Iran to teach drone-hunting to school students

From:  The Guardian

COMMENT - Now, are they going to provide tutorials online and will they include contractor hunting on the curriculum?  

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards paramilitary units plan to teach drone-hunting to school students, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday.
The report by pro-reform Etemad daily quoted Gen. Ali Fazli, acting commander of the Guard's Basij militia, as saying the new program will be taught as part of a "Defensive Readiness" lesson in high schools from late September.
He did not elaborate but the plan suggests students would be taught how to track and bring down drone aircraft by hacking their computer systems.
Iranian hardliners have long sought a larger role for the military in the country's education system. Students at both junior and senior high schools currently take courses focusing on "civil defense."
Iran captured a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone in 2011 after it entered Iranian airspace. Since then, Tehran says it has seized more U.S. drones, including a Boeing-designed ScanEagle.

5 Myths Used to Justify Death By Drone and America's Assassination Policy

From:  AlterNet 

By Robert Greenwald

Obama's drone war relies on propaganda to keep the American public from understanding the inhumanity of high-tech drone killings.

America’s never-ending war on terrorism is almost always depicted in the mainstream media as a military and intelligence agency fight on a global battlefield. But it is also a propaganda war where the public is fed inaccuracies from Washington, especially when it comes to overseas killings by U.S. military drones.

Here are five myths perpetuated by the military and its weapons makers that seek to make Americans feel good about drones and the White House’s policy of targeted assassinations.

 Myth #1: They Target High Level Terrorists

Only two percent of drone strikes have killed “high value targets,” former counter-terror advisor to David Patreus, David Kilcullen, notoriously remarked in a New York Times column early in the Obama presidency, where he said that 50 civilians were killed for every “high-value target” assassinated. That means that 98 percent of drone-caused deaths have been a mix of low-level militants, civilians, or another dubious Pentagon classification called “unknown militants.”   MORE

Anti-war leaders condemn U.S. drone strikes on Yemen

From:  Before Its News 

COMMENT - It is good to see at least one drone corporation being identified as a purveyor of death.

Minneapolis, MN – Meredith Aby of the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee condemned the escalating wave of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, stating, “There have been eight drone attacks in the past two weeks in Yemen which have killed more than 30 people. The U.S. is waging an undeclared war in Yemen and increasing the anger at the U.S. for its use of drones on civilians. It is particularly insulting to our sisters and brothers in the Muslim world that this escalation of drone strikes has corresponded with the end of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. The president claims these drone strikes make us safer, when in fact they do the opposite. The people of Yemen see these attacks for what they are – acts of imperialism.”

Joe Iosbaker, of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, said of the drone strikes, “In May, President Obama told us that the U.S. use of drone warfare would be declining, but clearly that’s not happening. There is no real change in the Obama doctrine of drone war. According to the U.S., we can strike into any country at any time. This is the unlawful behavior of an imperialist country.”

Iosbaker and Aby are helping to organize the Midwest Action Against Drones (MAAD) scheduled for Sept. 29 – 30, under the slogans 'End Drone Warfare Abroad and Spying at Home', 'No Killer Drone for Boeing', 'No New Wars on Iran and Syria', and 'Money for Jobs, Healthcare, and Education – Not for War'.

On Sept. 28, at 3:00 p.m. protesters will gather in Chicago’s Millennium Park for a rally and march to Boeing Headquarters. On Sept. 29, from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., there will be a conference featuring workshops and activists and organizers from across the Midwest region.

Source: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2013/8/10/anti-war-leaders-condemn-us-drone-strikes-yemen