Beale: Main Gate Blockaded 4 Hours, 9 Arrested, as Peace Activists Protest US Killer Drones

Contact:
Toby Blome, 510-508-1020 ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net www.occupybealeafb.org
Pamela Osgood, 941-735-8865 pamelaosgood@att.net
Shirley Osgood, 941-320-0291 slogood481@hotmail.com www.occupybealeafb.org

Main Gate Blockaded 4 Hours, Nine People
Arrested at Beale AFB Tuesday After Vets,
Peace Activists Protest US Killer Drones

BEALE AFB (Marysville), Ca. – After blocking the main gate for more than four hours, nine (9) military veterans and peace activists from throughout California were arrested around Noon Tuesday here at Beale AFB protesting the inhumane and cruel U.S. Drone Program, killing thousands of innocent men, women and children around the world. The 'Beale 9' were cited for trespassing. Court proceedings are pending.

More photos at: "9 Arrested for Blocking Gate of Beale AFB to Protest Drone Strikes" on the Occupy Sacramento website.

About 100 activists from as far away as Fresno, the SF Bay Area, Sacramento, Nevada City/Grass Valley and other California cities unfurled large banners and carried model drones and large photos of child victims of drone strikes to show the dark side of drone warfare.

Beale AFB has been a target of anti-drone protests for years. Beale AFB is home to the U2 and the Global Hawk, the unmanned surveillance drone that is an "accomplice" in drone killings.

There have been a series of direct actions leading to arrests this year protesting President Obama's use of drones, most recently at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse, NY last Thursday, where 17 were arrested.

Activists demanded: (1) An immediate ban on the use of all drones for extrajudicial killing (2) A halt all drone surveillance that assaults basic freedoms and inalienable rights and terrorizes domestic life in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia (3) A prohibition on the sale, and distribution of drones and drone technology to foreign countries in order to prevent the proliferation of this menacing threat to world peace, freedom and security and (4) The U.S. must immediately stop this lawless behavior of drone warfare that violates many international laws and treaties.

"US military and CIA Drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, in the Middle East, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In the name of combating terrorism against the U.S. we are terrorizing innocent people, and creating many more enemies and potential terrorists in the process," said a statement issued by Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Chico Peace and Justice Center, Nevada County Peace Center, Peace Fresno, WILPF and World Can't Wait.

"Our government has become lawless powers, acting as judge, jury and executioner, just because they can. They use remote-controlled drones to kill women in their kitchens, elders meeting in their jirgas, mourners at funerals, and rescuers who try to help the wounded. By most independent studies, the vast majority of those killed are civilians," said Toby Blome, of CodePink's Peace Delegation to Pakistan.

"When I learned about what we are doing with drones...killing innocent civilians, and see the faces of dead children and their mourners, I find the passion to do something. That's why I'm taking some action at Beale," said Shirley Osgood, Occupy Nevada County and Nevada County Peace Center and Nevada County Green.

Report: Disruptive Breach of Vandenberg Air Force Base Security Zones

October 22, 2012

Contact: tierralinda@live.com

Nonviolent Backcountry Resisters Cause Disruptive Breach of Vandenberg Air Force Base Security Zones

For the first time in nearly a decade, nonviolent civil resisters caused a disruptive breach of the backcountry security zones at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. VAFB enforces a sweeping global pattern of violent high-tech military abuse. Three participants were arrested for federal trespass and others eluded base security patrols. One participant [Theo Kayser] was hand-cuffed face down on the ground with an M-16 automatic rifle trained on his back during his 2 a.m. arrest, while search lights swept the surrounding hills. He was then held under armed guard for nine hours at a special security command post which VAFB had set up to deal with the backcountry occupation. Vandenberg security stated that they believed at least 15 individuals were spotted in base security zones between 0ctober 20th and 21st.

Action participants hope that others will follow their example in the months ahead. They entered the huge US Strategic Command facility at widely dispersed points and hiked miles into the base, crossing fences and rough terrain under cover of night, hanging banners on nuclear first-strike missile silos deep inside Vandenberg. They also conducted an unauthorized Christian prayer liturgy and exorcism of evil inside VAFB boundaries. Multiple sources, including contacts within VAFB, confirmed that the announced plans and the backcountry security zone occupation caused days of disruptive base alerts, interrupting Vandenberg’s business as usual to prepare for and deal with the security zone breaches.

Backcountry action participants and their supporters say that “Vandenberg, built on land stolen from the Chumash nation, launches and controls key satellites which run worldwide drone strikes that kill civilians, and are positioning US forces for a catastrophic peak-oil war with Iran. VAFB is making nuclear world war more likely by its first-strike Minuteman III flight tests, which seriously contaminate stolen indigenous territory at the Earth’s largest coral atoll, Kwajalein.”

Arrested action participants include Franciscan Priest Louie Vitale and Los Angeles Catholic Worker community members Theo Kayser and Rebecca Casas.


See Count of California Drone Bases Tops National List for drone testing, training, and operations activity at Vandenberg and seventeen (17) other California locations.

UPDATE: Say "No Drones!" at Beale - October 29-30

The growing list of sponsors for the Nonviolent Direct Action planned at our October monthly Beale AFB No Drones Encampment (October 29-30th, Monday 3:00 pm to Tuesday 9:00 am) now includes: Bay Area CodePink, Sacramento VFP, Peace Fresno, and some members of San Francisco VFP and SF IVAW are planning to join us too.

We hope you can support his action, too! There are two weeks left to help build this into a very successful action to stand united against the brutal U.S. drone assassination warfare. Don't be part of the silent majority! Let us know if your organization can be a sponsor.

Please let us know if you can commit ASAP!

Bay Area Contacts:

Toby Blomé (Bay Area CodePink): ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net, 510-215-5974

Elana Levy: rachimin@hotmail.com

Shirley Osgood (Grass Valley): slogood481@hotmail.com, 941-320-0291

PLANNING MEETINGS:

Learn the what, where, why and how and help us plan this important action. Bring friends!

Monday, October 22
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Bill Schwalb's home 3680 1/2 20th St., S.F. (between Guerrero and Valencia, near 16th & 24th St. BART)
(Potluck food welcome)

Tuesday, October 23
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm
Location: Toby Blome's home 1925 Hudson St. El Cerrito (Near El Cerrito Del Norte Bart)
Potluck lunch
To include banner and sign making, call for questions 510-215-5974

California Congressional Delegation: Drones 'R' Us!

Over fifty (50) members of the U.S. Congress have banded together to increase the use of drones ("unmanned aerial vehicles") - including twelve (12) members from California. They are all members of the Unmanned Systems Caucus, also known as the Congressional drones caucus. One of the co-chairs of the caucus is Buck McKeon, who represents California's 25th district. (Read about the members of the drones caucus from other states.)

Here are the California members of the Congressional drones caucus:

Randy Forbes

Randy Forbes represents California's 4th congressional district - in the NE corner of California.

Kevin McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy represents California's 22nd congressional district -- covering parts of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and Los Angeles counties, and anchored in Bakersfield.

Elton Gallegly

Elton Gallegly represents California's 24th congressional district -- covering most of Ventura and inland Santa Barbara counties.

Buck McKeon

Buck McKeon represents California's 25th congressional district -- covering part of Los Angeles County and extending out to broad stretches of interior California along the Nevada border.

David Dreier

David Dreier represents California's 26th congressional district -- spanning the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley from La Cañada Flintridge to Rancho Cucamonga.

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis represents California's 41st congressional district -- encompassing the eastern region of the Greater Los Angeles Area known as the Inland Empire.

Ken Calvert

Ken Calvert represents California's 44th congressional district -- in the Orange County area.

Dana Rohrabacher

Dana Rohrabacher represents California's 46th congressional district -- covering part of Los Angeles County and Orange County, including Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Rancho Palos Verdes.

Loretta Sanchez

Loretta Sanchez represents California's 47th congressional district -- made up of parts of Orange County.

Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa represents California's 49th congressional district -- which includes San Diego.

Brian Bilbray

Brian Bilbray represents California's 50th congressional district -- the northern coastal region of San Diego County.

Duncan Hunter

Duncan Hunter represents California's 52nd congressional district -- consisting of many of San Diego's suburbs.

Beale: Occupy Militarism, Ground the Drones, Shut the Base Down!

Protests and No Drones Encampments are held monthly at Beale Air Force Base, one hour north of Sacramento, near Marysville.

Last Monday and Tuesday of every month
3:00 pm Monday to 8:30 am Tuesday
Includes vigil and leafletting during pm and am base traffic rush.
Central meeting area: N. Beale Rd. entrance gate.
Encampment area: main gate parking area at end of N. Beale Rd.
Full information at Occupy Beale Air Force Base

Beale pilots control the Global Hawk, an important surveillance and reconnaissance drone that plays an important role in finding military drone targets and coordinating information before and during drone strikes. Pilots at Beale witness the carnage and devastation of drone strikes and are complicit in the assassination program.

Bay Area Contacts:

Toby Blomé (Bay Area CodePink): ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net, 510-215-5974

Elana Levy: rachimin@hotmail.com

Shirley Osgood (Grass Valley): slogood481@hotmail.com, 941-320-0291


SEPTEMBER: MONDAY-TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 & 25

Join the Facebook event and invite friends to the September protest and encampment -- Monday, September 24, through Tuesday, September 25.

Bring banners, signs, tents, warm and cool clothes. Spread the word please!


OCTOBER: DIRECT ACTION AT BEALE: "OCCUPY MILITARISM, GROUND THE DRONES, SHUT THE BASE DOWN!"

Please join us October 29-30th, Mon. 2:00pm to Tues. 9:00am, when we will have our 1st nonviolent direct action, to increase our resistance to the brutality of drone warfare.

As usual, there will be a vigil at the base Monday afternoon during rush hour, and Occupy Encampment activities Monday night.

Nonviolent Direct Action to take place early Tuesday morning during morning commute rush into the base. (Details to be disclosed on Monday night.)

We want to build this into a large collaborative effort by local peace groups. Nonviolence training to be offered in mid-October. We need hundreds of people to risk arrest or provide support. Come one or both days.

Suggestion: Come to the September vigil encampment (see above) to get familiar with Beale AFB.

For more info about Drone Warfare and our resistance at Beale AFB: CODEPINK activists protest deadly drone strikes at Beale AFB - Video coverage from KMAX, February 28, 2011, on Youtube.

See also: full list of California drone bases.

San Diego: Protests of Drone Maker General Atomics Go Global

Members of the San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP) and a growing body of fellow protesters gather every week at the headquarters of the company that supplies the workhorse of the U.S. program of drone killing and drone surveillance -- the Predator and Reaper drones. Their goal in demonstrating outside the General Atomics facility is to heighten public awareness of the problems presented by drone technology, and to instigate oversight of drone use.

Thursday, September 27, will be special because the group will be coordinating the protest with their counterparts in the United Kingdom. As protesters here in San Diego gather at Scripps-Poway Pkwy and General Atomic Rd., people in London will be protesting at the General Atomic offices near the UK Ministry of Defense. (Learn more about the UK movement against drones and the week of action to protest the growing use of armed drones from 6th – 13th October, organized by the Drones Campaign Network.)

DRONES PROTEST AT GENERAL ATOMICS

Date: Thursday, September 27, 2012
Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Scripps-Poway Pkwy and General Atomic Rd., San Diego
More information: dpatterson998 [at] yahoo.com

Bring banners and signs!

PRESS COVERAGE OF PAST PROTESTS AT GENERAL ATOMICS

KPBS San Diego, August 16, 2012 - Drones Are Controversial But Profitable For San Diego - Good snapshot of the drone economy in the San Diego area -- General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, and several smaller contractors. Quotes Dave Patterson from VFP: "“People need jobs, and that’s a good paying job,” he said. ”But we need oversight of these products. There’s no oversight. They are just kind of run amuk!"

North County Times editorial, September 16, 2012 - Drones and our privacy - "Ultimately, the courts will decide the constitutional limitations on the domestic use of drones. But the courts look to Congress for guidance; Congress is the direct representative of the American people, and needs to weigh in on these difficult issues. And soon."

Gail Chatfield in the North County Times, September 10, 2012 - Domestic drones a threat - "The sudden use of military surveillance equipment to spy on private citizens in the U.S. is frightening and controversial. ... When government and private industry are given more and more tools to track and control its citizens, is the system ripe for abuse?"

Gail Chatfield in the North County Times, September 16, 2012 - Liberty demands oversight on drone use - "I doubt that our founding fathers could have imagined that 250 years after the formation of out great nation, the president would have the power to kill people without authorization from Congress, or oversight of any kind. This should deeply worry all Americans. On our borders, Homeland security is flying 20 of the Predator drones, and if local law enforcement wants them to put someone's private property under surveillance, Homeland Security is happy to help out. Big pipe technology is advertised where high-resolution video or sensor data can be collected and shared with "select" law enforcement and government officials. We are asking, who are these "select" officials and what are they doing with video taken over our private land? "


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Video: Drone Demonstration, Vets for Peace

MAP: Scripps-Poway Pkwy and General Atomic Rd., San Diego






Related posts

The 2013 April Days of Action Against Drones activities in San Diego were an unprecedented demonstration of opposition to U.S. warmaking and drone killing, and helped spur actions nationwide.

(See April Days of Action Against Drones in SAN DIEGO )

Activists in San Diego held a weekend of demonstrations in solidarity with the nationwide Spring Days of Drone Action. One feature of the weekend was an evocative and powerful street theatre performance in San Diego's Balboa park, simulating a drone attack on American soil like those that have been and continue to be deadly reality in Pakistan and Yemen. Click here to stream video of the event.

(See Drone Strike Kills 7 in San Diego)

Today, people protesting drones are contacting their representatives to encourage support for H.R.4372: the Targeted Lethal Force Transparency Act. If passed, the bill will require the Obama administration to come clean about the killings it has carried out using drones -- killings that, up until now, the administration has been able to pretend don't exist. So now's the time: write or call your member of Congress today.
(See Write or Call Your Member of Congress Today: Make the U.S. Come Clean on Drone Killings )

Count of California Drone Bases Tops National List

California has more bases approved for drone use than anywhere else in the country -- by a long shot.

According to the Department of Defense Report to Congress on Future Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training, Operations, and Sustainability (April 2012), California has eighteen (18) locations that have been designated as potential basing locations for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) [i.e. drones] (p. 8 ff.).

The table below gives information on the types of drones that are proposed for basing at each location.

BASE	Predator/Reaper type	Shadow/Raven type	Other
SCLA Victorville	MQ1B	RQ-11B
El Mirage	MQ1B, MQ1C
San Clemente Island	MQ1B, MQ9A	RQ-11B
Gray Butte	MQ1B, MQ9A
NAWS China Lake	MQ8
Pt Mugu	MQ8
Camp Morena		RQ-11B	WASP, PUMA
MCB Camp Pendleton		RQ-11B
SSTC, Imperial Beach		RQ-11B	WASP, PUMA
Simi Valley		RQ-11B	WASP, PUMA
Vandenberg AFB		RQ-11B
Camp Roberts		RQ-11B, RQ-7B	Scan Eagle
Fort Irwin		RQ-11B, RQ-7B
MCAGCC 29 Palms		RQ-11B, RQ-7B, RQ-21A	Scan Eagle
Beale AFB		RQ4, RQ4 BAMS
Filmore			WASP, PUMA
NAS Lemoore			UCLASS
March	TBA	TBA	TBA

Not surprisingly, California also tops the nation in the number of members (twelve) of the Congressional drones caucus.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that the drone industry is centered in California -- starting with San Diego-based General Atomics, the maker of the Predator and Reaper drone?

SPENDING AT BEALE AND MARCH

Beale has been heavily funded over the last decade for upgrades related to drones:

2003 - Global Hawk Squadron - operations/maintenance facility - $3.7 million
2003 - Global Hawk - upgrade maintenance dock - $4.6 million
2003 - Global Hawk dining facility - $3.5 million
2004 - Global Hawk - upgrade docks - $9.0 million
2004 - Global Hawk - 144 room dormitory - $14.6 million
2005 - Global Hawk - upgrade dock 2 - $8.3 million
2005 - Global Hawk - addition to age facility - $1.9 million
2005 - Global Hawk - two-bay maintenance hangar - $14 million

In addition, $17.4 million is allocated for 2013 for a BAMS maintenance and training facility at Beale. Even bigger expansion at Beale is scheduled for 2015 and 2016 -- $51 million and $35 million respectively.

Similarly, March was funded $6 million in 2007 for a Predator operations and training complex. and $8 million in 2010 for a TFI-Predator LRE beddown.

AIRSPACE ISSUES

Beale AFB (RQ-4): Beale AFB currently operates the CONUS-based AF fleet of RQ-4s. Operation from Beale is conducted under a COA issued by the FAA allowing the aircraft to climb into Class A airspace above Flight Level (FL) 180 and transit to operational locations.

March ARBI/SoCal Logistics Airport (MQ-l & MQ-9): An FAA COA requires chase aircraft to escort RPAs from Southern California Logistics Airport (formerly George AFB) to the R-2S08 Complex associated with Edwards AFB, NAS China Lake, and Fort Irwin.

The report further discloses that three locations operate under the status "Locations Requiring COAs [Certificate of Waiver or Authorization]":

• El Mirage/Grey Butte (MQ-1C)
• Simi Valley (RQ-llB Raven - Class G Notification)
• Camp Roberts (RQ-7B SHADOW)

This refers to: "locations where the Army currently conducts operations outside of Restricted Areas that require a COA from the FAA. In the majority of these locations, the purpose of the COA is to transition from the launch site to adjacent Restricted Areas. Additionally, the Raven can be operated using DoD-FAA agreed-to Class G airspace notification procedures for flights flown over Government-owned or -leased land." (DOD report, p. 20)