[GPSCC-chat] FW: Notes from Medea, Swanson, Sheehan on Drones 11/11/12

Sun Dec 2 16:53:27 PST 2012

"Is drone warfare legal?" Wrong question.  As Ramona Africa would say: "Just because it's legal don't make it right."

John Thielking

--- On Sun, 12/2/12, Brian Good <snug.bug at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Brian Good <snug.bug at hotmail.com>
Subject: [GPSCC-chat] FW: Notes from Medea, Swanson, Sheehan on Drones 11/11/12
To: "sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Date: Sunday, December 2, 2012, 4:16 PM

http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/19482

'U.S. Wars -- Are They Lawful?' Medea Benjamin, David Swanson, and Cindy Sheehan spoke 11/11/12 at the Main Library in San Francisco.

 Cindy Sheehan ----- War continues in Iraq--with tens of thousands of mercenaries and five thousand embassy employees remaining—and in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Syria. 800 US military bases worldwide make locals unhappy. 

Three days after 9/11, Congress authorized military force against terrorism. Bush and Obama have used that authority to justify torture, drone warfare and war crimes. Democratic wars are just as bad as Republican wars, which at least get some opposition. Now we have the NDAA [providing for indefinite detention of US citizens] and a 17-year-old girl [can be be nominated for inclusion] on Obama's kill list. When a president's executive order can kill thousands of innocent Libyans without asking Congress, that's totalitarianism. After Obama's drone strikes in Pakistan on his third day in office, Sheehan called him a war criminal, and 40,000 unsubscribed from her list. Obama supporters are worse than the Bush supporters, and they say the same things. Give him a chance? He's had his chance! 

David Swanson ----- http://warisacrime.org/ Clear laws on the books making war, threats of war, and propaganda for war illegal are ignored or evaded, or reinterpreted to reverse their force. Other nations would be prosecuted if they did what we do, and sometimes (when they're African) they are. US wars take place in an environment of open bribery. 

World War One cost enough to give a furnished home and 5 acres to every family in Russia, the USA, Canada, Australia, and most of Europe--plus a library, hospital, and college to every city over 20,000. Thus in 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact banned all war.  81 nations (including the USA) signed this treaty, but the USA does not comply. The U.N. Charter permits two war loopholes: 1) defensive wars and 2) U.N.-approved wars. The US wages war on impoverished nations while claiming self-defense, and falsely claims UN approval. 

Though the UK decided that attacking Iran would be illegal and the U.N. Charter prohibits threatening war, the US threatens, and lies about, Iran constantly. Illegal war propaganda is so pervasive we don't perceive it, and polls show that US residents want to attack Iran. Authorizations for force preceding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars permitted presidents to declare wars. The Iraq authorization was never repealed, and the White House has claimed that the Libyan war did not constitute "hostilities" requiring Congressional approval. Our brave drones are striking in many nations without the knowledge, let alone authorization, of Congress--killing people with no charges, trials, or due process.  US drones targeted a 16-year-old Pakistani [Tariq Aziz] when he was videoing drone damage. 

The New York Times claims that a OLC [DoJ Office of Legal Counsel] memo provides that murder is not murder, but Congress can't see the secret memo. Most drone victims are innocents. Others are targeted John Does whose behavior suggests alliance with legitimate defenses against US attacks. The U.N. Special Rapporteur has called drone strikes extrajudicial killing.  The U.S. says that's none of his business. One intelligence official was asked what foreign nation might attack the USA, and could not name even one. The U.S. makes 85% of international weapons sales. 

Other countries try to uphold the law--Turkey prosecutes Israelis in absentia for murder in the Gaza flotilla, and Italy convicted CIA agents in absentia for kidnapping. 

Obama's 2008 transition team asked the public for action proposals. The top vote getter: A Special Prosecutor for Bush's crimes. Dean Edley from UC Berkeley Law School participated in the deliberations that decided that if they prosecuted, the CIA, NSA, and military would revolt and Republicans would block legislation. So now John Conyers's threat to impeach a president who attacked Iran is seen to exempt Democrats. We must protest, and vote against, and consider impeachment for, anyone in Congress or the White House who gives an inch on protecting Social Security and Medicare, who votes for anything above 75% of current military budgets, or who fails to oppose wars or to act against climate change.  No more honeymoons.  

Medea Benjamin ----- Codepink, formed for just a couple of actions, is still at it after 10 years. Pakistan lives in a state of terror. 42 civilians were killed at a community gathering. As Senate Intelligence Committee chair, Diane Feinstein oversees the CIA secret wars. She's not doing her job. When ACLU tried to get CIA documents, government lawyers disputed that the drone wars' existence had been publicly recognized. We all know they exist. Feinstein claims her staff's viewing of drone strike videos to ensures that the drones are used judiciously. 

The CIA is on a killing spree. Look back at to CIA's Phoenix program of assassinations. Congress said the CIA was supposed to be Intel, not paramilitary, so we had the Church hearings in the 1970s. Why is Diane Feinstein not holding hearings? She must be accountable. Nancy Pelosi sits on her butt. Her last Town Hall meeting was in 2006! The Authorization for Use of Military Force, the legal foundation for war after 9/11, specified going after people involved with, or associated with, the 9/11 attacks. Many people targeted now were 10 years old on 9/11, and we are targeting organizations that did not exist on 9/11. 

Three quarters of Pakistanis call the USA its enemy and feel the USA has no respect for the Pakistani people. The Pakistani legislature three times asked that the drone strikes be stopped, one time voting unanimously. Hellfire missiles give no opportunity to surrender. The attacks are disproportional: of thousands killed, only 49 were high-level targets. 

Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan said a democratic society should not engage in state targeted assassination. Obama claims no Congressional drone authorization is needed when US soldiers are not at risk. 

In March, 2012 Attorney General Holder told a law school audience at Northwestern University that there is no constitutional right to judicial process, that the demand for "due process" was fulfilled by executive deliberations. Washington Post recently reported that the "disposition matrix" assassination program will go on ten years at least. 

Under Bush, drone attacks were every 40 days; under Obama, it's every 4 days. As manufacturers seek to place drones in each of 18,000 police departments in this country, we should reach out to the many groups [across the ideological spectrum] that will suffer surveillance. We must return to respect for the rule of law and free our country from the military-industrial complex so we can enjoy the respect of the world. We must demand that hundreds of billions of dollars in military funding be returned to productive domestic service. 

Q/A 

Swanson: When the law is not enforced, our ingenious legal arguments are beside the point. We need a coalition to take on the military-industrial complex, the bankers, and the plutocrats. 

Benjamin: A week-long protest is planned at the General Atomics drone factory in San Diego, with a national call, similar to the School of the Americas action. A single Hellfire missile costs enough to build four schools. Peace is a better investment than is drone warfare. 

Sheehan: Proposals for a constitutional convention: Triple or quadruple the number of representatives in Congress. Require respect of the sovereignty of other nations. We need a brand-new constitution. Equal rights for women. Resist war taxes. Surround the White House. No more petitions. No more legitimizing the crimes. Don't vote for them. 

Swanson: Amend so corporations are not people, money is not speech. We're asking a broken Congress to fix itself. Ban private money in elections, give free airtime to candidates, and public financing of campaigns. Hand-counted paper ballots. Increase the size of the House and eliminate the Senate. Rights to housing, health care, and equality. Government by referendum is preferable to what we've got. Connect to the faith-based, ask women's organizations to address the wars that are claimed to protect the rights of women. Turn off your TV. Rootsaction.org is the new MoveOn. Inauguration demonstrations are planned. Rebuild the peace movement. John Boniface wants to launch a suit about the drone wars. droneswatch.org ### 

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/19482#ixzz2DwX1VIGU

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