Forum Post: Congressman speaks out "Pakistani Objection to U.S. Drones puts ‘Nations at War’
Posted 12 years ago on July 11, 2012, 2:33 p.m. EST by TrevorMnemonic
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 29, 2012) – Please find below an interview and an article recently published by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit organization funded by the Potter Foundation, and dedicated to raising the standard of journalism through high quality investigative reporting.
In an interview with the Bureau, Democrat Kucinich voices withering criticism of US clandestine operations in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, saying that America has found itself ‘running a killing bureaucracy.’
Kucinich told the Bureau that he believed the U.S. may in effect be at war with Pakistan, given that its ‘ally’ has demanded that drone strikes on its territory stop.
In recent months Pakistan has loudly protested each drone strike, calling them a ‘total contravention of international law’ which are a ‘violation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.’
You can see this article and the full interview with Congressman Kucinich here and here.
Congressman Kucinich recently led a bipartisan group of 26 members in writing to the President challenging the use of drone strikes abroad.
-Congressman Dennis Kucinich Democrat Ohio
http://kucinich.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=301624
endthewars
Just dont rely on D or R to do it....
Q: In Yemen recently there has been a very steep escalation, not just in drone strikes but apparently covert air strikes, naval bombardments, and possibly ground forces.
DK: Yes, it is a war, you know. We do not need to go through an Orwellian exercise of semantics or the twisting of meaning here. We understand that we are at war in Yemen. Now in order for Congress to be fully aware of this matter, I am planning to bring to the floor of the House a resolution which seizes upon the requirements of the War Powers Act, that the administration is going to either have to seek a declaration from Congress or will have to stop.
You are looking here at an executive power that is unleashed. Our system of justice, according to the Constitution, is highly structured. There are broad areas of our constitution that have to do with people being investigated, arrested, charged, having a trial, and then if they are convicted being properly sentenced and incarcerated.
What we have done here with the drone programme is to radically alter our system of justice. Because, remember, if the whole idea is that we are exporting American values, those drones represent American values. And now we are telling the world that American values are summary executions, no rights to an accused, no arrest process, no reading of charges, no trial by jury, no judge, only an executioner.
If you have only an executioner that is not justice, that is something else. Not only the United States but the world community should be properly appraised about these so-called targeted killings. And because the emphasis in on killing, this is murder. If someone shot a grocer and his defense was ‘it was a targeted killing’ he would be put on trial for his life. But we are told that these targeted killings are somehow to be considered apart from any legal system.
It's an indication of the success of the fear campaign, that as long as people feel safe at home, they don't really care what is happening elsewhere.
Where is the UN in these matters? Complicit? Or turning a blind eye for profit?
Pakistan was basically told by the last admin that they are either "with us, or against us", so they took the money, and the war machinery, and continued on with business as usual.
That still doesn't mean that a covert war can be launched upon them without going through the usual channels. Didn't Hillary Clinton very recently apologize for drone attacks killing civilians?
Just how effective can drones be, if so many civilians keep "getting in the way" of this murder from the skies initiative?