Beale- Drone Protest Arrests

 I just want to quote this:  Beale AFB is home to the U2 and the Global Hawk, the unmanned surveillance drone that is an "accomplice" in drone killings. The 5 activists arrested attempted to deliver a letter to the Beale AFB commander that demanded:

(1) An immediate ban on the use of all drones for extrajudicial killing (2) A halt all drone surveillance that assaults basic freedoms and inalienable rights and terrorizes domestic life in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia (3) A prohibition on the sale, and distribution of drones and drone technology to foreign countries in order to prevent the proliferation of this menacing threat to world peace, freedom and security and (4) The U.S. must immediately stop this lawless behavior of drone warfare that violates many international laws and treaties.

"US military and CIA Drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, in the Middle East, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In the name of combating terrorism against the U.S. we are terrorizing innocent people, and creating many more enemies and potential terrorists in the process," said a statement issued by Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Chico Peace and Justice Center, Nevada County Peace Center, Peace Fresno, WILPF and World Can't Wait.

 It was inspiring, scary, bewildering and thought provoking how this morning went. This is a very heavily used gate into Beale AFB and a lot of people had very valid reasons for getting to work on time and were very upset at us....to the point that I think one of our numbers would have been injured had a military person not redirected the traffic.

 However, there are no forums for the truth of what is happening to civilians in the countries where the U.S. is using drone strikes. In this shot, Fred, a physician, looks over his shoulder as his wife, Toby, is taken off for booking after stepping over the white line defining base property.

 Both he and Shirley took advantage of all the young military people lining the road to speak out about the drone attacks and give the perspective of those communities where civilians have been killed and communities exist in constant fear. We really tried to communicate, to share what we have learned, to humanize the situation so the young soldiers will realize they must take responsibility for their part in this illegal, immoral killing.
Hopefully more people will join us and we will be able to stop the drone killings and put limits on drone surveillance in our own country. It will take a lot more pressure on the Obama administration to counter the corporate-military- executive branch collusion on this though.