News Release

Drone War Exposé Affirms Need for Congressional Investigation

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Following the recent New York Times’ “Civilian Casualties Files” report, a coalition of antiwar groups opposed to U.S. drone attacks is urging House Democrats to investigate the U.S. military’s systematic cover-up of civilian casualties caused by its drone-dependent air wars. They are urging them to conduct an investigation into the numbers and identities of all people killed by U.S. drones in the past 20 years.

The New York Times investigated drone attacks which occurred during a four-year time span, from 2014 to 2018, in Iraq and Syria. However, the coalition notes that Congress has the power to swiftly gather all needed information from the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and possibly other entities, dating back to 2001 and covering attacks in all drone attack locales.

“The Congress is in a unique position to gain access to all videotapes, action reports and other documentation for all U.S. drone attacks,” said Nick Mottern of the BanKillerDrones.org campaign. “This appears to be the only way that the public will ever know what has been inflicted on civilians in nations that have come under U.S. drone attack, which include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Niger, Libya and the Philippines, as well as Iraq and Syria.”

“The Times report makes it clear that U.S. politicians used drones and other aircraft to avoid a body bag count that threatened to end U.S. occupations,” Mottern continued, “deliberately concealing the devastating human cost these air assaults impose on civilians. The Pentagon consistently avoids accountability for the hideous atrocities caused by its ‘precision’ remote control warfare.”BanKillerDrones is campaigning for an international treaty banning weaponized drones and military and police surveillance. The activists seek to document not only the drone attacks waged by the U.S. military and the CIA but also private contractors who may have been employed by the U.S. government or government-related operators.

One of the principal goals of the coalition is to ensure reparations are paid to all surviving casualty victims. Members of the new coalition include World Beyond War, Code Pink, BanKillerDrones and the NY Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 34.

Contact: Kathy Kelly, kathy.vcnv@gmail.com
Nick Mottern, nickmottern@gmail.com
Brian Terrell,  brian1956Terrell@gmail.com