DEMOCRACY NOW – Interview with Kathy Kelly on eve of “Creech 14” Drone Trial in Las Vegas Nevada, USA

4 thoughts on “DEMOCRACY NOW – Interview with Kathy Kelly on eve of “Creech 14” Drone Trial in Las Vegas Nevada, USA”

1. PDF – U.S. Justice Dept. A Review into F.B.I.’s Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups
   http://www.privacylives.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/…0.pdf

   The New American
   Feds Slammed for Spying on Anti-war Groups, Lying
   http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/crime/46…lying

   Boston Globe
   Reedbaiting 2002-06
   http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/crime/46…lying

   U.S. Catholic
   Catholic Worker groups subject if faulty FBI probe, says new report
   http://www.uscatholic.org/news/2010/09/catholic-worker-…eport

   Huffington Post
   Inspector General Criticism Doesn’t Faze F.B.I. Raids on Midwestern Anti-War Activists
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/inspector-g….html

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2. Drones on trial, and a judge listens
   by Tom Roberts on Sep. 18, 2010

   Drones have raised to a new level the detachment with which modern warfare can be conducted. Operated remotely from great distances away, drones are lifeless, indiscriminate killing machines. They’ve been responsible for countless civilian deaths and a concomitant rising tide of anger against the United States in Pakistan. What follows is an intriguing account of the recent trial of 14 activists who trespassed at an Air Force Base in Nevada protesting the use of drones.

   By Jerica Arents
   September 17, 2010

   I received an education yesterday.

   I wasn’t in a classroom. I wasn’t laboring over a paper, strategizing in a small group, poring over a textbook or hustling across campus. I was sitting as a spectator in the front row of Judge Jansen’s courtroom in Clark County, Nevada.

   Fourteen peace activists were on trial for trying to hand-deliver a letter to the base commander at Creech Air Force Base in April of 2009. Their letter laid out concerns about usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones, for surveillance and combat purposes in Afghanistan. The Creech 14 believe that the usage of remote aerial vehicles to hunt down and kill people in other lands amounts to targeted assassination and is prohibited by international and U.S. law. Soldiers carrying M16s stopped them after they had walked past the guardhouse at the base entrance and a few hours later Nevada state troopers handcuffed the Creech 14 and took them into custody.

   The next day, they were charged with trespass to a military facility and released. The charges were later dropped, then reinstated. Defendants, upon learning of a September 14, 2010 court date, had ten months to plan for their trial. They decided to represent themselves pro se and to call, as expert witnesses, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Colonel Ann Wright and Professor Bill Quigley, the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. What were the chances that a Las Vegas court that normally handles traffic violations and minor offenses would admit three expert witnesses to testify on behalf of defendants charged with a simple trespass? Slim to zero in the view of most observers.

   Article continued….
   http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/drones-trial-and-judge-listens

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3. Judge Decides to Devote 4 Months to Studying Issues snd Testimony Presented in “Creech 14” Case

   The “Creech 14” went to trial on September 14, 2010 in Clark County
   Regional Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. The case originated during a week
   of demonstrations and vigils in April 2009, when the activists entered
   Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs to highlight the serious
   injustice of the U.S. military’s use of drones, or Unmanned Aerial
   Vehicles (UAVs) in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Crews at Creech control
   the drones used in these expanding wars, including killing civilians
   in remote controlled assassination attacks. The protesters were
   charged with trespassing. Judge William Jansen scheduled the verdict
   for January 27, 2011
   .
   Judge Jansen allowed the pro-se defendants to call three expert
   witnesses – former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, retired Col. and
   former Embassy Official Ann Wright, and Bill Quigley, Legal Director
   of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

   “Targeted assassinations by Predator and Reaper drones,” said
   defendant Renee Espeland, “must be catapulted into the court of public
   opinion. I am bound by the law of our land that makes it my duty to
   stop the killing of civilians and to protect U.S. soldiers being
   ordered to perform illegal acts.”

   The judge limited the defense to questions strictly pertaining to the
   charge of trespass. However, through carefully crafted questions, the
   defendants were able to extract several key points from their
   witnesses:

   – Intentional killing is a war crime, as embodied in U.S. constitutional law.

   – Drone strikes by U.S. and coalition forces kill a disproportionate
   number of civilians.

   – People have the right, even the duty, to stop war crimes.

   – According to the Nuremberg principles, individuals are required to
   disobey domestic orders that cause crimes against humanity.

   Defendant Brian Terrell delivered the group’s closing statement.
   Referring to earlier mention of a classic metaphor used in cases
   invoking the necessity defense, he depicted a house on fire, with a
   baby trapped inside. “The house is on fire; the baby is in the house,”
   said Terrell, “We fourteen are ones who see the smoke, and will not
   allow a ‘no trespass’ sign to stop us from reaching burning children.”
   Terrell was speaking about the civilian deaths caused by U.S. drones
   in Afghanistan.

   The Creech 14 include Fr. John Dear, SJ; Dennis DuVall; Renee
   Espeland; Judy Homanich; Kathy Kelly; Fr. Steve Kelly, SJ; Mariah
   Klusmire; Brad Lyttle; Libby Pappalardo; Sr. Megan Rice, SHCJ; Brian
   Terrell; Eve Tetaz; Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM; and Fr. Jerry Zawada, OFM.
   Espeland, Fr. Kelly, Klusmire, Rice, Terrell, Vitale and Zawada all
   live in or volunteer regularly with various Catholic Worker
   communities around the country

   ——————————————————————————————————

   Las Vegas Sun Photo and Report
   http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/14/judge-delay…rial/

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4. Las Vegas “Creech 14” Drone Trial report

   Fourteen anti-war activists may have made history today in a Las Vegas courtroom when they turned a misdemeanor trespassing trial into a possible referendum on America’s newfound taste for remote-controlled warfare.

   The so-called Creech 14, a group of peace activists from across the country, went on trial this morning for allegedly trespassing onto Creech Air Force Base in April 2009.

   From the start of today’s trial, prosecutors did their best to keep the focus on whether the activists were guilty of allegations they illegally entered the base and refused to leave as a way to protest the base’s role as the little-known headquarters for U.S. military operations involving unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, over Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

   But a funny thing happened on the way to prosecutors’ hope for a quick decision.

   Appearing as witnesses for the Creech 14 today were some of the biggest names in the modern anti-war movement: Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and one of three former U.S. State Department officials who resigned on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and Bill Quigley, legal director for the New York City-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

   By the time those three witnesses finished their testimony as to why they believed the activists had protested at the base, they’d managed to convince Las Vegas Township Justice Court Judge William Jansen to delay his verdict for four months — and had managed clearly to frustrate prosecutors.

   http://blogs.lasvegascitylife.com/cityblog/2010/09/14/v…39790

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