[Peace-discuss] Comparing drone views from two military women

[J.B. Nicholson]

I recently re-watched "National Bird" a documentary from 2016 about the 
drone war and I came across an interesting quote that reminded me of 
something Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from 
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/17/intercepted-podcast-white-mirror/

 > So, with these terrorist cells, for example, yes, I do still believe
 > that the right approach to take is these quick strike forces, surgical
 > strikes, in and out, very quickly, no long-term deployment, no long-term
 > occupation to be able to get rid of the threat that exists and then get
 > out and the very limited use of drones in those situations where our
 > military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of
 > risk, and where you can make sure that you’re not causing, you know, a
 > large amount of civilian casualties.

Heather Linebaugh served in the United States Air Force from 2009 until 
March 2012. Her bio in The Guardian says she worked in intelligence as an 
imagery analyst and geo-spatial analyst for the drone program during the 
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two years before Rep. Gabbard said that Heather Linebaugh said:

 > Hearing politicians speak about drones being precision weapons, being
 > able to make 'surgical strikes', to me it's completely ridiculous,
 > completely ludicrous to even make those statements. It's as flawed as it
 > can be with those people operating it from across the world. If they
 > really think they can send a bomb through a window of a compound and hit
 > one militant then why are we seeing so many civilians die of collateral
 > damage? I'd like to ask those politicians have they not been notified of
 > that? Do they not know what's going on in their own war that they're
 > controlling?

Linebaugh is also the author of:

"I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military