CREDO and Daily Kos/ Petition & Martin Matishak / The Hill – 2015-03-07 19:20:34
https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/1123
ACTION ALERT: Secretary John Kerry:
Don’t Export Armed Drones
CREDO & Daily Kos
Petitioning Secretary of State John Kerry
Join CREDO and Daily Kos in telling the State Department: Drop your plans to export armed drones.
The US State Department just announced plans [See story below – EAW] to allow the sale of armed drones to allies of the United States. The use of armed drones raises profound moral and constitutional questions. US drone strikes have killed thousands of civilians including hundreds of children.
The State Department specified that it would only be allowing armed drone exports to allies. But the US counts among its allies regimes with some of the worst records on human rights in the world–and they could conceivably purchase remote control killing machines from the US
Doubling down on remote control killing by allowing the export of armed drones is unacceptable.
Petition Text
Our Message to Secretary of State John Kerry
We urge you to immediately drop your plans to export armed drones to allies of the United States.
To sign, Click Here.
US to Allow Sales of Armed Drones
Martin Matishak / The Hill
(February 17, 2015) — The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that for the first time it would permit the export of armed drones to allies.
“The United States is committed to stringent standards for the sale, transfer, and subsequent use of US-origin military” unmanned aerial systems, the State Department said in a statement.
The agency said it would assess exports on a “case-by-case basis,” including “armed systems.”
The announcement comes two weeks after Jordan’s King Abdullah visited the US and supposedly asked President Obama to sell unmanned surveillance drones to his country in order to better fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The move could help US allies in the Middle East battle the terror network that has rolled up large swaths of territory.
Aircraft sales would be subject to decades-old rules establishing a “strong presumption of denial,” meaning that foreign governments would have to make a powerful case for purchasing the drones.
The State Department said the US “will exercise restraint” in deciding to sell the aircraft overseas.
Buyers would be required to sign end-use statements certifying that the aircraft would not be used to “conduct unlawful surveillance or use unlawful force against their domestic populations.”
The drones could only be used in internationally sanctioned military operations, such as self-defense.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
