Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 17, 2008

Spy drones over the border


The name of the US drone, 'Predator,' reflects what the United States has become

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- The bad news is that the Border Patrol has four drones flying out of Fort Huachuca over the US/Mexico border for surveillance. One drone has already crashed near Nogales and these unmanned aerial planes, provided first by Israel's Apartheid spy technology maker, Elbit Systems, are a risk to the lives of those on the ground in Arizona.
The good news is that Airforce pilots are not flying over in their planes. Airforce pilots in Tucson were so eager to smuggle cocaine in uniform, that the FBI halted Operation Lively Green. More than 50 Army, Navy, Marine and National Guard soldiers have been sentenced for smuggling cocaine for cash, from Nogales to Phoenix.
Again, the bad news is that the Arizona National Guard soldiers are commanding an armed, remote controlled aircraft in Iraq from Tucson, drug central.
From Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, a unit controls the MQ-1B Predator, used for armed reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting in Iraq, according to the National Guard.
If drug-running soldiers weren't bad enough, now comes the news that the drones are being used by the US to spy on civilians at the US/Mexico border.
"The Reaper/Predator B UAV´s robotic killing machines are currently in operation with the USAF, US Navy and the Royal Air Force. In addition non military users of the Predator B include: NASA and Homeland security though the US Customs and Border Protection agencies," reports Michael Webster.
Webster continues to say that the drones used by FEMA and disaster management is troubling.
"Predator B carries out 'targeted assassinations' of 'terrorist suspects' across Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The deployment of the robotic killing machines in the United States for 'disaster management' is troubling to say the least and a harbinger of things to come."
If you've got the stomach for it, read more about spooks and drones over the US/Mexico border here.
As the US pours millions into spy technology, one has to wonder why there is so much crime ignored in Tucson. In 2008, there was a serial murderer, raping and murdering homeless women in Tucson. These women were raped and murdered on streets I walk down. There was little mention of this serial murderer in the news.
I wonder if any of those millions of dollars of spy technology, aimed at keeping us all safe, is ever used to keep the streets of Tucson safe.
Back at Fort Huachuca, the drones are part of the Army Intelligence Center there. This is the same place that produced the torture manual, exposed in 1996, of the School of Americas. The manual was used to train Latin military leaders, which led to the torture, rape and murder of thousands of people, including Indigenous Peoples, in Central and South America in the 80s and 90s. Corporations, under the cloak of US firepower and torture, reaped the benefits in land and resources.
Fort Huachuca is now being protested because of its training which resulted in torture in Abu-Ghraib. Read article on torture protest.
The news that Fort Huachuca now has four more drones, spy drones over the border, can not be good news.

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