May 18, 2011
Interview with Kathy Kelly
Conducted by Scott Harris
The May 1st U.S. Navy Seal Commando raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin-Laden set off an angry backlash among Pakistani government and military officials who were kept in the dark by the White House and Pentagon about the impending assault on the al-Qaeda leader’s secret compound. While many Americans have watched and read accounts of this famous incursion into Pakistan, most are unaware that the U.S. and NATO regularly launch hundreds of unmanned predator drones with guided missiles to attack suspected Taliban guerillas and terrorist groups in the tribal regions of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, there were 111 U.S /NATO Predator drone attacks inside Pakistan during 2010 resulting in 957 civilian deaths. The United Nations reports that from 2006 to 2011, an estimated 1,245 civilians have died in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan. Recent U.N. reports suggest that the Taliban are responsible for a larger share of civilian deaths in the Afghan war now than in previous years.
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, whose cousin was killed in a U.S. night raid in March, has repeatedly condemned U.S. and NATO drone and other airstrikes that have resulted in the deaths of civilians. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She was among 37 protesters arrested at Hancock Air Force Base in Syracuse, N.Y. on April 22, where the military houses drones and trains operators for missions abroad. Kelly explains why she opposes the use of Predator drones in targeted assassinations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations.
