For Afghanistan, the UK bought US-made Reapers and rented Israeli Hermes drones. So many were lost or crashed that British troops nicknamed the aircraft the "Bugger Off," as the planes rarely returned from a sortie. In the 1980s, the UK developed the Phoenix, a drone that was briefly used in the Kosovo War and then in Iraq in 2003. When they hear it, they say, 'It is going to hit us.'"Īlong with Israel and the United States, Britain is the only other country to have employed weaponized drones in war as of 2011. "It's continuous, watching us, especially at night," said Nabil al-Amassi, a Gaza mechanic and father of eight. "When you hear drones," Shaqqura explained, "you hear death." Palestinians even have to take drones into account when trying to do something as benign and banal as fixing a broken-down car-you really don't want a group of people lingering around for long when there's a plane armed with missiles hovering overhead. According to one study, the majority of children living in Gaza suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the constant buzzing and bombing of Israeli death machines. And that has affected almost every aspect of Palestinian life. According to his group, Israeli drones killed at least 825 people between 20, the majority civilians. "For us, drones mean death," said Hamdi Shaqqura of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in an interview with the Washington Post. But thanks to modern drone technology, it does not need boots on the ground to dominate-and extinguish-Palestinian life. Israel ostensibly ended its military occupation of the Gaza Strip in 2005. Some of these countries do not just possess the technology they are already using it.ĭuring its 2008-2009 invasion of the Gaza Strip known as "Operation Cast Lead," the Israeli Defense Force repeatedly deployed unmanned aircraft to fire on suspected members of Hamas, the elected Palestinian government.Īccording to a leaked US State Department cable reported on by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in one incident an Israeli drone "shot at two Hamas fighters in front of the mosque and sixteen unintended casualties resulted inside the mosque due to an open door through which shrapnel entered during a time of prayer." While the technology may be precise, fallible human beings are still the ones picking the targets and pulling the trigger.
It was thrilling to meet her and grab a copy of her new book, DRONE WARFARE: Killing by remote control, which you should buy and commit to memory immediately.Įxcerpt from the book: Over fifty countries have the technology and many of them-including Israel, Russia, Turkey, China, India, Iran, the United Kingdom, and France-either have or are seeking weaponized drones. This was in association with the Upstate Peace Network-with whom I am proudly affiliated.
Peace activist Medea Benjamin, author and co-founder of CODE PINK, gave a presentation last evening at the Coffee Underground. Craig Seeman and Starlene Rankin are producing the show. The guests will be on the Livestream broadcast via remote webcam on Skype. Viewers are encouraged to contribute questions for the guests, online by text chat or by phone. Laura Wells, 2014 Green candidate for Controller of California. Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party presidential nominee and co-founder of the Green Shadow CabinetĬheri Honkala, 2012 Green vice-presidential nominee, co-founder of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign A chat box for the discussion will be on the screen next to the live State of the Union video.Īmong the guests on hand to comment on the President's speech: The State of the Union broadcast, which begins at 9:00 pm ET, will be aired on the Livestream page.
28, on the Green Party's Livestream channel ( ). WASHINGTON, DC - The Green Party invites the public to participate in an online chat during President Obama's 2014 State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Jan.
The Green Party will be live-blogging the State of the Union address tonight. "node_modules/browserify/node_modules/browser-pack/_prelude.Radicals used to call it "the state of the onion"-since you can peel and peel and peeeeeeel it away, and still, you can never quite get to the heart of it.