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Drone Whistleblower: Pilots Often High on Drugs; Refer To Kids As "Fun Size Terrorists"
Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
The killings, part of the Obama administration’s targeted assassination program, are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program’s goal of eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to children as “fun-size terrorists” and liken killing them to “cutting the grass before it grows too long,” said one of the operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators had flown missions while impaired.
Haas also described widespread alcohol and drug abuse among drone pilots. Drone operators, he said, would frequently get intoxicated using bath salts and synthetic marijuana to avoid possible drug testing and in an effort to “bend that reality and try to picture yourself not being there.” Haas said that he knew at least a half-dozen people in his unit who were using bath salts and that drug use had “impaired” them during missions.
– From the Intercept article: Former Drone Operators Say They Were “Horrified” by Cruelty of Assassination Program
I’ve highlighted the plight of several brave drone whistleblowers over the years who came forth to decry the barbaric and likely illegal nature of the U.S. drone program. Recently, four of them came together to denounce it more forcefully and provide more disturbing information. They also wrote a letter to Obama.
The Intercept published a powerful story on them the other day, here are a few excerpts:
U.S. DRONE OPERATORS are inflicting heavy civilian casualties and have developed an institutional culture callous to the death of children and other innocents, four former operators said at a press briefing today in New York.
The killings, part of the Obama administration’s targeted assassination program, are aiding terrorist recruitment and thus undermining the program’s goal of eliminating such fighters, the veterans added. Drone operators refer to children as “fun-size terrorists” and liken killing them to “cutting the grass before it grows too long,” said one of the operators, Michael Haas, a former senior airman in the Air Force. Haas also described widespread drug and alcohol abuse, further stating that some operators had flown missions while impaired.
In addition to Haas, the operators are former Air Force Staff Sgt. Brandon Bryant along with former senior airmen Cian Westmoreland and Stephen Lewis. The men have conducted kill missions in many of the major theaters of the post-9/11 war on terror, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We have seen the abuse firsthand,” said Bryant, “and we are horrified.”
Recall Bryant was the guy who quit after a supervisor tried to tell him a little kid they killed was just a dog.
Haas also described widespread alcohol and drug abuse among drone pilots. Drone operators, he said, would frequently get intoxicated using bath salts and synthetic marijuana to avoid possible drug testing and in an effort to “bend that reality and try to picture yourself not being there.” Haas said that he knew at least a half-dozen people in his unit who were using bath salts and that drug use had “impaired” them during missions.
The operators said that they felt increasing urgency to speak out in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week; they believe drone assassinations have fed the rise of the extremist group the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In their open letter to Obama, the former drone pilots made a similar point, writing that during their service they “came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS,” going on to describe the program as “one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”
Read the full letter the drone whistleblowers sent to Obama here.
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EXCELLENT books, too. Highly recommended.
Expect a reaction to the tune of "we think the price is worth it". Although "price" in Obama's case might also be "prize".
How can you shoot women or children? ... Ya just don't lead 'em so much!
America, killing other people's children for decades now.
What was that experiment called again...? The one where people can be trained/convinced to do heinous things if given orders to do so in a controlled environment?
"Survivor"?
"Dancing with the Stars"?
You may be thinking of the Stanford prison experiment ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment ) (guards & prisoners) or maybe the Milgram experiment (electric shock) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
“Drone Whistleblower… Kids as “Fun Size Terrorists”… open letter to Obama”
Don’t get excited; these whistleblowers will get a few paragraphs in the CIA-controlled media – and then disappear.
They’re making the same mistake I made: a failure to collect sufficient power to protect my project (a gold-based banking service) BEFORE starting my service. And, how is that power properly collected? By establishment of several First-Amendment assemblies. Without these assemblies, these innocents will be marginalized or destroyed by scandal or worse.
Too bad there is no one to help (that is, protect) them – as they are trying to help us.
What else should we expect from a nation made stupid by indoctrination and apathetic by medication? Or, rather, what else should we expect from a nation dominated by Judeo-Bolsheviks for at least 150 years?
They'll get vaporized with drone fired Hellfire anti-tank missles while driving. The MSM will report it as a catastrophic engine malfunction.
Bastiat - Speaking out generally does not get one killed but waging war on a government does. But it is important to step down first if in the military or other services.
How long is combat rotation for these people? Does anybody know I am curious. From a dry perspective, it seems too long.
Bastiat - Speaking out generally does not get one killed but waging war on a government does. But it is important to step down first if in the military or other services.
How long is combat rotation for these people? Does anybody know I am curious. From a dry perspective, it seems too long.
Actually...........they let them get high so they can handle the responsibility of killing innocents and kids. Only a whacko drugged out meathead could do such a thing. You'd hope anyhow.
SHOCKING; who could see the degree of human depravity escalating in light of a nation under the judgment of Jesus/God for abandoning the fixed moral compass given for the benefit of mankind & our nation who said "NO!"? Therefore, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness.
For the young; we once embraced those values and were blessed beyond measure and since the 1950's we have turned away from the "Things of Christ"; so you can expect these things to grow much worse. In 10 years from now, these days will seem like "good times". Mark my words, for they are based on the truth of God's word who cannot lie.
But what does He know? Everything.
High and drunk button pushers blowing up kids and dogs sounds like a perfect example of 'war crimes' to me. Gen Patton mentioned un-manned long range warfare before he was executed, he didn't care for the idea.
The US is full-Israel now and proud of it, it would seem. (cutting grass, little snakes, two-shots-one-kill, etc ad nauseum)
The millenials need to be on drugs just to function, fwiw. Bath salts probably give them an edge. It is just a big video game after all.
Yeah the "cutting the grass before it gets too long" line reminded me of the Kikestanis trying to justify their annual wars in Palestine, referring to it as "mowing the lawn", and about as brave and heroic.
All the regional terrorists are on the payroll now anyway, attacking US/israeli interests only and the Pals are left to randomly stabbing people in the streets. They need bigger knives.
I was with you until the dig at Millenials. I'm a gen x-ER myself but I'm real fucking sick of the bashing of a generation that has t even sniffed power yet. Meanwhile, the Boomers and some of the older Gen-Xers have caused the current cluster fuck in the Middle East. The boomers in particular have a lot to answer for. Obviously generational stuff doesn't matter it's the transnational elites vs everyone else.
Point taken, but war is indiscriminate, so to speak. I'm on the cusp of gen-x/millenial myself, and without getting into too much controversial detail, the latest generation has been drugged and mindfucked beyond the point of return, so of course it isn't "their fault". But there's a sharp difference in actual cognitive power, as well as discriminative thinking. Chalk it up to whatever, but it's there. And it's "helping" everyone but themselves, as is to be expected.
And now they're having kids...ay dios mio
god help us all
Are the drugs SSRIs? Those have already proven themselves for short range killing.
Yeah a millenial drone operator is already operating on at least 2 prescriptions to begin with, they're literally ALL on depression/anxiety meds and most of them are allergic to fresh air and healthy grains to boot.
Might as well just give them meth at this point. It's working for the US jackboots in ISIS-stan and Ukraine...legalities, legalities I guess.
Many mils have been chemically groomed for most of their lives.
When they were unruly as toddlers, they were given ritalin/adderall, which then requires Risperdal to come down from, which not only makes them grow bitchtits but is also, functionally, a partial chemical lobotomy.
Its a brave new world. "Oh, you're a boy who likes to run around and jump and play and get excited about things like sunshine and fresh air? Here's some ritalin to help you sit still. Because sitting still is important for your development!"
...and here are some Barbie dolls, young man, you are too aggressive."
Drone operator: "Are you sure this is the right target, sir? It looks like a Trump rally in Des Moines."
Gay Crusader: "Yes, dammit! Fire your missile, LT, or I'll find someone who will."
Solution to drone strikes. Do shit underground, the vietcong figured that out really fast.
How can you dig tunnels in the desert? The sand just flows back into your tunnel.
Yes we can go back to the turn of the century, when the preferred sipping drink for some ATC's and radar operators at some forward USAF bases was vodka in sprite. The dudes I have in mind were psychopaths either already or as a result of service.
Im guessing not too many drone missions over Raqqa though.
We are led by a deep state rogue government. The fish stinks from the head.
They are sick, twisted Fucksticks using our taxes for Murder.
Shewww.... That is a load off my mind. For just the thought of these "pilots" killing innocent civilians while sober, really had me fucked up.
ok, so I guess ISIS is shit out of luck. no way they can 'blend in' up in ND...not unless ND has a Syrian Refugee program.....
Actually places like ND are the go-tos for refugee relocation bc of their sparse populations. Most of the 90s Bosnians for instance, were in Idaho at first relocation.
There is no such thing as an "innocent" islamic-cult follower - they are ALL either practitioners or carriers - equally dangerous.
However I do very strongly object to killing them in very small quantities with very expensive weapons.
So, you bought the story, but now want to criticize its style?
10% of the population are psychopaths. The comments here seem to hold to this statistic.
Did anybody miss this little gem? :Drone operators refer to children as “fun-size terrorists” and liken killing them to “cutting the grass before it grows too long,” .
That puts the drone operators on exactly the same level as the Nazis. We - well, many of us, at least - have become the slime an earlier generation died to defeat. World War II wasn't worth winning, in that context.
These atrocities, these war crimes, have been going on for years - yet almost nobody in authority has spoken against them. Women's organisations in the West have remained shamefully silent in the face of the wholesale slaughter of Third-World women and children.
http://barlowscayman.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-war-against-women.html
"Fun Size Terrorists" LOL....
You are a sick fuck.
In the tiny village of Gettysburg, as Lee’s army moved into this foreign territory, the women and children had to find shelter as one of the most violent battles in history raged. But they were not in any way the targets of the soldiers. In the years that followed, war turned into a barbarism with the two world wars amassing multitudes of civilian casualties - women and children as deliberate targets, torture and ever worsening methods of war from poisonous gas to the deliberate slaughter of the innocents and the annihilation of entire cities such as Dresden.
And, now comes the deliberate targeting of children, first demonizing them as “dogs” or “fun-size terrorists” to make it psychologically “ok” to the morally challenged. Moral relativism, of course, has been growing for years in a desensitized Washington, DC. (I see you forgot to engage your LOL sarc button, Skiprrrdog.)
Back in October 2012, Antiwar.com wrote that “the US launched an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed three children – ages 8, 10, and 12 -while they were gathering firewood (or by some accounts, dung to burn as fuel). NATO issued its usual dismissive statement, admitting it may have ‘accidentally killed three innocent Afghan civilians.’”
Continued Antiwar: “But now, according to the Military Times, the US military includes children on its list of who they’re allowed to murder with impunity:
…a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were ‘innocent.’ Before calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may have recruited the children to carry out the mission.”
http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/12/04/us-military-says-killing-afghan-children-is-fair-game/
`I got me one hundred and fifty seven dead gooks killed, and fifty water buffaloes too. Them are all certified.`
`Any women, or children?`
`Sometimes.`
`How can you shoot women and children?`
`You just don't lead 'em so much! HA HA!!! Ain't war hell?`
The first rule of war psychology is to dehumanize the enemy
hey...there is a whole group. lets kill them...wait....does anyone have change for a dollar. i need some chips. dont kill anybody til i get back from the breakroom. hey did you hear i am getting a purple heart for stubbing my toe...! i can claim disability for injury in a war zone. VA benefits for lihe motherfuckers....
There is more to that story of the Drone whistle-blowers. Apparently they came out just before the launch of the new movie Drone . They had been killing people for four years before they discovered that killing people is not good then they retired. Also one of those so called whistle blowers retired from the Drone operators service only to go back in as an instructor in that killing program!
I hope that someday these guys will get arrested somewhere in the world for world crimes
This article has a whiff of BS to it. In the USAF Senior Airmen and Sergeants DO NOT operate drones and never have.
Sure thing bud.
Whatever you say.
“Mark my words, for they are based on the truth of God’s word who cannot lie.”
Okay, let’s perform a little due diligence; first let’s see a truth of this “God” of yours:
“When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if its answer to you is peace and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it; and when the LORD your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves; and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.”
(Deut, xx, 10-18)
This is your “God” speaking; he, and its followers, actually mean these words; for we have real history to verify it.
All we have to do is look to England 400-800 years ago: when Catholics were dominant, they slaughtered Anglicans; when Anglicans were dominant, they slaughtered Catholics and Protestants; when Protestants were dominant, they slaughtered Catholics, Anglicans and Levellers.
In case you missed the lesson, it was this sectarian, Bible-directed, slaughter that drove English and Continental dissidents to American shores.
And, you want to re-establish it?!
The Gay Crusader says there are "...no credible threats from terrists for Thanksgiving," which means there IS a credible terrist threat.
Everyone stay strapped!
The source article appears on "The Intercept" website, a left wing wacko rag financed by an eBay founder. The author of the source article is a rag head named Murtaza Hussain. Get the picture? The story is pure BS.
Your stupidity fucking hurts. seriously.
“came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS,”
That's the whole fucking point. Nobody told the soldiers this?
Soldiers follow orders and fight to protect each other's asses. They're not there to think about it
These aren't soldiers. They're the fucking pansy ass air force. They don't get to call themselves soldiers unless they're a PJ or a forward air controller. They're still war criminals, but they're pussies too.
fucking bath salts....
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dA0Qhgmuvrc/hqdefault.jpg
Ambush is killing and killing is fun!!! (Drone strikes are ambushes from the air.)
Not to mention... PROFITABLE!
I just plain do not want to know anymore. It cannot be fixed now. When this empire falls humanity falls with it.
The biggest problem with Americans is that they all think they are perfect and indespensible.
Makes complete fucking sense to me. Hitler and his henchmen were on drugs half the time and made great decisions to kill off the masses. Now we have the USA and their government that are mostly on drugs so they can make great decisions for the world.
Ah to take our directions from the biggest killer president in USA history and he happens to be a Muslim named Obama. No president in the past has ever killed as many people as this complete fuck up.
Don't dispair America as he is leading us down the garden path just like Hitler did. Before he leaves the presidecy he will make sure that America crumbles along with him and the vassal nations such as France, Germany with their lunatic leader Merkel, Britain and the rest of the sheep nations around the world.
I just wish all the sheep in America would wake up from their deep sleep and take notice of what has happened to their nation.
Fuck it. We need all out war...not this pussy footing around.
A big God Damned RESET. Globally.
Let the fucking thing ramp UP...all this is appetizer shittle
The 2015 Shemitah sure was a bust.
Not for that ass-hat who promoted the shit out of it.
I don't know if you are a hasbarat or a 'god' fearin 'merican.
Not much of a difference really anymore.
`Anyone who runs is a VC ... I mean, ISIS fighter. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined ISIS fighter.`
These same systems are being put into ground based drones.
These drones will have the technical ability to cross the battle space autonomously and turn their sensors on and wait.
Wait for weeks or months.
Something crosses its field of view - sound, IR, movement - even smell and the alert goes out and some 20 year old Call of Duty cherub will be sitting at a cartoon picture of their target.
5 seconds to pull the trigger and then back to sleep.
The "man in the middle" is an artifact thanks to Google.
If there are 1000 UAV in service there will be 10,000 ground based systems in time.
http://www.army.mil/article/64655/_Kraken__provides_needed_intelligence_...
Everything will become a frontier using this technology.
MENA is just a proving ground.
The hydra's necks have been made invisible, but in reality this focuses its enemy even moreso, the target becomes even more centralized. Everyone knows by now that engaging the auxiliary weaponry of the empire is pointless, and the head itself must be cut off.
That's why the "elites" are so enamored with their luxury fantasy bunkers. It won't likely be "nukes", and they know it. It will be the "99%".
The drones aren't even strategically significant, just a MIC win. And a win that only focuses the enemy, in the long run. It's like they want it to happen. But I guess that's the end-stage for all empires; complete debauchery to the point of death-wishes etc.
Come on! War crimes? It's just good business! Besides reasonable people (not making money off military industry) might start asking questions about spending billions on defense if we didn't have enemies. What better way than to create new enemies as we're killing off the old ones.
Work for Wal-Mart playing video games...
Work for the MIC getting high all day playing video games.
Many on Wall Street use Hookers n' Cocaine as a reward for being unethical in their day-to-day life just as Drone Pilots use dope to mask their unethical behaviour in their day-to-day lives. It's easier to be unethical with an impaired judgement because one can always blame the judgement and not the behaviour that led to the unethical judgement. Contemporary medicine mostly administers psychotherapeutics through pharmacological intervention that is based on Symptom Substitution and not much else.
No cure of the underlying disease is made manifest with most pharmaceuticals, and most of the time there are long term side effects that exacerbate overall health over the long run of time. In brief, the Zerohedge philosophy of events over time in contemporary Economics also applies to the basic overall health of an individual along a similar course of events over time. Currency has a lifecycle, and so does the health of individuals throughout life. This is why CENTCOM likes to get young minds indoctrinated into drug culture if they are working full time for the USARMY.
CENTCOM, and NATO, find it much easier to keep soldiers mollified with pharmaceuticals, heroin, cocaine, marijuana,
SSRIs, and major tranquilizers, than they do with traditional Psychotherapy where the client/patient discusses their difficulty with a trained Physician/GP, Clinical Psychologist, or Psychiatrist. These particular
overpriced unethical so-called 'professionals' simply cost way too much for the operating budgets of the MIC. Bottom line is that pharmaceutically controlled populations are predictable, and can be controlled more cheaply over time
by loading them up with drugs until they die from an overdose, or from kidney failure, and Coronary Heart Disease.
It's all about the unmighty dollar in the end.
As long as this country is run by sociopathic billionaires and the minions on their payroll, the people that can get everything they want in life but are so bored they can't find anything productive to do other than to find joy in bringing misery to others, nothing will ever change. Merry X-mas everyone! (and DUH the "X" is supposed to represent the CROSS Christ died upon, you brainwashed by the media "war on Christmas" lemmings.)
Like all chickens, these birds are going to come home to roost.
Future Goldman employees
Yes, yes, pay back will be a bitch!
Drugs have been an integral part of war making since before WWI; amphetamines were developed in late 1800s Germany, the Japanese invented methamphetamines shortly thereafter. Both countries used and abused both drugs while fighting.
So this is how Democrats operate things...wait till they start droning Americans...at home
Does Obama still lock the door and zone out on drone porn?
It may be difficult for drone pilots to look themselves in the mirror without drugs.
May the creator be merciful and change their heart.
Milgrams experiment but with real lives