More Arrests at Creech Air Force Base Trying to Stop Drone Warfare

From: The Nuclear Resister

12376836_10153506608416179_4409115700189903633_nfrom Nevada Desert Experience

Indian Springs, NV – On Friday, April 1, morning traffic at Creech Air Force Base was diverted by dozens of peace and justice activists attempting to shut down the armed drone attack program through nonviolent civil resistance. At 7:45 a.m., eleven peaceful resisters were arrested at the two main gates of Creech. At 10:00 a.m. another six were arrested at the main East Gate while blocking the entrance with “crime scene” tape, referring to the criminal activity of weaponized drone terrorism conducted at Creech, killing thousands of non-combatants and civilians over the past decade.

These arrests, conducted by Las Vegas Metropolitan police, were the last waves of repression this week from Clark County, which has failed to investigate or stop the alleged extra-judicial assassinations conducted at Creech. Fourteen of the justice and peace activists arrested on April 1 received citations for jaywalking, and three received citations for trespassing on federal property.

12417534_10153506610501179_6943721832032680821_nThe 17 activists arrested on April 1 were: Toby Blome, MaryKate Glenn, Shirley Osgood, Chris Nelson, Mahaia Oliveira, Tyler Schaefer, Dennis Duvall, Susan Witka, Fred Bialy, Ron Foust, Arla Ertz, Brian Terrell, Leslie Angeline, Cynthia Papermaster, John Ford, Rene Espleland and Flora Rogers. Some of the activists are being held in jail over the weekend.

Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) is an active non-profit organization in support of this week’s anti-killer-drone protests at Camp Justice. Camp Justice is organized by Veterans For Peace, Code Pink, NDE, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. For more information, see NevadaDesertExperience.org or call 702-646-4814.12931162_1005335222889125_7829984626356722711_n

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Shut down Creech 2016: Military Veterans arrested at Creech Air Force Base Trying to Stop Drone Warfare

Indian Springs, NV – During peak rush hour traffic on Thursday, March 31 at Creech Air Force Base, military veterans and friends were arrested while waving Veterans for Peace (VFP) flags and nonviolently blocking traffic at the East Gate on Hwy. 95, the primary commuter gate into the base. As the traffic was impeded, Las Vegas police diverted cars up the highway to less used, alternative gates.

At the same time, 20 people held vigil between the frontage road and US Highway 95 as four other peace and justice activists greeted the diverted traffic with a second peaceful anti-drone blockade expressed as a sitting silent meditation in front of the second gate.

The arrests at 7:50 a.m. were part of a week-long orchestrated effort by over 100 activists from over 20 states in the country, mobilized to oppose the U.S. drone program that uses remotely controlled planes controlled at Creech to indiscriminately drop missiles on some of the most vulnerable populations in the world. Thursday’s traffic was delayed for fifteen minutes, as Creech employees and contractors were diverted to the 2nd gate, and then to the 3rd gate once demonstrators blocked the 2nd gate. The prayer-activists at the 2nd gate were not arrested.

This was the first of several civil resistance actions planned during the week-long National Mass Mobilization against Drone Warfare known as SHUT DOWN CREECH. All of the demonstrators who were arrested were taken to the Las Vegas Metropolitan County Jail.

Meanwhile the remaining activists at “Camp Justice” across from the base continue the regular schedule of nonviolence training and strategy sessions for creative and nonviolent ways to stop the illegal assassination program at Creech Air Force Base for as long as possible.

The 8 activists arrested were:

Barry Binks, VFP, California
Leslie Harris, VFP, Texas
Tarak Kauff, VFP, New York
Chris Knudsen, VFP, California
Barry Ladendorf, VFP, California
Ken Mayers, VFP, New Mexico
Joan Pleune, NY Granny Peace Brigade, New York
Col. Ann Wright, VFP and retired 29 year army veteran, and former U.S. diplomat, Hawaii

Press release Shut Down Creech 31-3-16

Military Veterans arrested at Creech Air Force Base Trying to Stop Drone Warfare, 31st of March 2016

Shut Down Creech Civil Resistance, March 6, 2015

The March 6 Resistance at Creech AFB saw 34 activists arrested for protesting the drone assassination program conducted by the CIA and USAF. Murder is wrong. It us unacceptable. #ShutDownCreech

Ann Wright at Shut Down Creech

Kathy Kelly SHUT DOWN CREECH


On January 23, 32015, Kathy Kelly is scheduled to go to prison for a drone protest at Whiteman AFB. Before this event she took a moment to encourage us to SHUT DOWN CREECH. Thank you Kathy Kelly and God Bless You! Complete information about SHUT DOWN CREECH at http://www.shutdowncreech.blogspot.com

Kathy can receive letters through the mail. If you would
like to write, please address your envelope to:

Kathy Kelly 04971-045
FMC Lexington
FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTER
SATELLITE CAMP
P.O. BOX 14525
LEXINGTON, KY 40512

SHUT DOWN CREECH! March 4-6 2015

Mass Mobilization to Stop Drone Wars!

A Convergence For Peace in the Nevada Desert
 
Join us March 4-6, 2015 at Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada, for a national mobilization of nonviolent resistance to shut down killer drone operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan,Yemen, Somalia, and everywhere. 
 
Sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Nevada Desert Experience , Veterans For Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. 
 
CODEPINK will also hold vigils daily on March 2nd and 3rd, prior to the official beginning of this Creech Convergence For Peace, and welcomes everyone to join them.

In 2005, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the country to carry out illegal, remotely controlled assassinations using the MQ-1 Predator drones, and in 2006, the more advanced Reaper drones were added to its arsenal. 

 
Creech drone personnel sit behind computers in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill “suspects” thousands of miles away. Recent independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. 
 
Though officials deny it, the majority of those killed by drones are civilians. In 2014, it was leaked that the CIA’s criminal drone assassination program, officially a separate operation from the Air Force’s, has been piloted all along by Creech’s super-secret Squadron 17.

Since 2009 dozens of activists have been arrested for allegedly trespassing at Creech, in attempts to stop the indiscriminate killing and burning of innocent people by drones. 

 
At the trial of the “Creech 14,” the first Americans prosecuted for trespass at a drone base, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that “to have a baby burn to death because of a ‘no trespass’ sign would be poor public policy, to put it mildly.” 
 
In a time of burning children, the “no trespass” signs attached to the fences that protect the crimes perpetrated with drones are not legitimate, and they do not command our obedience. After all, it is the U.S. military that is guilty of lethal trespassing.

The US drone program is rapidly proliferating as air bases are being converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains the primary air base in U.S. state-sponsored global terrorism. Creech is where the killer drone program started–it is where we shall end it.


We must put an end to this desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it.

We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Ferguson to Palestine to Pakistan.

We must close all foreign U.S. military bases. Money for human needs.

We must put an end to drone warfare, drone surveillance, and global militarization.

We must…

SHUT CREECH DOWN!

Sign up on facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1525740921010540 and invite friends!

Or contact:

Toby Blomé of Code Pink: ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net 510-215-5974 (h)

Brian Terrell of VCNV and NDE: brian@vcnv.org  773-853-1886


9 courageous anti-drone activists arrested at Creech AFB

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014, at about 8:10 AM, 9 courageous anti-war activists were arrested at Creech AFB when attempting to serve a War Crimes Indictment (indictment below) to  Creech AFB Commander Col. Jim Cluff.  The 9 are members of the 2014 NDE Sacred Peace Walk which will end at the Nevada National Security Site on Friday, April 18, 2014.


The illegality of  the CIA “secretive cluster of units within the wing called the 732nd Operations Group” can no longer be denied or covered up.  Hundreds of children have been murdered along with thousands of innocent men and women. The CIA is using Creech Air Force Pilots to carry out drone strikes in Pakistan. The War Indictment could not be delivered  at a more timely moment. 


The 9 courageous activists arrested today are:

Vera Anderson, Las Vegas, NV
Barry Binks Sacramento, CA

Darcy Ike, San Diego, CA

Seamus Knight, Los Angeles, CA
Robert Majors, las Vegas, NV

Margaret McChesney, Phoenix, AZ
Marcus Page, Sheep Ranch, CA
Dan Shay, Santa Rosa, CA
Brian Terrell, Maloy, Iowa

Attached photo: Closing the gate on war crimes at Creech AFB. The 9 anti-drone activists arrested from Left To Right are:
Vera, Anderson, Marcus Page, Robert Majors, Margaret McChesney, Brian Terrell, Seamus Knight, Barry Binks, Dan Shay and Darcy Ike in front. 

Closing the gate on war crimes at Creech AFB. The 9 anti-drone activists arrested from Left To Right are:
Vera, Anderson, Marcus Page, Robert Majors, Margaret McChesney, Brian Terrell, Seamus Knight, Barry Binks, Dan Shay and Darcy Ike in front.

NDE volunteer John Amidon said, “The unconscionable killing of so many innocent people by drone strikes will forever be a stain on the USAF.”


WAR CRIMES INDICTMENT
Colonel Jim Cluff 
Creech Air Force Base
Indian Springs, Nevada
April 16, 2014

To President Obama, to Secretary of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, to the full Military Chain of the Command, including Commander Colonel Jim Cluff, to all Service Members and civilian staff of Creech Air Base, and to the local police and Sheriffs Department of the Clark County, Nevada:
Each one of you, when you became a public servant, serving in a government position or when you joined the United States Armed Forces or police, you publicly promised to uphold the United States Constitution. 

We take this opportunity to call your attention to Article VI of the US Constitution, which states:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary not with standing.”

This clause is known as the Supremacy Clause because it provides that the Constitution and laws of the U.S., including treaties made under authority of the U.S. shall be supreme law of the land.
The Supremacy Clause provides part of the Supreme Law of the Land.
One Treaty duly ratified by the U.S. is the United Nations Charter. It was ratified by a vote of 89 to 2 in the U.S. Senate, and signed by the President in 1945. It remains in effect today. As such, it is part of supreme law of the land.
The Preamble of the U.N. Charter states that its purpose is to “save future generation from the scourge of war” and it further states, “all nations shall refrain from the use of force against another nation.”
This Treaty applies both collectively and individually to all three branches of government, on all levels, U.S. federal, state and local governments, starting with the executive branch: the U.S. President and the executive staff; the judicial branch: all judges and staff members of the judiciary; the legislative branch: all members of the U.S. Armed Forces and all departments of Law Enforcement and all civilian staff, who have sworn to uphold the Constitution, which includes Article VI.
Under the U.N. Charter and long established international laws, anyone–civilian, military, government officials, or judge- who knowingly participates in or supports illegal use of force against another nation or its people is committing a war crime.
Today you must recognize that when you promised to uphold the Constitution, you promised to obey Treaties and International Law – as part of the Supreme Law of the Land and furthermore, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice of the U.S., you are required to disobey any clearly unlawful order from a superior.
Based on all the above,

WE, THE PEOPLE, CHARGE THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT, BARAK OBAMA AND THE FULL MILITARY CHAIN OF COMMAND TO COMMANDER COLONEL JIM CLUFF, EVERY DRONE CREW, AND SERVICE MEMBERS at CREECH AIR BASE, WITH CRIMES AGAINST PEACE & CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WITH VIOLATIONS OF PART OF THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND, EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS, VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS, WARS OF AGGRESSION, VIOLATION OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, AND KILLING OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS.
We charge that the United States Air Force, headquartered at Creech Air Force Base, home of the of the 432nd Wing and 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing, Commander Colonel Jim Cluff, is maintaining and deploying the MQ-9 Reaper robotic aircraft, called drones. These drones are being used not only in combat situations for the purpose of assassinations but also for killings far removed from combat zones without military defense, to assassinate individuals and groups far removed from military action.
Extra judicial killings, such as those the U.S. carries out by drones are intentional, premeditated, and deliberate use of lethal force to commit murder in violation of U.S. and International Law.
It is a matter of public record that the US Military has used drones in Afghanistan and in Iraq for targeted killings to target specific individuals which has nearly always resulted in the deaths of many other non-targeted innocents. Recent evidence has come forth indicating the personnel at Creech AFB also have used drones similarly in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia for the C.I.A. 
There is no legal basis for defining the scope of area where drones can or cannot be used, no legal criteria for deciding which people can be targeted for killing, no procedural safeguards to ensure the legality of the decision to kill and the accuracy of the assassinations.
In support of this indictment we cite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, who has said that the use of drones creates 

“a highly problematic blurring and the law applicable to the use of inter-state force…. The result has been the displacement of clear legal standards with a vaguely defined license to kill, and the creation of a major accountability vacuum…. In terms of the legal framework, many of these practices violate straightforward applicable legal rules.” 

See United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Study on Targeted Killings, 28, May 2010.

The drone attacks either originating at Creech or supported here are a deliberate illegal use of force against another nation, and as such are a felonious violation of Article VI of the US Constitution.
By giving material support to the drone program, you as individuals are violating the Constitution, dishonoring your oath, and committing warcrimes.                      
                                                                   
We demand that you stop participating in any part of the operations of MQ-9 drones immediately, being accountable to the people of United States and Afghanistan.
As citizens of this nation, which maintains over 700 military bases around the globe, and the largest, most deadly military arsenal in the world, we believe these words of Martin Luther King still hold true, ”the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government”.
There is hope for a better world when WE, THE PEOPLE, hold our government accountable to the laws and treaties that govern the use of lethal force and war. To the extent that we ignore our laws and constitution and allow for the unchecked use of lethal force by our government, allowing the government to kill who ever it wants, where ever it wants, how ever it wants with no accountability, we make the world less safe for children everywhere.
We appeal to all United States citizens, military and civilian, and to all public officials, to do as required by the Nuremburg Principles I-VII, and by Conscience, to refuse to participate in these crimes, to denounce them, and to resist them nonviolently.
Signed by:
Marcus Page
John Amidon
Nevada Desert Experience

Nevada Desert Experience to serve Creech AFB with a War Crimes Indictment

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014, between 6:30 and 8:00 AM, the Sacred Peace Walk conducted by Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) will serve a War Crimes Indictment to Creech AFB Commander Colonel Jim Cluff. The Indictment can be viewed online. Arrests seem likely when Sacred Peace Walk Representatives attempt to deliver this indictment in person. There will also be a vigil in front of the base.

Brandon Bryant, a former US Predator operator, in the newly released motion picture, DRONE, said, “There is a lie hidden within that truth. And the lie is that it’s always been the air force that has flown those missions. The CIA might be the customer but the air force has always flown it. A CIA label is just an excuse to not have to give up any information. That is all it has ever been.” (See reference below.)

In light of yesterday’s breaking revelations about the “secretive cluster of units with the wing call the 732nd Operations Group”, where the CIA is using Creech Air Force Pilots to carry out drone strikes in Pakistan, NDE’s War Indictment could not be delivered at a more timely moment. Clearly the illegality of the largest targeted drone killing program can no longer be denied or covered up.

“We also are here to call upon the airmen and airwomen to consider the spiritual impact of the horrifying physical violence conducted by Creech AFB,” said NDE Council member Marcus Page-Collonge.

7 arrest at Creech Air Force Base

This morning, 7 Code Pink courageous women,  morally sickened by the callous disregard and the murder of over 200 children by drone attacks went to Creech Air Force Base (Indian Springs, Nevada) to insist that these illegal and deadly attacks stop.  

Wearing miniature Pink Drones with the names of victims the women attempted to walk onto the base to bring their message in person to the Base Commander.  Their conscience demanded no less.  When drone victims can be called “bug splat” and are so trivialized, we know the  Air Force and other US drone programs are completely out of control.  The killings must be stopped.


On Sunday, April 13, 2014  the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) will commence their 19th annual peace walk beginning at the National Atomic Testing Museum at 9 AM and will proudly welcome the women of Code Pink as walkers and heroes.  

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 the  Peace Walk will vigil at Creech at 7 AM with more Civil Resistance and arrests probable.  We will end at the Nevada National Security Site on Good Friday to protest nuclear weapons.