The Socialist 26 June 2013

Police dirty tricks - a threat to democratic rights

Police dirty tricks - a threat to democratic rights

Teachers strike to defend education

Cuts until 2020? We need councils that fight for us!

Jack Straw forced to retract lies about Militant

People's Assembly: Thousands opposing cuts... but leaders sidestep strategy for victory

Farage's tax scandal hypocrisy

Them & Us

Brazil: A victory for the mass struggle

Conference anger with Unison leadership, and Labour

Action needed to stop Royal Mail sell-off

RMT: Fighting casualisation

PCS: members discuss next anti-cuts action

2012 London bus strike victory showed potential for militant union fightback

Having a fine time? Not if you're a courier driver

Workplace news in brief

Labour council introduces zero-hour contracts

How mental health carers and service users took on Salford council

Bristol council opposes 'bedroom tax' evictions

Lessons for today from an anti-poll tax bailiff buster

Deadly long distance weapons of war

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Deadly long distance weapons of war

Geoff Jones reviews Drone Warfare by Medea Benjamin (Verso Books, 2013)

Drone Warfare by Medea Benjamin

The super-villain in a secret hideout, while his invulnerable robots pick off his enemies, is a science fiction standard.

But in the world of drone wars, the 'villain' is Barack Obama and his 'hideout' an airforce base in Nevada.

In 'Drone Warfare', American anti-war activist Medea Benjamin has written a guide to how murder is committed by remote control, something all too familiar in Pakistan and other parts of the world.

These drones are a scaled-up (and deadly) version of the radio-controlled small aircraft sold in high street toy and model shops.

The Predator (the name says it all), has a 48 foot wingspan, a range of 600 miles and is armed by two Hellfire missiles with high explosive warheads.

Its high resolution video system enables its operators to watch individuals on the ground from a mile high.

Launched from 60 US bases around the world, they are 'piloted' at a distance from Creech Airforce Base, Nevada.

Drone manufacture is a multi-million dollar business. One firm, General Atomics of San Diego, had revenues of $662 million in 2010, mostly from selling to the Pentagon.

But the murder business has been privatised with the dirty work carried out by the mercenary firm Blackwater (now renamed the more 'fluffy' Academi) and others.

Drones are also exported to many countries and are manufactured in Britain. And the next generation of drones, such as the British Taranis, will be able to attack targets at long range without even the control of a human operator.

Most US drones have targeted Afghanistan and Pakistan, aimed at 'beheading' Taliban and Al-Qa'ida groups.

Civilians hit

But despite US denials, most of those killed have been innocent civilians, women and children. It is estimated that between 2,600 and 3,400 Pakistani people have been murdered in this way since 2004.

Leaving aside this terrible statistic, it is shocking that the 'liberal' Obama has publicly stated his belief that the US has the right to use drones anywhere in the world to assassinate any 'enemy' of the US, with no requirement for evidence or legal process.

Benjamin gives many examples of people utterly unconnected with any 'militants' murdered in this way.

US ally Israel, which also considers itself exempt from international law, uses the same argument to murder women and children in Gaza.

The advantage of this form of warfare is clear. The killing happens far from international observers or media.

No US troops are in harm's way. It's a 'clean' form of warfare - with the nice collateral gain of big profits for companies closely linked to government agencies.

But on the ground in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, Yemen and more, things are very different. Living under the threat of invulnerable drones must surely kindle in people an abiding hatred of those preaching about 'democratic values' while reserving the right to wipe out whole families without warning.

There is no way that the strategy pursued by the US and their client governments can ensure peace, let alone growth and development in those areas.

The way to defeat reactionary forces in these countries will come from the people themselves like Asif Iqbal, a schoolteacher who had defied the Taliban to keep his school open in Waziristan, killed by a drone strike in 2010 and Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for demanding an education.

So the next time Obama proudly announces the death of an Al-Qa'ida 'leader', ask, was he actually a leader or just a mistake by a bored operator in Nevada? Who gave the US government the right to kill him without trial? And how many of his family, children or neighbours' children were killed with him?

To get more detail of the drone attacks on Pakistan go to: http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/

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Police dirty tricks - a threat to democratic rights