Former US drone operator recalls
dropping a missile on Afghanistan
children and says military is ‘worse
than the Nazis’

A former US drone operator is speaking
out against the atrocities he says he was
forced to inflict during his time in the
armed forces and says the American
military as ‘worse than the Nazis’.
Brandon Bryant was enlisted in the US
Air Force for six years. During his time
with the military, he operated Predator
drones , remotely firing missiles at
targets more than 7,000 miles away from
the small room containing his workspace
near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mr Bryant says he reached his breaking
point with the US military after killing a
child in Afghanistan that his superiors
told him was “a dog.” Mr Bryant recalls
the moment: After firing a Hellfire
missile at a building containing his
target, he saw a child exit the building
just as the missile struck. When he
alerted his superiors about the situation
after reviewing the tape, he was told “it
was a f***ing dog, drop it.”
Following that incident, Mr Bryant quit
the military and began speaking out
against the drone program.
Under fire from afar: Harrowing exhibition reveals damage done by drones in Pakistan Show all 6
During his time in the Air Force, Mr
Bryant estimates he contributed directly
to killing 13 people himself and says his
squadron fired on 1,626 targets
including women and children. He says
he has been left suffering from post-
traumatic stress disorder.
Mr Bryant said he saw the man he
targeted bleed out from his legs and
watched as his body went cold on his
thermal imaging screen.
“The smoke clears, and there’s pieces of
the two guys around the crater. And
there’s this guy over here, and he’s
missing his right leg above his knee. He’s
holding it, and he’s rolling around, and
the blood is squirting out of his leg … It
took him a long time to die. I just
watched him,” Mr Bryant said in an
interview with GQ.
“That image on the screen is still in my
head. Whenever I think about it, it still
hurts me,” Mr Bryant said. “When I
pulled the trigger, I knew that it was
wrong. When the middle struck I knew
in my soul I had become a murderer.”
Other airmen in Mr Bryant’s squadron
celebrated his first kill, saying “Brant’s
popped his cherry.”
Mr Bryant was enlisted from 2006 to
2011, working as a sensor operator,
which helps direct missiles to their
targets.
In a conversation with the Roots Action
Network, Mr Bryant recalled an instance
early in his enlistment where he and his
fellow drone operators were shown a
video montage of drone strikes, after
which they were told their jobs were to
“kill people and break things.”
“It went against everything that I had
ever learned about honor and justice
and training. It was terrifying how
dismissive people were about the whole
affair. We were safe in the U.S. and
those over there were not. We win. But
that’s not how it goes,” Mr Bryant said.
Mr Bryant said that despite his
misgivings about the program, his
superiors used punitive measures and
mockery to keep him in line.
“It broke my spirit. It went against
everything I learned about being a
warrior, about holding yourself to higher
standards. My superiors psychologically
beat me and ridiculed me to keep me in
line. They took away my free time and
forced me to sit in a seat or be tried
under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of
Military Justice) for disobeying orders,”
Mr Bryant said. “In a sense, it was my
prison. I served my time to learn and
reflect. And so I hold the key now, to the
entire apparatus. I just don’t know what
to do with it.”
He has said the US military is “worse
than the Nazis” because “we should
know better.”
Mr Bryant said he and his family have
been threatened for speaking out against
the drone program and that he has lost
friends and been estranged from other
members of his family over his whistle-
blowing.
Ultimately Mr Bryant wants the public to
understand the dehumanizing effect of
the drone program on the operators and
the individuals targeted.
“I would want people to know, beyond
its existence, the consequences it has on
us as a species to delineate our power
into something so easily destructive.
Every time we get closer to that edge,
we’re going to have to realise where it
places us,” Mr Bryant said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-military-drone-nazis-brandon-bryant-a9324011.html

lalasticlala, mynd44

Old news yesterday's paper

He is needed in Nigeria

Well....

Looking for terrorist to come employ him

He is out of job, what do upu expect of him

Well not surprise people tend to act like Saint in public while being an evil being in reality

Fool..did you witness Nazi's operation? Is Afghanistan humans? the bloody terrorist,they are dogs..where were you in 9/11 ..Get out!

DuBLINGreenb:
Old news yesterday's paper

.

You all failed to realize that the number one terrorist in the world of today is America, Now tell the role played by America in Nigerian civil war you would then know whom they are as a government.

Don't forget to know that the only thing America is doing to other countries centers around their interest not peace anything.
Peace my foot.

Jabioro:
Fool..did you witness Nazi's operation? Is Afghanistan humans? the bloody terrorist,they are dogs..where were you in 9/11 ..Get out!

.
Forget that notion of 9/11 try to view it from another perspective, they form the imaginary 9/11 in order to attack Afghanistan.
What can you tell in regards to Saddam Hussein weapon of mass destruction?

To be a drone operator, you got to have a tough skin and not be a pucy. I beleive that terrorist must be killed because they don't negotiate with people before they hit them with bomb. As for the children, they are just the casualties of wars.

Randy100:
To be a drone operator, you got to have a tough skin and not be a pucy. I beleive that terrorist must be killed because they don't negotiate with people before they hit them with bomb. As for the children, they are just the casualties of wars.

I'm sure if you and your children have been bombed away by Nigerian Army or Boko Haram or ISWAP,then you are also casualties of war

What he didn't know is that, that small boy is a potential terrorist that might be worse than Osama bin laden.... Good riddance

What he didn't know is that, that small boy is a potential terrorist that might be worse than Osama bin laden.... If he's not happy, maybe he should join them.

Jabioro:
Fool..did you witness Nazi's operation? Is Afghanistan humans? the bloody terrorist,they are dogs..where were you in 9/11 ..Get out!

has any court indicted them as the organisers of 9/11 why was osama not captured and tried

American govt is the biggest terrorist organisation and founding fathers. 911 is an job!

Who trained an American, Tim Osman (later known as Osama Bin Laden by American govt as disguise and spy)? And what purpose? And why was Osama killed?

Jabioro:
Fool..did you witness Nazi's operation? Is Afghanistan humans? the bloody terrorist,they are dogs..where were you in 9/11 ..Get out!

It's all fun and games for the US apologists on nairaland until they get caught up in the US's actions and are deemed collateral damage. The senseless bombing of civilian non-combatants in the name of the "greater good" has long been the hallmark of the US drone program. As the leader of the free world, the US should know better, after all if they can justify the killing of women and children under some warped version of their subjective morality what now makes them better than the people they are fighting?

Jabioro:
Fool..did you witness Nazi's operation? Is Afghanistan humans? the bloody terrorist,they are dogs..where were you in 9/11 ..Get out!

The 9/11 guys are from Saudi Arabia.