when drones fly children die

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Comment by Tony Nuspl on December 18, 2012 at 11:06pm

As expected, children being snuffed out by remote-control operators.  From the foreign press:

'Did we just kill a kid?': The moment drone operator who assassinated Afghans with the push of a button on a computer in the U.S. realized he had vaporized a child... and could not go on

By Helen Pow

16 December 2012

A former U.S. drone operator has opened up about the toll of killing scores of innocent people by pressing a button from a control room in New Mexico.Brandon Bryant, 27, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container.But, after following orders to shoot and kill a child in Afghanistan, he knew he couldn't keep doing what he was doing and quit the military.'I saw men, women and children die during that time,' he told Spiegel Online. 'I never thought I would kill that many people.'He was made a sensor operator, the equivalent of co-pilot, and at just 20 flew his first mission over Iraq - seated in the safety of a control room in Nevada.The first time he fired a missile, he killed two men instantly and cried on his way home.'I felt disconnected from humanity for almost a week,' he said.But it was an incident when a Predator drone was circling above a flat-roofed house made of mud in Afghanistan, more than 6,250 miles away, that really sticks in his mind.Horrific: 'I saw men, women and children die,' said Brandon Bryant, picturedHorrific: 'I saw men, women and children die,' said Brandon Bryant, picturedThe hut had a shed used to hold goats and when he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser.The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.'These moments are like in slow motion,' he told the website.As the countdown reached seven seconds, there was no sign of anyone on the ground.Bryant could still have diverted the missile at that point.But when it was down to three seconds, a child suddenly walked around the corner.The next thing he saw was a flash on the screen - the explosion. The building collapsed, and the child disappeared.Bryant had a sick feeling in his stomach, he told the website.'Did we just kill a kid?' he asked the pilot next to him.'Yeah, I guess that was a kid,' the man replied.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249252/Brandon-Bryant-Dron...

Comment by Tony Nuspl on October 13, 2012 at 3:55pm

update Oct 2012:

US Drone Strike Kills 18 in Pakistan’s Orakzai Agency

Several Afghans Reportedly Among the Slain

by Jason Ditz, October 11, 2012

At least 18 people were killed and another six wounded today in a US drone strike against the Orakzai Agency, with the drones firing several missilesat a compound belonging to Maulana Shakirullah, a commander loyal to the Bahadur Group.

The Bahadur Group, a loose-knit militant faction run by Hafiz Gul Bahadur was initiallypart of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and still uses the name despite a falling out between Bahadur and the Mehsud leadership of the TTP at large. Bahadur’s group has deals in place with the Pakistani military promising mutual non-aggression during Pakistan’s operations against the Mehsud factions of the TTP.

The identities of the victims are unclear, but local officials say that several Afghan nationalsare believed to have died in the attack. This is not a tremendous shock, as the area attacked is not far from the border and large numbers of Afghan Pashtuns continue to live in the Pakistani tribal areas since the 2001 US invasion.

Today’s attack is the second US strike against the tribal areas in as many days, as yesterday a strike against North Waziristan killed fiveother people, none of whom has been identified.

 

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/10/11/us-drone-strike-kills-16-in-paki...

 

Drone attacks: Pakistan protests with US

October 11, 2012 - Updated 2230 PKT
From Web Edition

ISLAMABAD: A Foreign Office spokesman on Thursday said that a protest had been lodged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the US Embassy here on drone strikes inside Pakistani territory on October10 and 11.

The Foreign Office spokesman, in a statement, said that the United States Embassy was informed that the drone strikes on Pakistani territory were a clear violation of International Law and Pakistan's sovereignty.

These attacks are unacceptable to Pakistan, he added. (APP)

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-71150-Pakistan-lodges-protest-wit...