"U.S. Drones Out of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Everywhere!"
2013-03-28 call-to-action issued by "ANSWER" [http://www.answercoalition.org/national/news/april-13-us-drones-out-of-africa.html]:
Over 5,000 people have been murdered by U.S. drone strikes in the last few years, including a large number of children among the many civilians who have been slaughtered by these robotic killing machines.
Sitting in offices thousands of miles away from their targets, U.S. operators routinely decide to “push the button” and kill their unsuspecting targets on the ground with hellfire missiles fired from unseen drone aircraft. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, villagers have staged mass protests against drone strikes after their kids were incinerated while they were collecting firewood or farming in nearby fields.
The U.S. functions as a death squad government, permitting the president and military leaders to create secret “kill lists” of people who have been selected for assassination. There is no due process, no trial, no evidence – the individuals are selected to be murdered and they are killed, and many civilians who are nearby also die. Drones are the weapon of choice.
In the 19th century, it was a common tactic of imperialists to use gunboats to move around the world and assert their will, answering challenges to their authority with bullets and cannon shot. The use, or threat of the use, of naval force was used by Britain, the United States and other imperialist nations to force exploitative terms of trade and political accommodations on various political entities around the world.
The United States government’s drone program serves the same general purpose as gunboat diplomacy. It enables the United States to extend its military power over any country that lacks the ability, or will, to shoot down the aircraft.
