Source: Pravda.Ru
Luis Beaton
This policy is part of plans to cut conventional forces as a
consequence of the fiscal imbalance that affects the U.S. economy in
recent years, he said to the daily newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
The use of this technology does not take into account that these laws
blame individuals who plan, order or commit reckless or deliberate
attacks, failing to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and
are responsible for war crimes.
*Journalist, North American Prensa Latina.
Luis Beaton
The U.S. defense secretary, Leon Panetta, recently announced that the
government of President Barack Obama will expand its global network of
drones, known as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), capable of
carrying lethal weapons.
This policy is part of plans to cut conventional forces as a
consequence of the fiscal imbalance that affects the U.S. economy in
recent years, he said to the daily newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Over the next five years, the United States will reduce the number of
military personnel by 92,000 and apply millions in cuts to its budget,
the Pentagon chief said.
The country will have fewer soldiers, which will decrease from
562,000 currently, to 490,000, while the Marines also will decrease from
202,000 to 182,000.
The budget plan which will be released this month, includes an
increase of 30 percent in the fleet of U.S. drones, according to
officials quoted by the Washington Post, in an attempt perhaps to
effectively compensate for troop reductions.
The newspaper stated that the Pentagon’s plans are addressed by the
mobilization of these devices on bases around the world to operate in
missions against other nations in a “remote war,” experts explain.
Industry sources indicate that over 30 billion dollars will be
budgeted over the next five years to acquire unmanned planes, five
billion during 2012 to increase purchases of equipment that patrols the
world on missions of espionage and combat.
Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia,
Palestine, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, among other
states, have suffered from incursions by espionage or attacks from
drones.
The use of this technology dates back to the previous century, and
gained wide publicity during the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan in the
alleged hunt for Osama bin Laden and key Al Qaeda leaders.
However, the most notable actions occurred in Pakistan, where their
use has cost the lives of hundreds of civilians in what the Pentagon
euphemistically describes as “collateral damage” victims.
According to the website lapistaoculta.com, the CIA violates the
airspace of the Americas, Asia and Africa with ever greater frequency.
While the program’s military use of drones over Afghanistan and Iraq
is overseen by the Pentagon, the CIA directs the operations in countries
where there is no war declared when it is deemed necessary, it added.
The site states that, covered in this program, Obama maintained all key
personnel in their posts that had been provided when George W. Bush
signed a secret memorandum that gave the CIA permission to kill members
of Al Qaeda and their allies anywhere in the world, ratified by
Congress.
Currently, Israel is the main exporter of drones, but Washington aims to reach the top spot.
For example, when Bush launched his so-called “war against
terrorism,” the country had only 50 devices of this type. Its fleet is
currently about seven thousand, military analysts point out.
The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, manufacturer of the
Predator and Reaper, now joins Northrop Grunmann in allocated contracts
of about 25 billion dollars.
Other companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics (GD) also
compete for this market, and the latter company has been located in Fort
Huachuca, Arizona, the largest training center in the world for drones.
According to military sources, there are runways in Guam, Turkey,
Ethiopia, Colombia, South Korea and Kyrgyzstan, among other countries,
and flights are directed from the Beale Air Force Base in California and
Wright-Patterson in Ohio; Grand Forks in North Dakota, or in Nevada and
Texas.
Distastefully, in the last five years, drones have become the darling
in the eyes of the CIA and were even protagonists in Yemen, killing
U.S. citizens, supposedly terrorists.
On the other hand, the announcement that the United States will
expand its global network of drones is a ratification of the war policy
of this country that considers itself above international law, according
to political commentators.
A simple analysis of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva
Convention of 1949 states in its article 51 that “the civilian
population shall not be subject to attacks” such as those performed
against Pakistan.
Similarly, Article 50 states that “the presence within the civilian
population of individuals that are not included in this definition does
not take away the character of the civilian population,” and 53 condemns
any hostilities against “places of worship that are part of the
cultural or spiritual heritage of a people.”
All this was violated, for example, in a massacre against those who
participated in a funeral that was attacked by drones. They suspected a
Taliban leader would be participating.
Even the U.S. legal code in its Chapter 18, Section 2331, defines
international terrorism as violent activities or acts that endanger life
with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population,
influencing with these acts a government and/or affecting the government
by mass killings, destruction and kidnappings.
This is a definition that perfectly fits to identify the covert war of drones, but which the Americans ignore.
*Journalist, North American Prensa Latina.
