Tonight in NYC — Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control with Medea Benjamin

by on January 28, 2013 9
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Mondoweiss is excited to co-sponsor this important event tonight in New York City: Blueprint for Accountability — Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.

The event will feature journalist, and co-founder of CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin for an in-depth conversation and Q&A about her latest book, Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. She will be joined by Sarah Knuckey, co-author of the Stanford Law School and New York University Law School report “Living Under Drones,” and an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law and Director of the Project on Extrajudicial Executions and the Initiative on Human Rights Fact-Finding at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. The presentation will begin with Things We Make, a powerful theatrical exploration of drone warfare directed by Shana Solomon. A book signing with Medea Benjamin will be held at the end of the evening.

Benjamin visited Afghanistan just weeks after the 2002 American invasion. There, on the ground, talking with victims of the strikes, she learned the reality behind the “precision bombs” on which U.S. forces were becoming increasingly reliant. Drone Warfare is a comprehensive look at the growing menace of robotic warfare, with an extensive analysis of who is producing the drones, where they are being used, who “pilots” these unmanned planes, who are the victims and what are the legal and moral implications.

The event is presented in partnership with BORDC, Brooklyn for Peace, CCR, CODEPINK, The Nation, NYU, Theaters Against War, World Can’t Wait, and Veterans for Peace.

For more information check out the Blueprint for Accountability website here.

About Adam Horowitz

Adam Horowitz is Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Activism, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics, War on Terror

{ 9 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Hostage says:
    January 17, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    Well yeah, I think that drones should be added to the assault weapons ban and that Presidents should be subjected to mandatory reality checks before they can obtain one.

    Applications from heads of state with a history of violence against protected civilian populations or their own people, like the ones here and here should definitely be turned down.

  2. Kathleen says:
    January 17, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    sounds like a great event. Medea is a strong and vibrant individual with commitments to human rights that go beyond the call of duty.

    Adam, Annie, Phil..Chris Matthews did another segment on the neocons/hawks where will they go with the Hagel nomination. Peter Beinart/Joan Walsh guest. Walsh rips into Elliot Abrams comments about Hagel

  3. MRW says:
    January 18, 2013 at 12:14 am

    Good. Wish I could be in town for this.

  4. American says:
    January 18, 2013 at 10:23 am

    Hallelujah Medea!

    If I had the power I would remove all modern weapons from the earth–war would have to be fought man to man with swords, knives and clubs.
    That way we would have a lot less war.

  5. Obsidian says:
    January 28, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    Don’t invade a country.
    Don’t conduct a remote drone war against enemies of America.

    Just throw federal indictments at the feet of terrorists. That will freeze them in their tracks.

    BTW. How come France gets a pass when they invade Mali? Medea?

    • Antidote says:
      January 30, 2013 at 6:03 pm

      “How come France gets a pass when they invade Mali? ”

      Good question. What happened to the determined French opposition against the WOT/Iraq? And now France is waging war on terrorists?

      Same with Germany: no support for Iraq or Libya – but now Germany is sending troops and Patriot missiles to Turkey to defend against an attack from Syria?

      link to dw.de

      And, after Netanyahu has been beating the ‘Syrian chemical weapons pose a threat to Israel’-drum, Israel bombs Syria

      link to nytimes.com

      I smell another ‘humanitarian imperialism’ intervention the democratic, humanitarian West will swallow hook, line and sinker as being in line with their ‘values’. Assad is not allowed to fight terrorists (are they all local and Syrian?) in his country, but the French can fight terrorists in Africa with UN approval?

  6. Alex Kane says:
    January 28, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Will be there! Mondoweissers should say hi to me if they see me.

  7. DICKERSON3870 says:
    January 28, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    RE: “Tonight in NYC — Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control with Medea Benjamin”

    REGARDING THE ADOPTION BY THE U.S. OF ISRAEL’S USE OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL ASSASSINATIONS (OFTEN USING DRONES), SEE:
    “Obama’s kill list policy compels US support for Israeli attacks on Gaza”, By Glenn Greenwald, guardian.co.uk, 11/15/12
    The US was once part of the international consensus against extra-judicial assassinations. Now it is a leader in that tactic.

    [EXCERPTS] Israel’s escalating air attacks on Gaza follow the depressingly familiar pattern that shapes this conflict. Overwhelming Israeli force slaughters innocent Palestinians . . .
    . . . Meanwhile, most US media outlets are petrified of straying too far from pro-Israel orthodoxies. . .
    . . . Obama had no choice but to support these attacks, which were designed, in part, to extra-judicially assassinate Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari as he was driving in his car. . .
    Extra-judicial assassination – accompanied by the wanton killing of whatever civilians happen to be near the target, often including children – is a staple of the Obama presidency. That lawless tactic is one of the US president’s favorite instruments for projecting force and killing whomever he decides should have their lives ended: all in total secrecy and with no due process or oversight. There is now a virtually complete convergence between US and Israeli aggression, making US criticism of Israel impossible not only for all the usual domestic political reasons, but also out of pure self-interest: for Obama to condemn Israel’s rogue behavior would be to condemn himself.
    It is vital to recognize that this is a new development. The position of the US government on extra-judicial assassinations long had been consistent with the consensus view of the international community: that it is a savage and lawless weapon to be condemned regardless of claims that it is directed at “terrorists”. From a 15 February 2001 Guardian article by Brian Whitaker on the targeted killing by Israel of one of Yasser Arafat’s bodyguards [emphasis added]:
    “International opprobrium was directed at Israel yesterday for its state-approved assassinations of suspected terrorists – a practice widely regarded as illegal. . .
    . . . “The United States, while also condemning Palestinian violence, made clear its disapproval of the assassinations. . .
    “State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: ‘The use of Israeli helicopter gunships, Palestinian attacks against settlements and motorists, the use of mortars by Palestinians and the targeted killings by the Israeli Defence Force … are producing a new cycle of action or reaction which can become impossible to control. . .

    . . . As the Council on Foreign Relations documented in April of this year:

    “The United States adopted targeted killing as an essential tactic to pursue those responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have employed the controversial practice with more frequency in recent years. . .

    In essence, what we find, yet again, is that the governments of the United States and Israel arrogate unto themselves the right to execute anyone they want, anywhere in the world, without any limitations, regardless of how many innocent civilians they kill in the process. . .

    ENTIRE COMMENTARY – link to guardian.co.uk