What has been a concern for many years, namely that Obama’s (who infamously had bragged that he was “good at killing people”) largely expanded drone war with its disproportionate number of civil casualties, has been addressed by four former US air force service members in an open letter to President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter, and CIA Director John O. Brennan. The drone war drives terrorism and ultimately serves organizations like ISIS (Daesh).

One whistleblower signatory is well known, Brandon Bryant, who has spoken out some time ago after not being able to carry on his murderous business anymore. He was recently awarded with a Whistleblower Award by Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler (Federation of German Scientists) and the German Section of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. See their statement here [pdf].

The other whistleblowers having signed former Staff Sergeant Bryant’s open letter are airmen Cian Westmoreland, Stephen Lewis and Michael Haas. They are legally represented by Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, who has legally represented, among others, NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake.

If so-called western values are time and again emphasized in the fight of terrorism, eventually drone assassinations as largely unsuitable means of targeting certain individuals with unacceptable collateral damage, be it horrendous numbers of civil casualties or resulting in suicide terror operations like that in Paris last week, has to be debated publicly.

As Bryant and his comrades write,

“We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home.”

19 November 2015 @ 7:40 am.

Last modified November 19, 2015.