U.S. Killer Drone Attacks Kill Innocent Civilians


By Larry Gilbert, Sr.


As a people represented by our government, what gives us the right to go into other countries and indiscriminately assassinate people? Do we think that “American exceptionalism” gives us that right? How would we feel if the roles were reversed? Families around the world are merely trying to live their lives in peace as much as we are here in America.

As a Vietnam War veteran and seeing the ravages of war from that time forward, I have become a member of two organizations, Veterans for Peace and World Beyond War.

At the end of September, I traveled to Indian Springs, Nevada, to join with fellow members as well as members of Code Pink: Women for Peace and other organizations from 12 states. This is where Creech Air Force Base is located — some 50 miles north of Las Vegas.

We spent a week camped out in the desert. We conducted nonviolent protest actions at the entrance to the drone base twice daily, when drone pilots would arrive for work in the morning and leave at the end of their shifts. All the while during the day and night, killer drones were buzzing loudly over us and doing touch and goes on the runway.

The U.S. drone program has been ongoing for some 20 years by the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency. As a country, we have used killer drones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The last I knew, we haven’t declared war with these countries, other than Afghanistan and Iraq — our perpetual wars.

Hardly ever have we, the American people, heard of the strikes that are conducted ever so frequently in these countries with no accountability. Thousands of strikes have taken place during these 20 years and thousands of people have been killed, including so many innocent civilians. The civilians killed are merely referred to as “collateral damage.”

The “collateral damage” are families made up of innocent men, women and children.

As a people represented by our government, what gives us the right to go into other countries and indiscriminately assassinate people? Do we think that “American exceptionalism” gives us that right? How would we feel if the roles were reversed? Families around the world are merely trying to live their lives in peace as much as we are here in America.

On Aug. 29 of this year, as we were withdrawing from Afghanistan, the U.S. fired a drone strike where its missile(s) struck a car parked by Zamarai Ahmadi outside his home. The strike slaughtered him and nine members of his family, including seven children, five of whom were younger than 10.

According to the New York Times, “the Pentagon claimed that Ahmadi was a facilitator for the Islamic State and that his car was packed with explosives, posing an imminent threat to U.S. troops guarding the evacuation at the Kabul Airport.”

General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of the U.S Central Command, said “the drone strike dealt a crushing blow to Islamic State.” General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, called it a “righteous strike.”

I ask, what is righteous about killing 10 innocent people?

It was only after investigative news reports that there was proof that this was in fact an attack on Zamarai Ahmadi, 45, an engineer for a U.S.-based nonprofit. Generally, most drone strikes have no follow-up investigations.

A recent report of the incident said it was an “honorable mistake” and what the drone pilots and their commanders saw was what they call “confirmed bias.” In other words, they saw what they wanted to see.

How often does that happen? I suspect quite often, by those giving the orders to fire the missiles.

Unfortunately, those young Air Force drone pilots have to come into work every morning and fire missiles from drones killing people during the day and go home to their families at the end of their shift, especially after seeing the carnage that they wreaked. I suspect that some of these pilots will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after a period of time.

How will they and their families’ lives be impacted in the years following? I would encourage those who feel this sense to seek help from organizations such as ours, Veterans For Peace, to assist them.

On another note, the Israeli government flies drones day and night over the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians live in a state of terror that missiles will be fired at them. Aside from that fear, the noise offers another sense of harassment.

It is high time to kill killer drones. Peace and justice.

Larry Gilbert Sr. is a former mayor and police chief of Lewiston, U.S. marshal, and U.S. Army veteran.

More Resources


03/28/2024
My Friend Joe
I write now, in the worst pain and shock, with news of my friend Joe Lieberman's death just moments ago. I write because I know what his critics will be quick to write, what news reports have already re-circulated.

more info


03/28/2024
Why I'm Resigning From the Biden State Department
Since Hamas' attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people - 13,000 of them children - with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead.

more info


03/28/2024
Gaza: Truths Behind All the Lies
From civilian casualties, the use of disproportionate force, and international biases, the mainstream narrative of the Gaza conflict often obfuscates the truth behind lies.

more info


03/28/2024
Obama, Fearing Biden Loss to Trump, Is On Phone To Strategize
As the election approaches, President Joe Biden is making regular calls to former President Barack Obama to catch up on the race or to talk about family. But Obama is making calls of his own to Jeffrey Zients, the White House chief of staff, and to top aides at the Biden campaign to strategize and relay advice.

more info


03/28/2024
Biden's Surprise Campaign Boost Has Changed 2024 Race
A standard State of the Union speech doesn't move the political needle much. But Biden's latest gave a surprise boost to his campaign in both polls and fundraising.

more info


03/28/2024
Carville Is Right: 'Preachy Women' Ruining Biden's Chances
Political strategist James Carville just issued Democrats an explicit warning that President Biden's poor polling numbers indicate serious problems with the Democratic Party.

more info


03/28/2024
Forget Kennedy Dems. Here Comes the 2024 Kennedy Voter
These days, the phrase "Kennedy voter" means different things to different members of Burke Cahill's family.

more info


03/28/2024
What NBC's Firing of McDaniel Means
Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics radio show (Monday through Friday at 6:00 p.m. EDT on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. Channel 124), Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon talk about Ronna McDaniel being fired at NBC and Trump's Truth Social platform going public. They also discuss RFK Jr.'s new running mate, Nicole Shanahan, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's handling of the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.

more info


03/28/2024
McDaniel Pledged Allegiance to Trump's Big Lie
After a Trump-backed purge of the RNC this month, promoting the 2020 stolen election lie has become a litmus test for loyalty

more info


03/28/2024
Hard Times for the Professional Never Trump Losers
These are hard times for the professional Never Trumpers. Donald Trump is winning this election, they're not getting the attention they used to, and inflation has made pool boy rates simply outrageous. Those poll numbers showing Trump leading across the country have to be understood as a total repudiation of these jerks, because they are. There are a lot of reasons to want to see Trump win, but in the Top Five is seeing these goofs cry.

more info


03/28/2024
SCOTUS Abortion Pill Ruling May Doom Trump This Nov
If the Supreme Court decided to restrict mifepristone, it would energize Democrats on an issue that has proved effective for them at the ballot box.

more info


03/28/2024
Republican 'War on Women' Is a Media Myth
There's no evidence Republicans want to ban birth control. On the contrary, the GOP has led on efforts to make it easier to get birth control over the counter.

more info


03/28/2024
Trump Is Not the Victim of ‘Lawfare.' He's a Crook.
One of the reasons Republicans were so reluctant to accept Donald Trump's nomination in 2016 is that he was quite obviously a crook.

more info


03/28/2024
Progressives Have Damaged Public Faith in Our Legal System
The progressive lawfare campaign against conservatives is perhaps the most effective of the many leftist political attacks. There remains little doubt that America's justice system has been so corrupted that it is being unleashed as the main component of what Victor David Hanson has appropriately called the American "Jacobin Revolution."

more info


03/28/2024
Things Are Great, But They're Miserable, Too
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." In rereading the opening lines of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," I had the sense they were written last week, not almost two centuries ago.

more info



Custom Search

More Politics Articles:

Related Articles

The Latest Anti-Drug Industry Media Firestorm: Unscientific, Dishonest, and Dangerous


Have drug companies been lying about their development costs to justify high prices?

President Trump Plans To Make Drugs Affordable Again


During his State of the Union address, President Trump pledged to drive down drug prices.

The Gun Community IS Doing Something About Violence


The tragic mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has once again stoked the firey debate about gun control in the U.S. And once again many are calling for more gun laws and more restrictions on gun ownership. More extreme voices are even calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment.

Constitutional Democracy Doesn't Debase, It Dignifies


It didn't take long after Mitt Romney announced his U.S. Senate bid for new digs at his personality to surface. As one critique goes, Romney is mismatched to America because it doesn't dole out titles of nobility for excellent character like some Old World aristocracy.

What Switzerland Has to Do With Your Paycheck


President Trump recently traveled to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to deliver a message: America is once again open for business.

If You Like Waiting Four Hours for an Ambulance, Then You'll Love Single-Payer


"Hello, 9-1-1? I think I'm having a heart attack." "We'll send an ambulance right away. It'll be there in, uh, four hours."

The Passing of Two Great Americans


Last Saturday was a poignant day for me. Not only was much-loved First Lady Barbara Bush laid to rest, but I received word of the passing of a dear friend, Gerald Hath (always Gerry to me). The parallels between the Haths and the Bushes were striking.

Are Americans Crazy?


Has America simply gone crazy? We never want to think that we are a bit crazy or that people we love are experiencing craziness but it is reality. America has an overwhelming problem with craziness or I should say mental health issues.

President Trump Could Accidentally Help Protect the Environment


No one would mistake President Trump for an environmentalist. Yet his immigration policies could inadvertently safeguard the environment.

Trump's Drug Pricing Speech Mostly Hit the Right Notes


President Trump recently delivered a major speech from the White House Rose Garden on prescription drug prices. He announced several policies aimed at reducing the overall cost of pharmaceuticals and limiting patients' out-of-pocket expenses.

Don't Nuke Consumers' Wallets By Bailing Out Uncompetitive Power Plants


In mid-April, New Jersey lawmakers passed a bill that could raise residents' electric bills by $300 million each year. Legislators want to use the funds to bail out two nuclear power plants owned by Public Services Enterprise Group, the state's largest utility company.

On the Road to Idiocracy


Forget about the threat of socialism or even communism; the real threat comes from those who want to foist Idiocracy down our throats. Merriam-Webster defines Idiocracy as "a form of government in which a country or territory is run by fools." And, the madness of anti-government protests that have swept the country since the election of President Donald Trump indicate that the fools are hell bent on taking over.

Putin To The White House - Reason Enough


The buzz of a possible visit by Russian President, Vladimir Putin has died down. Different reasons have been cited from safety to timing to other things going on right now for President Trump and Putin.

New Anti-Fracking Study Combines Old News and Flawed Science


Two environmentalist groups just released a scathing report which concluded that "fracking" -- a technique for extracting oil and natural gas from underground shale rock formations -- poses an unacceptable threat to human health.

Objections to Offshore Drilling Don't Hold Water


Coastal-state politicos are scrambling to block a federal plan to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling. In June, governors from five East Coast states condemned the initiative. In July, congressmen tried, and failed, to insert an anti-drilling amendment into a spending bill.

Stop Nuclear Cronyism


In June, President Trump directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to bail out struggling nuclear and coal power plants. Such federal action would come on top of state bailouts, such as New Jersey's just-approved $300 million annual lifeline to keep three nuclear plants running.

Trump's Trade War Jeopardizes American Energy Jobs


This summer, China and the United States launched the opening salvos in a trade war that has been brewing for months. America imposed a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of Chinese goods. In response, China slapped tariffs on U.S. products and agricultural goods such as soybeans and pork. President Trump escalated things by announcing another $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.

VA Must Not Neglect Catastrophically Disabled Veterans


Imagine losing both your legs while serving your country only to be told the Department of Veterans Affairs can't provide you the wheelchair you need. The VA's not sure when one will become available. So they tell you to stay in bed.

Throwing the First Pitch


In The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House former presidential speech writer, veteran journalist, and college professor Curt Smith provides a lively, informative account of our nation's chief executives and America's quintessential sport.

The "FAIR" Act Doesn't Treat Consumers Or Workers Fairly


The House of Representatives just passed a bill that would make it harder and more expensive for Americans to resolve conflicts with their employers.