By Rory Fanning From The Guardian On Tuesday, the United States should be celebrating its 95th Armistice Day, pausing as a nation to think about the terrible costs of war – including the loss of so many lives. Unfortunately, we replaced it with a very different holiday. On 1 June 1954, less than a year […]
In what is probably a first, the Air Force Times this week is publishing a controversial advertisement from 54 U.S. military veterans and veterans organizations urging Air Force drone operators and other military personnel to refuse their orders…and not fly drone surveillance/attack missions. Air Force Times is a weekly newspaper, owned by Tegna Inc., with […]
By Mike Hastie Photo by Mike Hastie: This picture of a small boy playing with toy soldiers was taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Portland, Oregon. It was Memorial Day in 2003, two months after the U.S. started bombing Baghdad. From World Can’t Wait|Original Article You join the U.S. military thinking […]
Hope you have had a good and restful summer and that those of you who are educators and students are all set for a great 2015-16 academic year! Many students will be returning with an increased consciousness of the systemic injustices towards people of color in this country. That awareness, while important in its own right, […]
From Motherboard | Original Article Watch the video here: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-former-drone-pilots-guilt-kept-him-awake-at-night One of the supposed advantages to the United States’ drone program is that by distancing pilots from their targets, the psychic scars of killing don’t form so easily. But even separated by thousands of miles and a computer screen, former drone pilot Brandon Bryant felt […]
By Bruce Dancis From The Sacramento Bee | Original Article President Lyndon B. Johnson made the fateful decision early in 1965 to expand the U.S. role in the Vietnam War. First he ordered the bombing of North Vietnam. Later in the year Johnson sent more than 180,000 American ground troops to South Vietnam. This escalation […]
By CJ Hinke From WorldBeyondWar | Original Article More chapers from CJ Hinke’s book are available on WorldBeyondWar. Excerpted from Free Radicals: War Resisters in Prison by CJ Hinke, forthcoming from Trine-Day in 2016. There are as many reasons to desert military service as there are deserters. All countries’ militaries like to snatch young men […]
By Pat Elder From U.S. Catholic During the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004, 1st Lt. Jesse A. Grapes saved the lives of three wounded marines in his platoon by entering a burning house, where he encountered the enemy soldier who had been firing at his troops. Six years later Grapes was named headmaster […]
A drone flying over southern Afghanistan (AP Photo/Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt, US Air Force) From TomDispatch.com By Pratap Chatterjee The myth of the lone drone warrior is now well established and threatens to become as enduring as that of the lone lawman with a white horse and a silver bullet who rode out into the […]
Trevor Tasin with three of his sons: John, 11; Ben, 13; and Dominic, 2. Mr. Tasin, a pilot who retired as a major in 2014 after flying Predator drones and training new pilots. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times By Christopher Drew and Dave Philipps, June 16, 2015 From The New York Times […]
French artist JR’s giant poster in Pakistan, “Not A Bug Splat,” as seen from a drone. Veterans Urge Drone Operators to Refuse Orders to Fly “The people signing this letter know that they are asking drone operators to take a heavy step,” said Nick Mottern, coordinator of KnowDrones.com, “but we […]
(Photo: John Minchillo/AP) From Aljazeera America Over 2,000 Air Force veterans and reservists are set to receive over $47.5 million for exposure to the harmful chemical Ending years of wait, the government agreed Thursday to provide millions of dollars in disability benefits to as many as 2,100 Air Force reservists and active-duty forces exposed to […]
