated in a series of actions outside the Hancock Air Force Base. His articles include “Exposing Drone Terrorism.”

He said today: “So many in the mainstream media and elsewhere seem allergic to openly discussing U.S. war crimes. But there are thousands of examples, this bombing of the Doctors Without Borders Hospital is just a dramatic and timely example. The U.S. government has consistently used such bombings since at least Hiroshima. Many regularly decry what I’d call retail terrorism, while excusing the wholesale terrorism of the Pentagon, which is largely aerial. It’s terrorism because is uses violence against civilians for political or military ends.”