Peace Pundit

Drone Strikes are Error-Prone

peacepundit — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:06:12 +0000

It should be is obvious that launching airstikes from drone aircraft controlled from thousands of miles away by operators viewing and assessing ground “targets” from high altitude though video links is a bad idea. Based on grainy video that lags a bit behind the actual action on the ground, operators decide remotely who to blow to bits. Clearly, this will be highly prone to accidents.

Predator drone firing missile

Common sense should have stopped the US military from using drones for combat rather than just for reconnaissance. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

So now we are faced with an ever-growing list of incidents in which erroneous drone strikes killed and maimed innocents. Past Peace Pundit posts have documented previous incidents (see list below). Sadly, a new incident must now be added to the list (excerpted):

US Deaths in Drone Strike Due to Miscommunication, Report Says

By David Zucchino and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times, Oct 14, 2011

Washington — A Marine and a Navy medic killed by a US drone airstrike were targeted when Marine commanders in Afghanistan mistook them for Taliban fighters, even though analysts watching the Predator’s video feed were uncertain whether the men were part of an enemy force.

…

The 381-page report, which has not been released, concludes that the Marine officers on the scene and the Air Force crew controlling the drone from half a world away were unaware that analysts watching the firefight unfold via live video at a third location had doubts about the targets’ identity.

The incident closely resembles another deadly mistake involving a Predator in early 2009. In that attack, at least 15 Afghan civilians were killed after a Predator crew mistook them for a group of Taliban…

In that case, analysts located at Air Force Special Operations Command in Florida who were watching live battlefield video from the aircraft’s high-altitude cameras also had doubts about the target. Their warnings that children were present were disregarded by the drone operator and by an Army captain, who authorized the airstrike.

…

[Read entire story]

[Read extra story detailing errors that led to the incident.]

Cut the Military Budget; Support the People’s Budget

peacepundit — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:51:24 +0000

The US Congressional “supercommittee” charged to produce a workable federal budget deadlocked, as many predicted it would. The supercommitee’s failure means that large automatic across-the-board budget cuts to all US government programs and departments, including the military, will be triggered in 2013 unless Congress somehow pulls an agreeable compromise budget out of a hat in 2012. But Congress already showed that it cannot pass a budget. That’s why it instead created the supercommittee, with the threat of automatic budget cuts — called “sequestration” — as a backup plan. Well, the backup plan is now in effect, and we all get to watch the sequestration train as it approaches the budget schoolbus stuck on the tracks.

How is the Pentagon, facing the possibility of an automatic $500 billion reduction in its budget, reacting? “Panic” is the best word to describe it. Some analysts have called the looming automatic budget cuts the “Pentagon’s Worst Nightmare“. Sharing the Pentagon’s nightmare are the many defense contractors who profit from excessive military spending: no one wants their weapons program to be cut, whether the country actually needs it or not.

Threats and fear mongering are the tactics that the Pentagon and its money-guzzling suppliers are using to tilt public opinion away from deep military budget cuts.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (formerly CIA Director) calls large cuts to the military budget “completely unacceptable to me” and has vowed to “fight to make sure that hopefully some common sense prevails”.

However, what common sense dictates is that the US military budget be cut, soon, drastically, and permanently. Even the New York Times argues for reducing the military budget drastically.

Contrary to what the fear-mongers argue, cutting the military budget will not put US troops at risk, because their mission will be drastically reduced. They will actually be safer than they now are because they will be brought home in large numbers — home from fruitless and counterproductive wars, and home from unnecessary, imperialistic overseas bases. Fewer troops will die, fewer will be wounded, and fewer will suffer psychological trauma.

Military leaders such as Panetta and his generals have no say in the matter. Contrary to what Panetta may say, the leaders of the US military, including him and others in the Pentagon, are not policymakers. They only carry out policies. They don’t get to decide when and where the US wages war or establishes and maintains bases. Congress and the President decide that. The military’s role is simply to carry out policies and military campaigns that they are directed to carry out.

If we ask them to do a lot, they need a big budget to do it. If we don’t ask them to do much, then a small budget is enough. Our national goal should be to rely on the military as little as possible.

Finally, military contractors — companies that supply arms, equipment, and services to the military — have no legitimate standing whatsoever in policy discussions. They have a vested interest in huge military budgets and in having the US wage perpetual war on much of the rest of the world. Their judgement is heavily biased, rendering their advice unreliable.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has produced a “People’s Budget” that resolves all of the issues that the Congressional Supercommittee was supposed to resolve. It cuts the military budget and redirects the savings toward domestic needs. It is supported by many leading political figures and economists. Former President Bill Clinton called it “The most comprehensive alternative to the budgets passed by the House Republicans and recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission”.

Similarly, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, together with the National Priorities Project, produced a report on how the US can have a sustainable defensive (not offensive) program at an affordable cost: “Debts, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward“.

If we can convince policymakers that The People’s Budget and the FCNL/NPP report have broad support, provisions from them could be included in whatever budget compromise Congress hammers out, even if they don’t adopt them in full.

Here are five things you can do in 2012 to support reducing the military budget:

Read the FCNL/NPP report: “ Debts, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward“
Read the “People’s Budget (summary)” [or the complete budget document (PDF)]
Voice your preference for the “People’s Budget” in an online poll
Write your Sentators and congressional representatives, urging them to support the People’s Budget and the FCNL/NPP report
Write letters to the editor of your local paper, supporting the People’s Budget and the FCNL/NPP report

SF Supervisors Pass Resolution to Bring War-Dollars Home

peacepundit — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:25:54 +0000

Tuesday December 13, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution putting the city on record as “urging the United States Government to reduce the military budget, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and redirect the savings for domestic needs”.

The resolution, co-sponsored by Supervisors John Avalos (D11) and Eric Mar (D1) passed with eight supervisors voting “yes” and three voting “no”. The supervisors voting in favor of the resolution were: Avalos, Mar, Board President David Chiu (D3), Ross Mirkarimi (D5), Jane Kim (D6), Scott Wiener (D8), David Campos (D9), and Malia Cohen (D10). Those voting against the resolution were: Mark Farrell (D2), Carmen Chu (D4), and Sean Elsbernd (D7).

The Bay Area New Priorities Campaign (http://NewPrioritiesCampaign.org) initially drafted the resolution and brought it to the Board of Supervisors as part of the organization’s campaign to get similar resolutions adopted in cities and counties around the SF Bay Area.

The resolution notes that approximately 58 cents of every federal discretionary budget dollar in 2011 will pay for past, present, and future military expenses. It also notes that San Francisco faces falling federal and state support, causing cuts to essential city services and programs, such as food banks, adult daycare centers, city college, schools, and libraries.

Passing the resolution requires the SF government to urge California’s federal legislators to end the wars, provide jobs and adequate care for returning war veterans, reduce the military budget, and refocus national priorities on domestic job-creation and rebuilding national infrastructure. Copies of the resolution will be sent to President Barack Obama, the California Congressional delegation, the Governor of California, and the California State Legislature.

[See full text (PDF) of resolution]

[See Anti-Afghanistan-War resolution the SF Supervisors passed in 2009]

Call Your Senators: Support Merkley Amendment to End Afghanistan War

peacepundit — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:40:56 +0000

Quoting from an action-alert email from Credo Action:

“Almost all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year. But even with the death of Osama bin Laden, and in the face of brutal budget cuts at home, we’re scheduled to have troops in Afghanistan until at least 2014.

With a major defense spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (NDAA), scheduled for a vote this week, Senator Jeff Merkley has offered an amendment that asks the president to come up with a more rapid timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

The Merkley amendment has bipartisan support, but many Senators are not on board. With a vote coming this week, we all need to urge our Senators to support it.

Please call your Senator ASAP and ask that they co-sponsor or support the Merkley amendment. [Senate Contact Information]

If you live in or near San Francisco, please note that on Monday Dec 5 the SF Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing on a resolution to end the wars and bring the war dollars home. The hearing will be at 10 am in City Hall, room 250.

SF Supes Consider Resolution to Bring War Dollars Home

peacepundit — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:41:25 +0000

The SF Bay Area New Priorities Campaign (NPC) has been working to get SF Bay Area city councils and county boards of supervisors to pass resolutions condemning the high costs of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and calling for the wars to be ended and the funding redirected to US domestic needs.

One such resolution, drafted by members of the NPC, is being considered by the San Francisco (city and county) Board of Supervisors. The resolution was introduced by Supervisor John Avalos, co-sponsored by Supervisor Eric Mar.

Briefly, the SF resolution enumerates the costs of the wars, with particular attention to the cost to San Francisco and its residents, lists similar resolutions passed by local governments around the US, and puts SF on record as supporting quick termination of war-funding and refocusing resources toward creating jobs and addressing domestic problems. [View full text of resolution and supporting references (PDF)]

The resolution will be discussed in a public hearing of the City Operations Committee, to be held on Monday Dec 5, at 10 am in SF City Hall, Room 250. San Francisco residents who want to testify are invited. Each person gets 2-3 minutes (max) to present their argument for or against the resolution. The committee will then vote on the resolution, and if they pass it, it goes to the full Board for consideration followed by a vote. Please come and be heard.

US Ends Iraq War… Again… Really?

peacepundit — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:04:47 +0000

Last Friday, Oct 21, President Obama declared the Iraq War “over”. He said “the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.” He and US defense officials wanted to leave a few thousand soldiers there as trainers, but Iraq would not grant them immunity from prosecution, so Obama decided to withdraw all US troops. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that this isn’t the first time Obama has “ended” the Iraq War. On August 31, 2010, he announced the withdrawal of “the last US combat brigade from Iraq”. That description was highly misleading. About 50,000 US Army troops stayed in Iraq, most of them combat troops. Worse, an even larger number of private military contractors (aka mercenaries) also stayed. US combat casualties, not to mention Iraqi civilian casualties, continued to rise — in fact, the US military death rate spiked in June 2011. Since that first “ending” of the Iraq War, over 50 US troops died in Iraq, bringing the sad toll-to-date to 4479.

And this time? Is Obama’s claim that all US combat troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year true this time?

Answer: Perhaps more true than before, but there is still some “fine print” he didn’t mention in last Friday’s speech. Supposedly the US State Department will take over operations in Iraq from the Department of Defense. State Department officials have built a large force of military contractors to provide security for American diplomats and US facilities. But the Defense Department will not be totally out of the picture: a small number of US Marines will remain in Iraq to guard the US embassy and two consulates.

In addition to the “fine print” that Obama didn’t mention, there have also been statements from other US and Iraqi officials that contradict Obama’s claim that all US combat troops will be withdrawn. Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough states that the United States will continue to train Iraq’s military. Will the trainers be US military troops, military contractors, or civilians? Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan regional government representative in Washington and the son of Iraq’s president, said “As part of a new agreement there will be Americans in Iraq training and assisting the Iraqi armed forces. These Americans will not be combat troops but they will be US soldiers.” Huh? Didn’t the deal to leave military trainers in Iraq fall through?

So what is the truth? We will find out.

Until then, I will remain cautiously pessimistic.

Photos from Afghan War 10th Anniversary Anti-War Rally, San Francisco 10.6.11

peacepundit — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:24:27 +0000

Below are photos from an anti-war and other-99% rally in San Francisco on Oct 6 2011, on the tenth anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan War. The main purpose of the rally/march was to protest the continuation of the Afghanistan war (as well as the Iraq War and military actions elsewhere), but speakers also connected the war with the economic recession and other issues.

The rally started at 3 pm at 7th and Mission Streets, in front of the Federal Bldg. Janet Weil (Code Pink) and Art Persyko served as emcees for a series of speakers, including Fr. Louie Vitale, Daniel Ellsberg, Michael Eisenscher, and representatives from the OccupySF movement. Open-mike periods were provided for audience members to offer proposals for action. Then some of the crowd walked down to the Financial District to support the OccupySF effort, while others walked to Koret Auditorium at the SF Public Library to discuss next steps.

Click on photos to see them larger.

Afghanistan War 10th Anniversary: Protests, Vigils, Exhibits

peacepundit — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:23:44 +0000

Express your opposition to the continuing Afghanistan (not to mention Iraq, Libya, and Yemen) at the peace rallies and marches to be held around the US this coming week. [See financial cost of wars.]

!0th Anniversary Afghanistan War Events

Albuquerque, NM, Sat Oct 8, 11 am, UNM Bookstore, Anti-war protest, sponsored by ANSWER Coalition.
Boston, MA, Sat Oct 15, 4:30 pm, Park Street Station at Boston Common (Park & Tremont), Ant-war rally. [More info]
Los Angeles, CA, Fri Oct 7, 4:30 pm, Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90024, vigil, die-in, march, sponsored by Answer Coalition. [More info]
Minneapolis, MN, Fri Oct 7, 4:30 pm, Anti-war vigil, Hennepin/Lyndale Ave. at Vineland & Oak Grove, Minneapolis, sponsored by Minneapolis Peace Action Coalition. [More info]
NY City, NY, Fri Oct 7, all day, Outreach and Flyering, sponsored by ANSWER Coalition. [Sign up online]
San Francisco, CA, Thu Oct 6, 3 pm, Federal Bldg plaza, 7th & Mission, Anti-war sponsored by October2011 coalition. Speakers include Kevin Danaher (co-founder Global Exchange); Michael Eisenscher (Nat’l Coordinator, US Labor-assemblies Against the War); Henry Clark (Executive Director, West County Toxics Coalition); Ed Holmes (SF Mime Troupe actor, AKA “Dick Cheney”); Patty Bennett (Military Families Speak Out); Carol Denney (Berkeley singer/songwriter). Afterwards, convene at SF Public Library, Koret Aud, for discussion. [Email for more info]
San Francisco, CA, Thu Oct 6, 5 pm, University of San Francisco, “Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan”, Interfaith peace vigil 5 pm in Kalmanovitz Amphitheater, followed by Opening Night Reception 5:50 – 7 pm in McLaren 251, sponsored by AFSC, Islamic Culteral Center of N. CA, and USF. [More info]
San Francisco, CA, Fri Oct 7, 4:30 pm, Federal Bldg plaza, 7th & Mission, vigil, die-in, march, sponsored by ANSWER Coalition. [More info]
Seattle, WA, Fri Oct 7, 4:30 pm, Seattle Central Community College, Broadway and Pine, vigil and march to Westlake, sponsored by ANSWER Coalition.
Trenton, NJ, Fri Oct 7, 12 noon – 1 pm, Statehouse Steps, 125 W. State Street , followed by vigil on Morrisville side of the Trenton Makes Bridge, sponsored by Coalition for Peace Action. [More info]
Washington, DC, Thu Oct 6, 9 am, Freedom Plaza, Anti-war rally, sponsored by October2011 Coalition. [More info]
Washington, DC, Thu Fri 7, War Voices Art Show, sponsored by United for Peace and Justice. [More info]

International Day of Peace: Sept 21

peacepundit — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:15:45 +0000

In 1981, the United Nations designated September 21 as an International Day of Peace. The main purpose was to promote temporary cease-fires in conflict zones, to allow humanitarian relief efforts and evacuation of wounded and dead to be carried out safely. In 2001, the U.N. made the International Day of Peace an annual event.

Since then, the purpose of the Internationa Day of Peace has broadened to include other actions to promote peace, including demonstrations, pledge campaigns, and even small peacemaking efforts.

The International Day of Peace website provides a wealth of opportunities to promote peace, e.g., you can plan and pos peace events.

Blackwater Brand Resurfaces in a Video Game

peacepundit — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 04:35:57 +0000

For years, PeacePundit has been following the controversy surrounding the contract security firm Blackwater Worldwide — including accusations that Blackwater guards killed 17 unarmed civilians in an unprovoked attack in Iraq and that the firm engaged in illegal weapons smuggling during the Bush Administration. Two years ago, Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to Xe Services to try to shed its tainted brand.

Now, Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, who no longer heads the security company, is trying to revive the brand. Below are excerpts from a recent news story.

Blackwater Video Game Triggers Rage

By Guy Adams, The Independent UK, 08 September 2011

You’ve heard about the scandals; now re-live them from the comfort of your sofa. That’s the … idea behind “Blackwater”, a new video game named after the shadowy US security company accused of some of the worst rights violations of the Iraq war.

… a software developer called 505 Games will shortly launch the “first-person shoot-em-up” in which players adopt the persona of mercenaries protecting UN officials in what reviewers have called “a hostile north-African territory.”

It was produced under licence from Erik Prince, the Blackwater founder and former Navy Seal who stepped down from day-to-day management of the firm two years ago, having gained more than $1 billion in contracts from the Bush administration.

“[Players] are going to be shooting, moving and communicating through very difficult, unknown, uncertain situations,” Prince told USA Today … The game’s release marks the first effort by Mr Prince to leverage the Blackwater name. …

…

Jan Schakowsky, a Democratic Congresswoman and prominent critic of Blackwater, told The Independent that the game was “appalling.”

“Blackwater is a company of mercenaries who have operated in a way that compromises the safety, reputation, and lives of Americans and Iraqis, and whose employees have been guilty of killings… The notion of playing a game in which they are the hero is wrong on almost every level.”

If Mr Prince had not emigrated to the United Arab Emirates, which does not have an extradition agreement with the US, he too would now be facing prosecution, the Congresswoman said. “His company has caused the death of innocent people without any accountability. It is inconceivable and appalling that a video game should celebrate his tough-guy image.”

…

[Read Entire Story]

Peace Pundit

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