US military veterans release first ever anti-drone TV ads

Graphic ads directly ask air force pilots to stop flying unmanned aircraft, call operations illegal and immoral

A group of military veterans recently released TV ads against US drone strikes in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, California daily Sacramento Bee reported last week.

The graphic ads directly ask air force pilots to stop flying unmanned aircraft, calling the operations illegal and immoral.

According to the paper, the ads – sponsored by Veterans Democratic Club of Sacramento County and the Sacramento chapter of Veterans for Peace – are the first ever TV commercials that criticise US drone operations.

Knowdrones.com, the activist website that is spearheading the campaign, appeals for donations to continue the campaign: “We need your help to continue an extraordinary campaign that uses a 15-second television commercial to show the UNCENSORED TRUTH about drone murder to hundreds of thousands, or more, US television viewers!”

“It’s graphic but necessary,” the statement on the website reads.

The ads are aimed directly at drone pilots, support workers and their families, Nick Mottern, coordinator of the website, said last week.

“We felt that the president and the Congress had been totally unwilling not only to stop the killing, but to provide any information to the public on the scope of these attacks since they began,” Mottern told the Guardian separately.

“Drone killings violate law and morality” the on-screen messages in the ads read. “Drone pilots. Please refuse to fly. No one has to obey an immoral law.” The two 15-second ads include images from a drone operator’s video screen, an explosion, and civilians searching through rubble after an attack. One of the ads shows images of dead and mutilated children.

The voice-over on the ad says: “Drone pilots, please refuse to fly.”