Military Vets Sponsor ‘Uncensored’ Counter U.S. Drone War TV Commercial on CNN, FoxNews, ESPN Near Cannon AFB/Special Ops Drone Control Center in Clovis, New Mexico
CLOVIS, NM – A graphic and controversial 15-second television commercial – showing images of children killed in drone attacks – began airing in July uncensored in Clovis, NM near Cannon AFB, a major U.S. drone control site. The spot has been censored or modified by cable providers near other U.S. drone control centers where it has run over the past few months.
CNN, FoxNews, ESPN and other cable networks locally are carrying the uncensored spot throughout July.
The uncensored paid advertisement, which calls on drone operators to “Please Refuse to Fly,” is being carried by local cable provider Suddenlink. It can be found here: http://youtu.be/8mdu4bzWgd0. A second spot can be found at https://youtu.be/ibrCbiLyKZc.
In other markets cable providers have permitted the ad to be shown only after 10 p.m., or not at all. In these cases a censored ad has been shown that does not include images of dead children, although it does criticize the deadly U.S. drone attacks. All anti-drone TV commercials can be found at www.KnowDrones.com.
In Clovis, both versions of the commercial will be shown at various times throughout the day, as requested by the ad sponsor, KnowDrones.com, representing U.S. military veterans. More than 16 spots per day (328 spots in all) are due to run in July.
“We are very pleased Suddenlink is running the uncensored version of the ad,” said Nick Mottern, KnowDrones coordinator. “Through the images of children killed in drone attacks American people can see the illegality and immorality of the U.S. policy of systematically killing people without due process.”
Cannon AFB is home to the 3rd and 33rd Special Operations Squadrons that are reported to control MQ-9 Reaper drones in the skies over Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen and possibly elsewhere. https://medium.com/war-is-boring/u-s-air-force-drones-spend-weeks-man-hunting-f8204f4534c8
The “Refuse to Fly” message in the ad is reinforced by a letter from about 50 veterans to drone operators urging “drone pilots, sensor operators and support teams to refuse to play any role in drone surveillance/assassination missions.” http://www.knowdrones.com/2015/07/veterans-urge-drone-operators-to-refuse-to-fly.html
In addition, Jim Winkler, President of the National Council of Churches, published a letter on July 1, 2015 saying that drone warfare “immoral” and calling on President Obama and the Congress to respond to a call by nearly 30 religious leaders to stop U.S. drone attacks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-winkler/why-people-of-faith-oppos_b_7706034.html
All video clips and footage in the advertisements come from the independent short documentary film, Wounds of Waziristan (www.woundsofwaziristan.com), directed by filmmaker and journalist, Madiha Tahir.
