{"id":6731,"date":"2016-08-24T07:09:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T11:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=6731"},"modified":"2019-12-23T06:46:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T11:46:46","slug":"peace-activist-kathy-kelly-heads-to-prison-for-protesting-u-s-drone-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=6731","title":{"rendered":"Peace Activist Kathy Kelly Heads to Prison for Protesting U.S. Drone War"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .<\/p>\n

An article and video from Democracy Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Peace activist Kathy Kelly is about to begin a three-month prison sentence for protesting the U.S. drone war at a military base in Missouri earlier this year. Kelly, along with another activist, was arrested after offering bread and an indictment against drone warfare. Kelly is the co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly\"
\nVideo of interview with Kathy Kelly<\/a>
\n<\/center><\/p>\n

TRANSCRIPT – This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN:<\/strong> Kathy Kelly, in addition to U.S. troops staying, 11,000 troops staying, and participating not only in Operation Resolute Support, but fighting themselves directly, they\u2019ll be supported by bombers, drones. You participated in a drone strike, and you\u2019re headed home to Chicago, then to prison. Talk about this drone strike and why you chose to get arrested.<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Well, I think it\u2019s a good time to be very uncompromising with regard to the United States\u2019 wars. These wars are murderous. The wars are killing civilians, as has been happening in the United States\u2019 wars since World War II. Now 90 percent of the people killed in wars are civilians. And this is true certainly with the drone strikes. The Reprieve organization has said that for every one person who is selected as a target for assassination, 28 civilians are killed. And even just three nights ago, there was another targeted assassination in which they hit two homes in the Logar province, and six people were wounded, four people were killed, all of them civilians.<\/p>\n

And so, I crossed a line at Whiteman Air Force Base. A squadron operates weaponized drones over Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been an epicenter of drone warfare. And a good symbol for people in Afghanistan is breaking bread. I carried a loaf of bread and a letter, wanting to talk to the commandant. We thought it was important to know how many people were killed by Whiteman Air Force Base on that day.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: Where is Whiteman?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: That\u2019s in Knob Noster, Missouri.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: And what\u2019s its relationship with Afghanistan?<\/p>\n

(Article continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question for this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

Drones (unmanned bombers), Should they be outlawed?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Article continued from left column)<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Well, the weaponized drones are flown\u2014once they\u2019re airborne, they\u2019re operated entirely by people in United States Air National Guard bases and air bases. And so, Whiteman Air Force Base won\u2019t disclose, neither will the CIA disclose, information about the results of these killings, but this is what people in the United States need to know. We have a First Amendment right to seek redress of grievance. And having been in Afghanistan, living with young people who are too frightened to go back to visit their own relatives, who see for themselves a future that could be a prolonged, exacerbated warfare, there is a grievance, and we wanted to bring that to the commandant at that particular base.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: I said you participated in a strike; I meant to say in a drone protest. So, exactly what was the action you engaged in?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Well, I think I stepped one or two steps over a line. And\u2014<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: Holding a loaf of bread and an indictment?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: And so the military prosecutor said, “Your Honor, Ms. Kelly is in grave need, great need, of rehabilitation.” But I think it\u2019s a\u2014this is an important time to connect these oppressive issues. You know, while we\u2019re spending $1 trillion on warfare in Afghanistan and looking at another $120 billion that will be spent\u2014the Pentagon wants $57 billion for this year alone\u2014we\u2019re squandering needed resources. We\u2019re undermining the possibility of solving extremely serious problems that we\u2019re moving into.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: How long will you be going to prison for?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Three months.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: Where?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Well, I don\u2019t know yet. The Bureau of Prisons will tell me where I\u2019m to be put, probably at the end of January.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: How many times have you gone to prison for protesting war?<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Well, this will be my third time in a federal\u2014well, no, fourth time in a federal prison. And I\u2019ve been jailed in various county jails and other kinds of lockups more times than I can count.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: Kathy Kelly, I want to thank you very much for being with us\u2014<\/p>\n

KATHY KELLY<\/strong>: Thank you, Amy.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN<\/strong>: \u2014co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare, just returned from Kabul, Afghanistan. We\u2019ll link your recent piece, “Obama Extends War in Afghanistan: The implications for U.S. democracy aren\u2019t reassuring.” And, Matt Aikins, please stay with us. I want to talk about your latest piece looking at Afghanistan; the piece is “Afghanistan: The Making of a Narco State.” Stay with us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . An article and video from Democracy Now Peace activist Kathy Kelly is about to begin a three-month prison sentence for protesting the U.S. drone war at a military base in Missouri earlier this year. Kelly, along with another activist, was arrested after offering bread and an indictment against drone warfare. Kelly … Continue reading Peace Activist Kathy Kelly Heads to Prison for Protesting U.S. Drone War<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,91],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-6731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-north-america","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}