Former drone operator Brandon Bryant has shown a level of courage that is incredibly uncommon. He has taken a public stand on the the criminal use of drones in the US military and is likely under immense pressure for doing so. In watching Brandon's 7 minute interview on RT TV, I was very struck by his straightforward sincerity and honesty. The amount of innocent civilians that are being killed by the US military's drone program is shocking. How many innocent civilians have already been killed as a direct result of the climate engineering/weather warfare assault in our skies? Let us hope others in the military find the courage and strength to follow the example set by Brandon Bryant.
Dane Wigington
geoengineeringwatch.org
‘We didn’t even really know who we were firing at’ – former US drone operator
Source: RT
Former US drone sensor operator Brandon Bryant admits he “couldn’t stand” himself for his participation in the country’s drone program for six years – firing on targets whose identities often went unconfirmed.
Since 2001, and increasingly under the Obama administration, the US has been carrying out drone strikes against targets believed to be affiliated with terrorist organizations in countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. The program, which has been shrouded in secrecy, has been routinely criticized for the high number of resultant civilian casualties.
Pakistan’s Peshawar High Court ruled in 2013 that the attacks constitute a war crime and violate the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Meanwhile the Obama administration continues to insist that drone warfare is a precise and effective method of combat.
According to data collected by the human rights group Reprieve and published last November, attempts to kill 41 targeted individuals across Pakistan and Yemen resulted in the deaths of some 1,147 people. Often a kill requires multiple strikes, the group noted.
Bryant, who worked as a sensor operator, manning drones’ cameras and other intelligence gathering hardware, worked from an airbase in Nevada. The operator who left his post in 2011 spoke harshly of the program and the leadership responsible for approving it.
“There was no oversight. I just know that the inside of the entire program was diseased and people need to know what happens to those that were on the inside,” he told RT’s Anissa Naouai. “People need to know the lack of oversight, the lack of accountability that happen.”
Bryant decried the “black hole putrid system that is either going to crush you or you’re going to conform to it,” and apologized to families of victims whose deaths he was responsible for. By his estimation, he helped kill some 1626 people. “I couldn’t stand myself for doing it” he added.
“I’m sorry that the mistake happened. I’m doing everything that I can to prevent further mistakes from happening.”
http://www.reprieve.org/uploads/2/6/3/3/26338131/2014_11_24_pub_you_never_die_twice_-_multiple_kills_in_the_us_drone_program.pdf
Source: RT
This is so much better than hearing Hillary Clinton talking about it. I just watched a YouTube video where she got asked the question, ‘What would you say to families of people killed by drone strikes?’ and she just avoided the question and didn’t even answer it. She just could not, and would not, imagine herself face to face with actual human beings and having to tell them something. All she said was some garbage about how the drone strikes are just causing collateral damage, that kind of thing, and it’s necessary, just a bunch of meaningless blather, collateral damage is inevitable, blah blah. It’s refreshing to see Brandon looking genuinely sad and regretful, and saying ‘I’m sorry,’ and answering ‘Why did this happen?’ with a simple, honest ‘I don’t know.’ I haven’t watched a lot of talks with Obama about the drone strikes but I imagine he probably says about the same thing, although I should watch some before I say that.
OH, GOD HAVE MERCY ON US
Wow, thanx Trish for that heads up. I’m an Aussie & I think it’s time that we started chaining ourselves to the gates & fences of these facilities.
For a long time we have been asked to “wake up”. I wish I had the courage of my convictions !!! as if I did I would take the NEXT STEP & do some ‘chaining’.
Brandon had the courage of his convictions, thank you Brandon.
Pine Gap and Woomera in central Australia are rumoured to be essential to US drone warfare in Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia etc.
This is a top secret installation in Australia since the late 1960’s.
All Australians are complicit, since as a people we have done nothing to stop it.