In a scathing attack on President Barack Obama’s drone war, four former operators of the remote-controlled killing machines declared that this kind of warfare is actually fueling terrorism.
Meanwhile, the soldiers who pull the triggers are cast aside when they break down under the incessant stress of long-distance killing.
“This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world,” the quartet of former Air Force service members wrote in a letter to Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director John Brennan.
Staff Sergeant Brandon Bryant, Senior Airman Cian Westmoreland, Senior Airman Stephen Lewis and Senior Airman Michael Haas said they felt compelled to speak out because staying silent “would violate the very oaths we took to support and defend the Constitution.”