Sacramento, Calif. – The anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan who famously camped outside President Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch is leading a protest against a small manufacturing company in Oregon that makes unarmed, unmanned drone surveillance aircraft for the U.S. military. The pro-troop group Move America Forward is working with local military and community groups to support the company and the troops fighting the war on terror, especially those who are helped by technology.
“They’re attacking the use of drones and the people that make them because they say it ‘hides the human cost of war’” said Move America Forward’s spokesperson Debbie Lee, who lost her son in the war in Iraq. “But these anti-war people tend to forget, or they just don’t care, that these drones are saving the lives of our troops, taking on dangerous missions that would otherwise risk the lives of America’s bravest most precious resource, our young men and women. “
The anti-war activists, led by Sheehan, are holding a ‘conference’ in Hood River, Oregon next week called “Challenging Robotic Warfare and Social Control” where organizers will give seminars protesting the use of drone aircraft for surveillance as well as combat. The anti-war groups hope that ending the use of drones would speed up the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In response to the attacks on the drones and their manufacturers who employ hundreds of people from the small town strapped for jobs, Move America Forward and related groups are holding a pro-troop rally on April 17th in response.
“We want to show our troops that despite what these anti-military groups say, and despite what Cindy Sheehan has to say, we support our troops, and we support using drones to minimize casualties. There are hundreds of military families out there who have lost family members in the wars and some of them might still be alive today and this conference is an insult to them.” concluded Lee, whose own son Marc was the first Navy SEAL to be lost in the War in Iraq.
“The most disgusting thing about these protests is that these anti-war folks act like we need to give the terrorists a fair fight.” concluded Lee.
