Join Trifecta Resista May 30-June 1

On tap: Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell, Medea Benjamin, Col. Ann Wright

Carve out some springtime for taking a peace stand. PeaceWorks-KC is holding Trifecta Resista, a three-day gathering with action on three issues, at three places:

resistance to the imprisonment
 of whistle-blower Chelsea Manning
at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

resistance to nuclear weapons at
 Bannister Federal Complex in KC,
 where parts for nuclear weapons
 were made from 1949 to this year,
 and where contaminants linger.
This photo is from
 a past demonstration at Bannister

resistance to drone warfare at Whiteman
 Air Force Base, near Knob Noster, Mo., from
 which killer drones are piloted in places like
Pakistan and Yemen.

Past demonstrations at Whiteman have clearly
 been perceived by authorities as a threat.

We have promises from Kathy Kelly and Brian Terrell (of Voices for Creative Non-Violence) and Medea Benjamin and Alli McCracken (of Code Pink) that they will attend our triple-action weekend, and Col. Ann Wright hopes to join us as well. 

DeLaSalle Education Center, at 3737 Troost, KC, Mo., will be home base.
Our schedule:
         Fri., May 30, 4-9 pm: kickoff of weekend at DeLaSalle, with nonviolence training, supper, input on Trifecta sites, and small-group sharing.
         Sat., May 31: demonstrations at Fort Leavenworth (at 10 a.m.—Chelsea is now serving a 35-year sentence there) and Bannister Federal Complex (at 3 pm), and meals and gatherings at DeLaSalle. At 7 pm, we’ll have talks from leaders such as Kathy Kelly, Brian Terrell, Medea Benjamin, and Ann Wright.
         Sun., June 1: early breakfast, then departure from DeLaSalle at about 11 a.m., a gathering at Knob Noster State Park at 1 pm, and demonstration at nearby Whiteman AFB at 2 pm.

PeaceWorks-KC sponsors the weekend. The growing list of cosponsors includes All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Social Responsibility Board, Disciples Peace Fellowship, KC-area Catholic Workers, Loretto Peace Committee, Peace Network of the Ozarks, and War Is a Crime (David Swanson).
Join us! It’s free; we welcome contributions and food; we have sleeping-bag space. For info, see the Facebook event page and PeaceWorksKC.
RSVP by phoning PeaceWorks-KC at 816-561-1181.

The Spring Days of Drone Action are in full swing. CLICK HERE  to learn more about demonstrations in your state!

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014

Ray Mcgovern speaks, Tamara Severns arrested and brutalized at Whiteman AFB

Bearing witness against remote control of reaper drones from U.S. military bases, about 20 protesters rallied Sunday, April 6, at the Spirit Gate entry to Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster, Mo.

Noting the name Whiteman Air Force Base, former CIA
 intelligence analyst Ray McGovern said in his talk: "When B2
bombers flew out of here to Afghanistan and Iraq, they weren't killing
people who looked like us (white), but who were what the airmen
were taught to call'sand niggers' or 'towel-heads.' White-man is killing
brown, black, and other men, women, and children who
don't look like us. White-man Air Force Base is a reflection of
the American original sin, racism."

"When we were here for the first Trifecta Resista
action in 2012, Whiteman personnel were using Predator drones.
 Now we have Reaper drones--think Grim Reaper--and they are armed
 with'Hellfire' missiles. These terms--Spirit, Reaper, Hellfire--are
theological terms and, as used here at Whiteman, are sheer blasphemy!"
-Brian Terrell, speaking at Whiteman AFB on 4/6/14

McGovern recalled that President Obama on May 17, 2013, said he wished he could stop drone strikes. "Gimme a break," said McGovern. "The president could stop the strikes if he had the backbone." Acknowledging that he was in the Bible Belt, McGovern assailed the silence of the churches about drones. "If the church does not speak out against this wanton slaughter against black and brown people, then the church is the same institution Jesus spoke out against and got killed for doing it."


McGovern, after being introduced by Brian Terrell, said, "It's not often I'm introduced by a prophet!" McGovern thanked Terrell for serving six months in a federal prison camp for his 2012 protest at Whiteman AFB--the longest sentence any drone resister has received.

Terrell, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, speaking during the rally, asked whether the resisters knew what "Spirit Gate" meant. The name evokes not the third person of the Holy Trinity--the Holy Spirit, not a "higher power," not a spirit that animates and gives life, nor even the Higgs-Bosson particle. "Spirit Gate" and, even more pointedly, the "Spirit Chapel" that can be seen just inside the gate, are named for the nickname the Air Force gives to the B2 Stealth Bomber nestled at Whiteman AFB. The Air Force calls these weapons of mass destruction "Spirit Stealth Bombers."

"This is the 'spirit' that is evoked and worshiped here at Whiteman," said Terrell, co-founder of Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker Farm in Maloy, Iowa. 

Terrell  called his prison time "highly productive" for
thinking/praying/planning. He later asked whether any locals had come forward to say they will do civil resistance during the Trifecta Resista that will return to Whiteman AFB. The answer: not yet. For info on that resistance weekend, see PeaceWorksKC.

Rally organizer Jeff Stack of Columbia, Mo., head of the Mid-MO Fellowship of Reconciliation, asked protester Jo Ann Witt of Kansas City to say a few words about why she came to the rally. "Because so many innocent civilians have been killed by the drones," said Witt, moved to tears.

McGovern thanked Witt for her tears, noting they were the humane response to the horror of drone warfare that the U.S. has unleashed.

Bearing witness to drone terror at Whiteman AFB, Sunday April 6th

Tamara Severns of PeaceWorks-KC arrested by surprise at drone protest

Tamara Severns of Kansas City, Mo., was arrested unexpectedly during the protest. A member of the PeaceWorks, Kansas City, Board of Directors and a Co-member of the Loretto Community, Tamara was walking
toward the Visitors' Center to use the bathroom. She and other resisters had used those facilities with no problem during about five earlier protests. On this Sunday, Tamara and several others had arrived at the base entry after authorities had warned the resisters not to step across the white line on the entry road. Unaware that "the rules" had changed, Tamara crossed the line to go toward the Visitors' Center, was taken into custody with no warning, and was handcuffed, searched, and detained on the base for an hour.

"The officer said, 'Turn around. You're being arrested,' and clamped the metal handcuffs on my wrists," Tamara said after her release. "They gave me no warning to leave the property." Her wrists still showed red marks two hours after the handcuffs were removed. A male officer twisted the chain between her handcuffs to direct her where to walk and to hurt her, Tamara said. "I was scared because he was being so rough."

Tamara received a U.S. District Court Violation Notice for
"trespassing on military installation" and expects to be summoned to court. Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, a speaker at the rally, said later he hoped Tamara would not be taken to court because no date or location was listed on the notice. Tamara fears she will receive a court date because the officers told her she would, and it says it on the ticket.

One complicating factor: Officer John Sullivan, who was debriefing the protesters, had gotten inaccurate information from someone else, said Tamara. Sullivan told protest organizer Jeff Stack that another security officer said Tamara had tried to go around the driver's side of the police car toward the Visitor's Center after being advised not to. The truth, said Tamara, was that she never left the sidewalk on the right side of the car and no one said anything except "You're being arrested."

Protester Vicke Hooper Kepling, on her Facebook page April 7, wrote this about Tamara: "She walked to the bathrooms ... like she had done at other protests ... AND GOT TICKETED (detained, felt up, the works). I said "ticketed," but I believe she was actually arrested. I woke up thinking about it. She may face the same fate as the three who intentionally crossed two years ago. One actually did six months in federal prison, and the other got five years probation (reduced to
one). I wasn't putting the same weight on it because of her intention (and that she and others had used the restrooms before). But after reconsideration, I bet it's the same."

 McGovern said afterwards, "It's so obvious Tamara's civil rights under the First Amendment have been violated. Somebody said to this officer, 'Make an example of Tamara and brutalize her,' and he did."

The nationwide SPRING DAYS OF DRONE ACTION continue! Click here for more information.

Spring Days of Drone Action 2014

TRIFECTA RESISTA 2014: Creating a Climate of Peace- Resisting a Climate of Fear

PeaceWorksKC and Codepink are collaborating in a three day reproach to U.S. militarism in its many forms that will help conclude this year's Spring Days of Action against drone warfare and surveillance. First, we will converge at Kansas City's NNSA office to protest our nation's continued wasteful and irresponsible production of nuclear weapons. Next, we will meet at Whiteman AFB to speak out against drone warfare and surveillance. The event will conclude with a demonstration at Ft. Leavenworth to demand a pardon for Private Chelsea Manning.

The event will take place from May 30th to June 1st. Additional details TBA. For more information, e-mail TrifectaResista@gmail.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/TrifectaResista and PeaceWorksKC. 

Aprils Days of Action Against Drones: Demonstration at Whiteman AFB

As part of the April Days of Action Against Drones, dozens of demonstrators representing Veterans for Peace, Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, PeaceworksKC, and other organizations appeared outside of Whiteman AFB, a site at which killer drone pilots are known to operate.

Passing drivers and those entering the base are reminded of the 
implications of drone warfare: "DRONES FLY, CHILDREN DIE"

"DRONES COST LIVES AND MONEY" highlights that supposed
 economic benefits to communities hosting drone programs are 
negligible, while foregrounding the direct human costs of
 these illusory benefits.

Realistic Predator Drone model helps to condense the thousands
 of miles of distance drone operators typically enjoy from 
the "fruits of their labor." 

The demonstration helped to mark the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Ron Faust of Gladstone, MO and Brian Terrell of Maloy, IA as they entered the base on April 15, 2012 to deliver to the base's commander an indictment to all those on the chain of command from President Obama to the drone operators themselves for the human rights abuses implicit in the killer drone program.

Protesters outside the federal courthouse in Jefferson, MO on 
September 10, 2012, when Ron Faust and Brian Terrell were
convicted of trespassing.

While Faust and Terrell joined the company of protestors at Army bases in New York and Nevada, the Whiteman trial was particularly significant as it was the first time such a case had been heard in federal court.

April Days of Action Against Drones continue around the country. Get involved now!

Brian Terrell: "I go in solidarity with prisoners every place"

The following remarks are excerpted from a letter Brian Terrell shared with friends, family, and antiwar activists everywhere this week, as he prepares to surrender in connection with the anti-drones action at Whiteman Air Force Base. You can also read his interview with the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan: "Terrell: American Drone Strikes Must Stop": "The challenge of this is, we have the technology to kill at long distances. . . . There is an Arab proverb that says that a true prophet is a person who can love at long distance."

Friends,

A last message as I prepare to 'surrender' to federal authorities in Yankton, SD, for six months on Friday:

Thank you for the outpouring of support, prayers and solidarity in the weeks since my sentencing. My own responses to these many kindnesses have been haphazard and diffuse - if I have not replied to each one individually, it is not for lack of gratitude.

I have tried to use this time well. At home on the farm I have planted garlic, trimmed the goats' hooves. done some winterization, spent time with community and friends here. I have also traveled to Syracuse to support another courageous and creative act of resistance against drone warfare at Hancock Air Field and made a tour of the midwest, speaking in Minneapolis, Madison, WI, Chicago, and Columbia, MO.

There seems to be in these last weeks a new openness to speaking about the issue of the drones. It is as if with the dreadful distraction of the presidential election over, people are wiping the sleep from their eyes and are shocked to see the evil that had been festering while they were not looking.

I have had countless media interviews, both in the 'movement' venues and in the mainstream where I have experienced a more sophisticated level of discourse than usual. One you might want to listen to is with David Swanson.

TeleSUR, Latin American TV out of Caracas included an interview with me in a pre-election news feature. They talked with activists in Occupy, SOAW, etc, on the state of the US. My interview is about 18 minutes in. The footage by Rodger Routh that TeleSUR used is on Youtube.

My timing could not be better and I am happy to have had the opportunity to speak to so many people and to be making a modest contribution to this crucial discussion.

* * *

As I go away I am especially grateful for support of Betsy and our grown children, Elijah and Clara, and to Veronica and Becky at the Farm. I go in solidarity with the many friends working for peace, those around the US, Europe, Pakistan resisting the drones and my colleagues in Voices for Creative Nonviolence, some who are right now in Gaza and in Iraq and with Catholic Workers everywhere. I go in solidarity with prisoners every place, my heart especially hurting for friends I marched with in the streets of Bahrain last February who are now in prison there enduring torture and abuse that I will not be facing in my more privileged cage in Yankton.

I go without regret and with only a little anxiety. I look forward to a time of reflection and contemplation after several busy years. Hold me in the light, as the Quakers say. My love and prayers are with you all.

Brian


The mailing address for Brian Terrell until the end of May will be:

BRIAN TERRELL 06125-026
FPC YANKTON
FEDERAL PRISON CAMP
P.O. BOX 700
YANKTON, SD 57078

Judge Convicts Civil Resisters Who “Put Drones On Trial”

PeaceWorks, Kansas City;
Trifecta Resista; and Mid-MO Peace Coalition
4509 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64111; 816-561-1181

For immediate release Sept. 11, 2012

Contacts:
Brian Terrell, 773-853-1886;
Ron Faust, 816-582-6893;
Tamara Severns, 816-753-7642

In the first federal trial related to drone warfare, Judge Magistrate Matt Whitworth of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, ruled yesterday that two civil resisters were guilty of trespass at Whiteman Air Force Base, near Knob Noster, Mo.

On April 15, defendants Ronald Faust of Gladstone, Mo., and Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, sought to present to the Whiteman AFB commander an indictment of all involved in drone warfare, from President Obama to the Whiteman officers who, by remote control, direct predator drones in Afghanistan attacks. The defendants said yesterday they were not guilty of trespass but had simply tried to bring a grievance to a government authority about the drone strikes that kill an estimated 49 untargeted persons for every one target. More than 50 supporters of Faust and Terrell packed the courtroom.

During the trial, constitutional law expert Bill Quigley, professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, said the defendants were exercising their rights April 15 under the First Amendment to the Constitution. “My grandfather went to jail in Birmingham to oppose Bull Connor,” said Quigley, noting that when the Supreme Court overturned laws against sit-ins at restaurants and protests outside courtrooms, “there were 3,000 people in jail.” Quigley reminded the court that 100 years ago, the nation had no child labor laws, no vote for women, no civil rights legislation. The First Amendment protects “vigorous dissent,” said Quigley. “The idea of trespass is not more important than the First Amendment. Our Constitution trumps the statutes” for trespass.

Witness Kathy Kelly, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, told the court she came to Whiteman AFB April 15 to support the defendants’ presentation of the “Indictment for Violation of Human Rights”, their statement against drone warfare. Kelly said she and Terrell had visited families of drone victims, and she described how goat-herders at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, had introduced them to a child whose arm was amputated by a drone. Kelly said she felt responsible “to go as close as I could to the people” suffering from drone bombings, and explained that she and Terrell were raising their voices here on behalf of the voiceless abroad.

The defense had proposed that former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and (retired) Col. Ann Wright should testify about the illegality of drone warfare and citizens’ responsibilities under international treaties. The prosecution opposed those topics, and the judge excluded them.

Wright, who resigned her diplomatic post in 2003 to protest the Iraq War, was permitted by Whitworth to testify only on base security issues. She suggested the commander might have assigned guards to Terrell, Faust, and Kenney on April 15 and let them hand their indictment to the commander. Instead, the base arrested the three and had 40-50 military police in riot gear march against about 40 supporters. After the trial yesterday, Wright said the defendants’ and supporters’ work “gives hope to people in other parts of the world that there are Americans who are fighting drones, and we aren’t going to get stopped!”

VIEW THE YOUTUBE VIDEO OF ANN WRIGHT'S REMARKS at the Trifecta Resista Drone Trial Press Conference.

Whitworth’s rejection of Clark marked the first time Clark was not allowed to testify in court as an expert witness. Clark said after the trial, “We are part of a long struggle—I’ve been at it for 84 years. We have to plan harder, work harder. The world is in far more danger than when I was born, probably progressively so. Right now we’re madly designing more efficient ways to take human life. We have to awaken people, with love out front. We need to act boldly, take the opportunity to do our best, and pray for the rest.”

VIEW THE YOUTUBE VIDEO OF RAMSEY CLARK'S REMARKS at the Trifecta Resista Drone Trial Press Conference.

About half the supporters traveled from Jefferson City to Whiteman AFB, gathering under the stars, singing for peace, and holding signs such as “Ground the Drones!” There Clark said the drone operators are allowed “to be judge, jury, and executioner, contrary to all sense of justice.”

After issuing his guilty verdict, Whitworth told Faust and Terrell to meet with probation officers soon for a presentence investigation. “I wonder if I might waive a presentence investigation,” Terrell asked the judge. Terrell recalled that on June 6, Whitworth gave Terrell and Faust’s resistance companion, Mark Kenney of Omaha, a four-month federal prison sentence, out of the maximum of six months, in part because of Kenney’s prior convictions for resistance. Noting that the prosecuting attorney had his arrest record, Terrell said, “It beats out Mark’s 10 to 1. I don’t believe there’ll be anything in a presentence report that would change the situation. If the government suggests even the maximum penalty, I wouldn’t argue against that.” He asked to be sentenced at once, but the judge denied the request. Sentencing is expected in a few weeks.

Terrell e-mailed supporters today, “Our efforts have been and continue to effectively spread questions, doubts, and even outrage over remote-control murder at long distance by drones from Whiteman and other bases. Their willingness to kill from long distance must be exceeded by our commitment to love from a distance.” Faust e-mailed today, “I think about everybody realized that we won the trial. Change is slow, but we got the message out.” Media reports included coverage in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, news.yahoo.com, AirForceTimes.com, palmbeachpost.com (Fla.), Fox 4 TV in KC, KCTV 5, and other news venues. Henry Stoever of Overland Park, Kan., served as Terrell’s legal advisor. After the trial, Stoever listed several reasons the defendants should not have been convicted, including:

1. the military witnesses failed to specifically identify Terrell and Faust, referring to them broadly as the two at the defense table when three men sat there, along with Ruth O’Neill of Columbia, Mo., Faust’s lawyer;

2. the judge refused to allow the defendants to present a complete defense in which their experts would have had an opportunity to explain drone killings as murders without notice or warning, without due process, outside of a legal process; and

3. by focusing solely on trespass and the limited “law” in that area, the judge excluded the greater evil that is ongoing and missed the injustice of the entire matter.

Terrell noted today that he and Faust were unable to raise an international law defense. Whitworth rejected Clark’s testimony on the U.N. Charter and the responsibility of citizens to resist the crimes of their government under the Nuremberg Principles. Terrell recalled Whitworth’s comment during a pretrial conference call that international law does not “trump” domestic law. This, says Terrell, is in contradiction to the Constitution, Article VI, that incorporates treaties into the “supreme law of the land.” Terrell added that the judge also limited Kelly’s testimony about what she and Terrell had witnessed in Afghanistan.

RELATED PRESS COVERAGE

Anti-Drone Protesters Found Guilty of Trespassing

Former U.S. Attorney General and Military Officer Excluded From Giving Expert Testimony at Drones Trial

Federal judge for 9/10 anti-drone trial excludes testimony from Ramsey Clark and Col. Ann Wright but allows testimony from constitutional law expert; all three to speak in KC Sunday night and in Jefferson City at news conference Monday

CONTACT
Brian Terrell 773-853-1886
Henry Stoever 913-375-0045
Ruth O’Neill 573-268-0095

September 7, 2012

In a teleconference hearing this morning, Judge Magistrate Matt J. Whitworth of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, ruled that two expert witnesses will be excluded from testifying in a trial set for Monday afternoon in Jefferson City. The defendants who requested the expert witnesses are anti-drone activists who were arrested at Whiteman Air Force Base in April. The judge did agree that a third witness could give testimony limited to the defendants’ constitutional rights.

Defendants Ronald Faust of Gladstone, Mo., near Kansas City, and Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, previously filed motions to admit as expert witnesses former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; retired U.S. Army officer and diplomat Col. Ann Wright; and Loyola University Law School Professor Bill Quigley of New Orleans. Judge Whitworth ruled that while Professor Quigley’s proposed testimony to the defendants’ constitutional rights is relevant to the case at hand, the testimony from Mr. Clark and Col. Wright was not relevant—it would have addressed the illegality of the use of drones such as those that are remotely piloted from Whiteman AFB, and would have emphasized citizens’ responsibilities under international treaties. Citing previous federal cases, Judge Whitworth explained his ruling: “International law does not trump domestic law.”

At 1 p.m. Monday, immediately before the trial begins, the defendants will be allowed to make a short “offer of proof,” keeping for the record a summary of what the witnesses would have said if they had been admitted as expert witnesses. In part, the defendants will argue that the judge’s ruling is not consistent with the defendants’ right to present a complete and fair defense as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment and the Sixth Article of the U.S. Constitution, which reads, “All Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

Col. Wright and Mr. Clark, along with Professor Quigley, the defendants, their attorneys, and Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (she will also be called as a witness), will hold a news conference outside the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City at noon on Monday.

On Sunday evening, the defendants and Col. Wright, Mr. Clark, Professor Quigley, and Ms. Kelly will talk about drones in modern life at Community Christian Church, 4601 Main, KC, Mo., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The session is free and open to the public.

In this morning’s teleconference, Air Force Captain Michael Pierson represented the government. Attorney Ruth O’Neill of Columbia, Mo., represented Ron Faust. Brian Terrell represented himself, assisted by advisory counsel Henry Stoever of Overland Park, Kan.

RELATED POSTS
Murder by Drone: The Legal Arguments in Missouri
INDICTMENT FOR VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
September 10: Put the Drones on Trial! Join Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ann Wright and Bill Quigley
Ramsey Clark Offered As Expert Witness on Necessity to Stop Drone Killings
Col. Wright Expected to Testify on U.S. Officials' Responsibilities in Face of Drone Threat
September 7 Concert Fundraiser: Support Trifecta Resista and the Drone Resistsers!
September 9: Kansas City Presents Expert Witnesses on Drone Killings

Col. Wright Expected to Testify on U.S. Officials' Responsibilities in Face of Drone Threat

The defense in the case to be tried September 10 in Jefferson City, MO, in connection with the delivery of an indictment for violations of human rights to the commander of Whiteman Air Force Base, will offer former retired Col. Ann Wright, who served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and 16 years as a U.S. diplomat and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War, as an expert witness on the responsibility of U.S. officials to protect civilians and facilities needed by civilians.

BACKGROUND

Ann Wright has been a career military officer, a State Department diplomat, and for the past few years an influential spokesperson in the anti-war movement. Col. Wright grew up in Bentonville, Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas, where she holds a Master’s and a Juris Doctor Degree. She also has a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College.

Col. Wright spent 13 years in active duty with the U.S. Army, with another 16 years in the Army reserves, retiring as a colonel. Part of her work was in special operations, particularly in civil and humanitarian operations, in the event of troop invasions into countries like Iraq. She helped to develop, as she explained, “plans about how you interact with the civilian population, how you protect the facilities – sewage, water, electrical grids, libraries…It’s our obligation under the law of land warfare.” Col. Wright requested a release from active duty from the Army and joined the State Department. For the next 16 years, she served as a foreign diplomat in countries such as Nicaragua, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Sierra Leone. She was on the team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December, 2001, after the fall of the Taliban to US forces. In all those years, Col. Wright was proud of her representation of America. However, on March 13, 2003, the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, Ms. Wright sent a letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Colin Powell. In an interview, she explained that, in the Foreign Service, “Your job is to implement the policies of an administration…if you strongly disagree with any administration’s policies, and wish to speak out, your only option is to resign. I understood that and that’s one of the reasons I resigned – to give myself the freedom to speak out.” She has further stated,

I have served my country for almost thirty years in some of the most isolated and dangerous parts of the world. I want to continue to serve America. However, I do not believe in the policies of this Administration and cannot --- morally and professionally --- defend or implement them. It is with heavy heart that I must end my service to America and therefore resign.

U.S. OFFICIALS' RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE FACE OF DRONE THREAT

If called as an expert witness, Col. Wright can be expected to clarify the responsibility of U.S. officials, under the law of land warfare, to protect facilities needed by civilian populations; and to draw from expertise required in her capacity as a U.S. diplomat responsible for reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December, 2001, to show the vulnerability of the civilian population to aerial attacks, i.e. attacks facilitated and/or enacted by drone surveillance and combat aircraft based and/or commanded at Whiteman Air Force Base.

Col. Wright testified in the September 14, 2010, trial in Nevada concerning protests at Creech Air Force Base.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

"America's Drones Are Homeward Bound", by Ann Wright, in Truthdig

Ramsey Clark Offered As Expert Witness on Necessity to Stop Drone Killings

The defense in the case to be tried September 10 in Jefferson City, MO, in connection with the delivery of an indictment for violations of human rights to the commander of Whiteman Air Force Base, will offer former Attorney General of the United States Ramsey Clark as an expert witness on the necessity to stop drone killings.

BACKGROUND

Ramsey Clark served in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949, and thereafter a Master’s Degree as well as a J.D. from the University of Chicago.

During the presidential administrations of John F. Kennedy and then Lyndon Johnson, Clark served as Assistant Attorney General of the Lands Division from 1961-65; Deputy Attorney General from 1965-67; and finally U.S. Attorney General from 1967-69. Throughout his tenure as Attorney General, Clark focused on social issues and civil rights. He set up the first federal narcotics addict-treatment unit. He restructured federal prisons to stress the importance of rehabilitation, early release, education, and job training rather than punishment. And he was the first Attorney General to call for the elimination of the death penalty.

After his years in the Justice Department, Clark worked as a law professor and became a prominent figure in the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 1974 he was the Democratic Party’s candidate for a U.S. Senate seat representing New York, but lost to Republican Jacob Javits. In 1976 Clark again sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate but was defeated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

For decades, Clark has studied and critiqued American foreign policy and its related military campaigns, from the Vietnam War, to the Iraq War, to the broader War on Terror. His clients have included Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein.

NECESSITY TO STOP INJURY CAUSED BY U.S. GOVERNMENT

Ramsey Clark has testified in previous cases about the duties of U.S. citizens under international law and U.S. constitutional law, and how citizen actions at air force bases are consistent with these duties. (In the picture at right, he is shown at a press conference preceding day 3 of the Hancock 38 Drone Resisters Trial, November 3, 2011.) As a former U.S. Attorney General, he was responsible to enforce U.S. law including citizen obligations under international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions, to which the U.S. has been a signatory and which therefore become the law of the land.

At the time of the Hancock 38 trial, Clark said, "Drones inherently violate the laws of the United States and international law ... They are associated with the concept of assassination and murder.” (See "Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark testifies at DeWitt trial of Hancock Field drone protesters" at Syracuse.com.)

Under international humanitarian law, one question that needs to be resolved is whether those targeted are combatants. The Geneva Conventions on the Law of War, particularly common Article 3, prohibit the intentional killing of civilians. Common Article 3 prohibits:

"(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;" and "(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples."

Other international human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, state that arbitrary execution is unlawful. Ramsey Clark will demonstrate that usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles based at Creech Air Force Base to kill “high value targets” constitutes extrajudicial executions and fails to afford all the judicial guarantees that are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

Ramsey Clark put the issues in stark terms when he previously testified at the Creech 14 trial: "Letting a baby burn to death because of a no trespass sign would be poor public policy." (Read more at "A Peace Movement Victory in Court".)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Read Ramsey Clark's comments after the Hancock 38 drones resisters' trial.

September 10: Put the Drones on Trial! Join Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ann Wright and Bill Quigley

Come to Missouri to Join Experts in Constitutional and International Law Supporting Activists in First Anti-Drone Trial Heard in Federal Court, September 10!

SCHEDULE
Noon - news conference at the courthouse
1:30pm - Federal Trial

ADDRESS
Christopher S. Bond Federal Courthouse
80 Lafayette St.
Jefferson City, MO 65101

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Former Attorney General of the United States Ramsey Clark will be called as an expert witness in defense of two anti-drone activists on trial in United States District Court in Jefferson City, Missouri, on September 10. Clark, 84, has long and varied legal career that includes the drafting of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and opposition to the Vietnam War. He served as attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson from 1966 to 1969. Also called as expert witnesses for the defense will be retired Col. Ann Wright, who served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and 16 years as a U.S. diplomat and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War, and Bill Quigley, Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, will be called to witness to the effects of drone warfare on its civilian victims she has met while visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The defendants, Ron Faust of Kansas City and Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa, participated in the April 15 “Trifecta Resista” protest at Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base, from where killer drones engage in combat in Afghanistan by remote control. They were arrested for trespass as they attempted to deliver an “indictment” to Brigadier General Scott A. Vander Hamm, the base’s commander. The indictment charges the chain of command, from President Obama to General Vander Hamm to the drone crews at Whiteman “with the following crimes; extrajudicial killings, violation of due process, wars of aggression, violation of national sovereignty, and the killing of innocent civilians” and demands that these crimes immediately cease. (Read the full indictment.) Arrested with Faust and Terrell was Mark Kenney of Omaha, who is now serving a four month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges at a June 6 arraignment.

The defendants intend to prove in court that their protest was protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and also was a response to more egregious crimes committed on the base. “Drones inherently violate the laws of the United States and international law,” says Clark. “They are associated with the concept of assassination and murder.” In terms of the crimes the accused are charged with, Clark says the defendants are being denied their constitutional rights of free speech and the freedom to assemble. And their “crimes,” he says, pale in comparison to what the defendants are trying to stop. (For more information, see "Resisting Drones in Missouri: 'Let Justice Flow Like a River. . .' by Brian Terrell; be sure to check out the video of the riot police at Whiteman on the Monthly Review site.)

The protest at Whiteman is one of many in response to the US government’s increasing use of drones in recent years, but the trial in Jefferson City is the first time that charges have been filed not in local courts but in US District Court. The prosecution will be handled directly by a commissioned officer in the Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps, acting as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. Terrell, a defendant in previous “drone trials,” that of the “Creech 14” in Nevada in 2010 and the “Hancock 38” in New York in 2011, is a Catholic Worker and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and will be representing himself with the assistance of Kansas City attorney Henry Stoever. Faust, a retired Disciples of Christ minister, will be represented by Columbia, MO, attorney Ruth O’Neill.

On the evening before the trial, Sunday, September 9, at 6:30, the defendants, attorneys and witnesses will hold a public meeting at Community Christian Church, 4601 Main Street, in Kansas City, MO. On Monday at noon there will be a press conference and rally at the US District Court House, 80 Lafayette Street in Jefferson City, followed by the trial at 1:30 (photo ID required, no cell phones allowed in US Courthouse). Please contribute to the costs of this defense by donating online or writing a check to Voices for Creative Nonviolence, 1249 West Argyle Street #2, Chicago, IL 60640 with “drones on trial” in the memo line.

Contact Brian Terrell, brian [at] vcnv.org 773-853-1886 for more information. Tamara Severns, redwoodseverns [at] yahoo.com, 816-753-7642 and Jane Stoever, janepstoever [at] yahoo.com, 913-206-4088 are coordinating hospitality and logistics in Kansas City and Jefferson City.