Shut down Creech drone base March 4-6
Published on February, 12 2015
By Helen Jaccard, WILPF Disarm/End Wars Issue Committee
Join WILPF and other peace groups March 4-6 to protest drone warfare at Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas. This convergence, organized by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Nevada Desert Experience, Veterans for Peace, Voices for Creative Non-Violence and CODEPINK, is a mass mobilization to stop drone wars and directly confront US militarism. We are expecting hundreds of people at this non-violent direct action.
Since 2005, drone operators at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada have completed thousands of assassinations of “suspected terrorists” thousands of miles away from the comfort of their computers north of Las Vegas. Despite this claim, they have in fact killed thousands of civilians–– including more than 200 children in Pakistan alone and are terrorizing communities in several countries. Recent independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. Though officials deny it, the majority of those killed by drones are civilians.
This is hurting the United States' standing in the international community –– take it from Ret. Colonel Ann Wright:
“As a former US diplomat, I am very sensitive to the perceptions of the international community toward US foreign policies. The US.assassin drone campaign is a source of great anti-American sentiment around the world, not just in the Middle East. The moral and ethical aspects of illegal extrajudicial executions should be weighing heavily on those men and women in our government who make the decisions to kill and those who implement those decisions.”
This ends in 2015. Save the date to shut down killer drone operations and demand an end to Obama’s covert wars around the world. Get inspired by photos and a video of previous Creech protests! To get involved, please contact Helen Jaccard at helen.jaccard@gmail.com or (206) 992-6364.
WILPF has been involved with many anti-drone projects. MacGregor Eddy (Monterey County Branch) and others from the San Francisco Bay Area branches have been attending monthly vigils and civil disobedience actions at Beale AFB for years. WILPF organized drone death walks and participated in a petition to Ban Weaponized Drones from the World. WILPF member Leah Bolger is a key Drones Quilt Project quilter and coordinator. She displayed the quilts at the 2014 Triennial Convention in Detroit, and the quilt display will be at the Shut Down Creech event. Marge Van Cleef is also available to facilitate workshops and help with other anti-drone resources.
PS: If you are considering attending #ShutDownCreech please also consider heading to Los Vegas to support the Boycott RE/MAX: No Open House on Stolen Land Campaign, March 2 – 3. Email NoOpenHouse@codepink.org for more info.
Helen Jaccard, WILPF Creech Event liaison and Shut Down Creech steering committee member
Photo: Shut Down Creech! national mobilization
