Judy Bello's blog

Dear Editor:

Bradley Manning’s  courage, honesty and idealism are a shining light.    Sadly, the prosecution has decided to go ahead with their case for the most serious charges.  Of course they want to make sure that this breach of ‘security’ will not happen again.  The question is whose security are they protecting?

Mark Johnson, Director of FOR USA, the United States Fellowship of Reconciliation, recently mentioned to me that they are thinking of initiating a Campaign around the moral and ethical issues related to destroying the environment. At the time, I said nothing. The thought took me to the source of the painfully fragmented, deeply interconnected peace and justice movement.

While I was in Pakistan in early October, I spent a day in Karachi with the family and supporters of a Pakistani political prisoner in the United States named Aafia Siddiqui. In Karachi it was clear that there is a lot of public support for Aafia. Her name is painted on walls and messages of support are on banners that adorn bridges and overpasses.

The following is a slideshow of pictures of some of the victims of Drone attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Area is Pakistan. The men came to meet with those of us who traveled to Pakistan with the CodePink Peace Delegation to see for ourselves the affects of Reaper drone attacks in Pakistan, a country with which we are not at war.

On October 6 and 7, I traveled with the CodePink Peace Delegation from Islamabad to the border of South Waziristan in the town of Tank in the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan. We wanted to see the part of Pakistan where the US is flying drones and dropping bombs.

I presented this talk in a panel discussion during the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s National Council (governing board) meeting on October 28, 2012.

On March 17, 2011, a CIA drone fired two Hellfire missiles into a gathering of tribal elders in the town of DattaKhel, and another at a car approaching on a nearby road. The attack targeted a gathering of tribal elders who were meeting to resolve a land dispute over a nearby chromium mine.

Noor Behram is holding up photographs of two children who died in a drone attack in May of

A local journalist has taken the lead in drawing attention to the victims of drone strikes in Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Persistent drone attacks in this region have terrorized the community and disorganized the society that is the basis of support for the people.