The following was written by Ed Kinane of the Syracuse Peace Council’s Anti-wars Committee. This spring, there will be a walk to the John Hancock field in Syracuse and an action that is being organized by New York State Direct Action for Peace.
Friends,
This morning’s Sunday Syracuse Post-Standard features a page one article by P-S reporter Dave Tobin, “Unmanned Drones, Controlled by Air National Guard from Hancock Airfield, Will Fly Over the Adirondacks”: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/unmanned_drones_controlled_by.html
In 2009 the P-S ran several lengthy gee whiz articles about the reaper drone newly arriving at Hancock. Once we began protesting the reaper in our midst, the P-S discontinued the series and has said little more about the reaper. The P-S, which had occasionally published my op-eds on a range of subjects in the past, chose not to publish them on the drone issue.
Today’s article is a marked departure from that silence.
To make sure that the P-S is aware that upstaters actively oppose having the deadly reaper based here, please write a letter to its editors at letters@syracuse.com and/or post a comment at the bottom of the article.
Among the points that you might make in your own language are:
- The reaper maims and kills and destroys the homes of civilians/noncombatants especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Such wanton killing is itself terrorism and surely serves as a recruiting tool for those who would oppose U.S. military forces in the region. The reaper’s tactical strength is thereby a strategic weakness – one risking expanding hostilities and keeping the war pot boiling.
- Such killing is cowardly; it violates Judeo-Christian and Islamic morality and international law.
- According to the article, Hancock not only is the national reaper maintenance center (which we’ve known), but flies missions over Afghanistan. Further, Hancock is to become a training center for reaper pilots – both from the U.S. and other countries (which we haven’t known). Basing the reaper in upstate NY makes this region a part of the battlefield. The people of upstate NY weren’t consulted about becoming potential targets of reprisal.
- As the article indicates, the drone is coming home to roost: it is becoming a clear and present threat to our own civil liberties. The reaper’s high tech surveillance capability, tested over there, is now being tested over here, around northern NY. Thanks to the reaper, we are now sliding down the slippery slope of the national surveillance state.
There is local as well as regional organizing going on about the drones. Contact Carol or 315.472.5478.
In solidarity,
ed
Reaper drones in Syracuse – respond to today’s P-S report
The following was written by Ed Kinane of the Syracuse Peace Council’s Anti-wars Committee. This spring, there will be a walk to the John Hancock field in Syracuse and an action that is being organized by New York State Direct Action for Peace.
Friends,
This morning’s Sunday Syracuse Post-Standard features a page one article by P-S reporter Dave Tobin, “Unmanned Drones, Controlled by Air National Guard from Hancock Airfield, Will Fly Over the Adirondacks”: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/unmanned_drones_controlled_by.html
In 2009 the P-S ran several lengthy gee whiz articles about the reaper drone newly arriving at Hancock. Once we began protesting the reaper in our midst, the P-S discontinued the series and has said little more about the reaper. The P-S, which had occasionally published my op-eds on a range of subjects in the past, chose not to publish them on the drone issue.
Today’s article is a marked departure from that silence.
To make sure that the P-S is aware that upstaters actively oppose having the deadly reaper based here, please write a letter to its editors at letters@syracuse.com and/or post a comment at the bottom of the article.
Among the points that you might make in your own language are:
There is local as well as regional organizing going on about the drones. Contact Carol or 315.472.5478.
In solidarity,
ed