Former U.S. drone operator quits after following orders to shoot and kill a child in Afghanistan

'Did we just kill a kid?': The moment drone operator who assassinated Afghans with the push of a button on a computer in the U.S. followed orders to shoot a child... and decided he had to quit.

A former U.S. drone operator has opened up about the toll of killing scores of innocent people by pressing a button from a control room in New Mexico. Brandon Bryant, 27, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container.

But, after following orders to shoot and kill a child in Afghanistan, he knew he couldn't keep doing what he was doing and quit the military.

'I saw men, women and children die during that time,' he told Spiegel Online. 'I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn't kill anyone at all.'

Now Bryant has left the military and is living back at home in Montana where he feels he is slowly recuperating. Read more >>

Drones Over the Americas

Like the School of the Americas, the weaponized drone perpetrates terrorism. As Predator drones come to Ft. Benning, some SOA Watch activists are applying our SOAW experience to “outing” the Predator and Reaper drones already in our midst.

Syracuse’s Hancock Air National Guard Base has become one of the national hubs for piloting — via computer screen and satellite — the Reaper over Afghanistan. For three years upstate New York activists have been trying to educate our public and Hancock personnel about the war crimes being committed by these robotic killers [www.upstatedroneaction.org].

The Reaper, a higher-tech offspring of the Predator, is the Pentagon’s and the CIA’s instrument for aerial surveillance and assassination in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations “over there.” Now with those US/NATO wars somewhat winding down, the Reaper – and a slew of its robotic cousins — are coming home to roost in the Western Hemisphere. Also driving this trend are the US and Israeli drone manufacturers eager to expand their markets. Read more >>

Where Is The Line For Revolution?

As difficult as it is to rationally gauge the exact moment or circumstance that triggers revolt, the intensity or build up to conflict can certainly be felt.  That pressure is tactile in America today, and is becoming difficult to ignore.  The reasons are obvious.  In the past 10 years alone elements of our government have cemented into place the “legal” framework to:

1. Detain U.S. citizens indefinitely without trial under the guise of enemy combatant status.
2. Assassinate U.S. citizens without trial and without due process under the law, including the very clear requirements of the treason clause.
3. Confiscate resources, including your private property, in the name of national security and preparedness.
4. Take control of or eliminate all communications networks including phone, radio, television, cell, internet, etc. in the name of national security.
5. Unleash a swarm of unmanned Predator Drones over our homes and towns to make mass surveillance of the public easier.  All without probable cause or the protections of the 4th Amendment.
6. Capture, collate, and monitor the communications of millions of citizens without probable cause or a warrant under the FISA domestic spy bill.
7. Declare martial law without congressional oversight and embed active serving military amongst the populace in a law enforcement capacity.  This includes the institution of Northcom, which is a standing military presence in the U.S. whose primary mission is to quell domestic dissent. Read more >>

U.S. Predator Drones Sanitize Killing on the Cheap

I'm continually amazed by those -- especially democrats who recuse republicans for being war happy -- seemingly oblivious to Obama's intense escalation of war on numerous fronts after campaigning on a bogus antiwar platform. 

Besides signing the bone chilling NDAA into law, since he took office, Nobel Peace Prize winning Obama has intensified killer U.S. drone activity in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and Libya (killing thousands of innocent civilians), and has sent US troops to Uganda and other parts of Africa. 

Obama has increased U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, massing forces on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, continues to maintain 50,000 US troop in Iraq, and has sent US assassination death squads to dozens of areas around the globe.


Steve Lendman reports on Obama's doubling down on its use of air power and drones, which are swiftly becoming the primary focus of Washington’s counterterrorism operations.

Steve Lendman

Predator drones sanitize killing on the cheap compared to manned aircraft and ground troops. Teams of remote warriors work far from, and at times, closer to battlefields.

Drone pilots operate computer keyboards and multiple monitors. Sensor staff work with them. They handle TV and infrared cameras, as well as other high-tech drone sensors. Faceless enemies nearby or half a world away are attacked. Virtual war kills like sport.

At day's end, home-based operators head there for dinner, relaxation, family time, then a good night sleep before another day guiding weapons with joysticks and monitors like computer games.

Dozens of drone command centers operate worldwide. Dozens more are planned. Pentagon and CIA personnel run them. Some are bare bones. Climate-controlled trailers work fine. They operate effectively anywhere. They maintain constant radio contact with command centers. More...