Within weeks and possibly days, President Obama is likely to sign into law a bill that will bring unmanned aerial vehicles – drones – into US general airspace, crisscrossing the country in company with passenger planes and other human-carrying aircraft.   The story of how planes without on-board pilots will gain entry into our crowded airspace, where birds are life threatening, possibly within the next three years, is one involving campaign contributions, jobs and fear. As we will see, safety appears not to be the top priority. I became aware of the pro-drone legislation from a February 10, 2011, Syracuse Post Standard report that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) was supporting an amendment to the pending Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill (S. 223) that would create test zones for the introduction of drones into general airspace.   Senator Schumer was interested in the pro-drone amendment because MQ-9 Reaper drones, killer drones that are flying over Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, are stationed at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse. However, FAA safety restrictions have limited drone flights out of Hancock.   “If Schumer’s legislative move succeeds this week,” said the Post Standard, “it would help ensure the future of 1,215 jobs at the (air) base in Mattydale (New York) and potentially lead to millions of dollars in radar research contracts for local defense companies.”   Bad Drones – Good Drones? Drones have a grisly war history of misidentification. For example, on April 11, 2011, The Los Angeles Times carried a story … Continue reading →

On Sunday, March 6, 2011 we joined Martha Conte and Gayle Dunkelberger in visiting Grace Episcopal Church in White Plains NY in another of our attempts to stimulate Westchester County clergy and congregations to work to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. In this visit we decided to take a new approach.   Instead of simply standing up during a break in the service with our banner that gives statistics on the wars and asks for action, one of us would raise a hand during the announcements portion of the service and say simply: “We have come say something about our wars, should we do this now or possibly at the coffee hour after church?”   Gayle suggested this to see if we would have more success if we were not seen as being disruptive of the service.   Grace Church has a history of supporting low-income people in White Plains in a variety of ways and being socially concerned. So we entered the church on this grey, rainy morning with a cautious eagerness to see how our new plan would work.   The interior of the Gothic stone church has cream-colored stucco walls with dark walnut colored roof beams and ornate, stained glass windows.   We sat next to a window that was dedicated to Stewart Kent who was born August 28, 1896 and who, the window said, “died in the service of his country” on December 21, 1918.   World War I ended on November 11, 1918, … Continue reading →

A letter opposing drone operations in up-state New York, signed by 65 individuals and local and national anti-war groups, was delivered to the Peekskill Office of US Senator Charles Schumer on Tuesday, February 15, 2011. It is important to note that the signatures were gathered within just a 48-hour period, from people in Albany, Buffalo, Binghamton and Syracuse and smaller up-state towns, as well as Westchester County, an indication of wide-spread rejection of drone testing and training in New York and drone warfare in general. (The letter, with signatures, is attached.) The letter was delivered by Andrew Courtney, Gayle Dunkelberger, Sandra Dolman, George Guerci, Kwame Madden, Ann Marwick, Bennett Weiss and I after we handed out flyers (also attached) to students leaving Peekskill High School at the close of the school day. I think I can say that we found nearly all the students with whom we spoke were totally unaware of drones and how they are used. A number of students were unconcerned, but there were a surprising level of interest among others, a curiosity of about what we were saying and real surprise that something like drones exist. Kwame was particularly successful in engaging with the students, and he feels we should continue to do this kind of sidewalk education. As I was telling a young woman that drones can “see” people on the ground, standing talking the way we were, she whipped the flyer face down on the books she was carrying. In spite of sending press … Continue reading →

War profiteering is defined by Stuart Brandes in his book “Warhogs, a History of War Profits in America,” as “a gain in economic well-being obtained as a result of military conflict.” As he shows, there is a long history of war profiteering in the United States and an equally long history of public disgust for it. One of the most quoted expressions of this disgust came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II: “I don’t want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster.” Brandes also notes there was a time when war was exceptional and war profiteering a nasty exceptional thing that accompanied it. But after World War II, the United States moved more and more to a status of permanent war. In his new book “Washington Rules,” former Army Col. Andrew Bacevich says a group of “semi-warriors” … “some in uniform, others in suits,” operators in the military-industrial complex, had by 1961 “gained de facto control of the U.S. government.” With this change, profiting from war has become permanent, so much a part of business life in the United States that it is accepted as normal. While US military people die in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan along with residents of those countries, the CEOs of US military suppliers receive personal incomes of millions of dollars a year. This first article in the Calling Them Out series focuses on Steven R. Loranger, head of ITT Corporation, simply … Continue reading →

On January 12, 2011, the investment world thrilled to the announcement that ITT Corporation, one of the top ten US military contractors, will disengage from its “defense” business as part of a planned split into three new companies. The move points to ITT as a possible canary in the coal mine for military contractors, and a signal to those of us who want to stop our current wars that the time is right to mount a divestment campaign on the war industry.   David Wildman, executive secretary for Human Rights and Racial Justice for the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, suggests that a defense divestment campaign might first focus on companies responsible for making killer drones, such as the Reaper, now being used in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen.   Money Musical Chairs   ITT is affected by an increasingly uncertain climate for military contractors, sketched out in specific detail on January 6, 2011, when Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the details of plans to cut Pentagon spending by $78 billion over the next five years, a move initially signaled as early as August 2010. While the cut represents only a fraction of the Pentagon budget, projected at $553 billion for 2012, individual contractors still stand to suffer significant losses in its wake.   In addition, $100 billion will be cut from specific defense programs over five years. The money will be “reinvested” in other military projects, such as building more Reaper attack drones, “a long-range … Continue reading →

Nick Mottern reports on the outcome of the the anti-war protest dubbed “War Profiteer March” held last Oct. 23 in Greenwich, CT. The march focused on Steven Loranger, CEO of ITT Corp., calling attention to to the war profits he made as one of the top 10 US military contractors and maker of bomb releases for Reaper drones used in the Afghanistan and Pakistan wars. Continue reading →

Carla Rae Johnson, educator and artist, expresses hope that cadets will exhibit courage and integrity when receiving an order or an order to war that is wrong, unjust, or without respect for human life. Continue reading →

Sandra Dolman invokes cadets to follow their heart. Dolman adds that prospective recruits hear the adage “go west young man/woman”, it doesn’t mean West Point. Continue reading →

Nick Mottern reports on 2010 R-Day events and asks important questions for new cadets to think about. Do our wars violate International Law & Nuremberg? Do you want to fight to help energy & mineral companies? Continue reading →

Gayle Dunkelberger discusses with a friend the implications of a Danzinger cartoon. She encourages soldiers to make observations of their own from inside themselves about what happens around them and to question the morality of what each soldier actually does. Continue reading →