Below is the press release from KnowDrones.com, a national group, and the Vets for Peace and the Democrat Party Vets in Sacramento about the airing of TV commercials covering U.S. drone attacks:
MARYSVILLE, Ca. – Military veterans announced this week they are sponsoring the first-ever television commercials to appear on American television attacking the Obama Administration's drone war – the spots show disturbing images of children killed and mutilated by U.S. drones. About 6,000 civilians, including hundreds of children, have been killed in U.S. drone strikes around the world.
The ads are airing throughout April on CNN, FoxNews and other networks in cities near a major drone control operation at Beale Air Force Base, about 40 miles from the state capital of Sacramento. The commercials can be found at http://youtu.be/... and http://youtu.be/...
The veterans said they are hoping to convince drone pilots to "refuse to fly." The spots are aimed at drone pilots, sensor operators, support personnel and their families as well as the general public in and around Beale AFB, which is home to "accomplice" drones – the "Global Hawk" drone does reconnaissance for the killer predator drones – and the target of regular demonstrations and dozens of arrests the past few years.
The ads were paid for by a national group, KnowDrones.com, and members of Veterans for Peace and a Democratic Party veterans organization in nearby Sacramento.
The very graphic 15-second commercials show an image from a drone operations video screen, an explosion, civilians searching through rubble after the drone attack, and images of children killed and mutilated . On-screen text charges "Drone Killing Violates Law and Morality," and then ends with a plea for "Drone Pilots. Please Refuse to Fly. No one has to obey an immoral law."
The spots were originally deemed too "disturbing" by Comcast Cable to air. Comcast has now agreed to air the more graphic spot to air only after 10 p.m. and a less graphic spot from 5 a.m. through 9 p.m. daily. That spot features the text: "Thousands, including women and children, have been murdered by US Drones."
"We produced this spot to make the point as powerfully as possible that drone killing is horrifying, illegal and immoral," said Nick Mottern, coordinator of KnowDrones.com. “The President and the Congress refuse to respect law and morality and stop US drone attacks, so we are asking the people who are bear the burden of doing the actual killing to put a stop to it.”
About 6,000 people have been killed by U.S. drones in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, according to estimates provided by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the foremost independent monitor of drone war casualties. Of this total up to 230 are children killed in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, according to Bureau statistics.
Contact: Nick Mottern, KnowDrones.com 914/806-6179 nickmottern@gmail.coCres Vellucci, Vets for Peace, Democratic Party Vets 916/996-9170 cresvellucci@gmail.com
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