American Zionist youth killed. Drone pilots break silence..

Zionist settler. No knife for him

'Ever step on ants and never give it another thought?' US Drone Pilot
 

by Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

Project for a Working People's World
Green Party USA

ABC News reports today: “An 18-year-old American was killed in an attack in the West Bank, according to Israeli police. A U.S. consulate official told ABC News that they "are aware of reports that U.S. citizens were injured in an attack in the West Bank today, but we have no information to confirm these reports at this time." 

The death of such a young person is saddening. The thought of my son dying in this way is a thought that horrifies every parent. But I would have to ask what this young American is doing there?

The West Bank is occupied territory populated by a couple of million Palestinians and some 500,000 Israeli Jews, many of them foreigners settled there illegally.

International law considers the Israeli occupation illegal. The International Court of Justice has ruled that all events and laws since the occupation, including the Jerusalem Law, did not alter the fact that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is occupied territory.  The Zionist regime can get away with such violations, can build illegal settlements and plant foreign nationals there after ethnic cleansing the area of Palestinians, because it has the backing of the US and western powers.  It uses US made Caterpillar machinery to destroy Palestinian farms and homes. It is an Apartheid regime. I wonder if it causes any animosity toward the US.

The reader who wants to get a glimpse of what it’s like to live under this brutal occupation can find access to many examples simply through Googling, checking Youtube or going to Breaking the Silence an Israeli organization where young Israeli’s who are stationed in the West Bank tell their stories.

When one of the colonizing settlers is attacked, and they are heavily armed unlike Palestinians which is why we see them retaliating with knives, we hear the same old refrain from the apologists: “Nothing can justify terrorism. Too many innocent people have died in this current wave of violence," a spokesperson for the European Union said in a statement. "Today's attacks only highlight further the need for all sides to do their utmost to prevent further violence." he added.

There’s that “all sides” crap again as if the two sides are equal. As if there is no aggressor and no victim. As if there is not one side with ships, planes, an army, nuclear weapons and bulldozers and most of all, US backing. And the other side? Not. And remember, the only claim the Zionists give defending their right to this land and the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population, is that god gave it to them. We’re all lucky here in the US that the Native Americans aren’t armed to the teeth with weapons and that argument.

“Police said they remain concerned about the unrest and are urging all sides to restore calm and prevent further actions that might escalate tensions.”, ABC News states. Makes me puke to be honest, it's insulting. Imagine how the Palestinians must feel.

I am sorry for that young Jewish student, no young person should leave this earth for such a worthless cause.  He is a victim of Zionist ideology, a racist extremist ideology. He never went there to help the victims, he went there as a supporter of the aggressors.  He went to an occupied land as a pupil of a religious school that endorses this ideology and justifies the brutal and horrific, and it would not be out of order to say genocidal, assault on the people who live there. His teachers, and his parents did not do right by him. Christian Zionists who defend it are also criminals.

It is the support the US government (our tax money) gives to the Zionist  regime that is at the root of anti-American feeling in the region and the rise of Islamic fanaticism and terrorist groups. The so-called refugee crisis in Europe is a product of twenty years of US bombing and savagery in the Middle East and before that, support for ruthless dictators and regimes.

The Paris bombing, the London Subway bombing, what the media refers to as Islamic terrorism, arises out of US and western foreign policy.  This policy is a recruiting tool for the terrorist organizations and the violent response to the Paris bombings will continue the trend. The blame for Paris falls squarely on the shoulders of the Obama Administration and preceding US administrations as does 911.

Don’t believe me? I’m not native born? I’m anti-American?

Well how about those four drone pilots that have sent an open letter to the Obama Administration?  Might you believe them? Here’s what they are saying.

"We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like (the Islamic State group), while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool,"

"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,"

One of the drone pilots tells of one incident when he and his team killed five tribal men and a camel traveling from Pakistan to Afghanistan even though he had no idea what they were doing or who they were. "We waited for those men to settle down in their beds and then we killed them in their sleep," he told the Guardian newspaper,  "That was cowardly murder."

The pilot, Brandon Bryant, said that when he left the service he was given an envelope with a report card of the killings he’d been involved in, the number was 1626. And western media has gone berzerk over 130 or so dead Parisians.

All these deaths are wrong not just westerners. The four drone pilots who penned this letter say that the killing of innocent civilians has caused them to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home.", they write.

No doubt these young men will be demonized and slandered by the corporate media. But we welcome their honesty and their courage. Hilary Clinton, a hawk if there ever was one will continue the brutal slaughter of Muslims in the Middle East and draw more recruits to terrorist organizations.  Trump is calling for ID cards for Muslims. Does this mean Muhammad Ali will have to carry one?  Imagine how scary this is for Muslims in the US. They have gone mad.

We cannot remain silent as Americans. But even more we must act, we must put a stop to the war criminals and their killing machine that kills in our name.

We owe it not simply to the victims of US war criminals at the Pentagon and their policies. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.