Father Louis Vitale of Pace e Bene and Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist Video Interview

I need to figure out why I can't embed this video, but in the meantime you should go to the Democracy Now website and watch it. 

Amy Goodman interviews Father Louis Vitale, a California activist with Pace e Bene who has been arrested hundreds of times as a peacemaker. He just came back from Creech AFB in Nevada where he was arrested protesting the drones used in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are controlled here in Nevada. 

The other person in the interview is Jeff Paterson, the program director for Courage to Resist. Jeff, a resister himself from the Gulf War, helps the soldiers who refuse to fight. 

They discuss the soldiers, what they do and the impact of killing civilians halfway around the world has on them. After the kills the drones stay up there recording everything for them to watch. Then they go home to their families each day and try to be normal. The next morning they're back tracking and killing. 

It's worth watching if you want to get a quick picture of what this drone war is about. 

Also you might want to check out the following from Jeff back at the beginning of the Iraq War. Although we have a different president now, the Iraq War continues and the War in Afghanistan and Pakistan expands and the comments are worth revisiting:

Advice From a Gulf War Vet. 

A Message to Troops, Would-be Troops and Other Youth

by Jeff Paterson

Do you know anyone in the military, or thinking about signing up soon? Pass this along to them. They may or may not appreciate it, but they deserve a heads up.

In August of 1990, I was an active duty U.S. Marine Corps Corporal. I was ordered to the Middle East; we were on the verge of the Gulf War...

...When the U.S. launched the Gulf War, I realized that the world did not need or want another U.S. troop deployment. Although they did not look much like me, I found that I had more in common with the common peoples of the Middle East than I did with those who were ordering me to kill them. My Battalion Commander's reassurance that "if anything goes wrong we'll nuke the rag-heads until they all glow" was not reassuring.

Up against that, I publicly stated I would not be a pawn in America's power plays for profits, oil, and domination of the Middle East. I pledged to resist, and I pledged that if I were dragged out into the Saudi desert, I would refuse to fight.

A few weeks later, I sat down on an airstrip as hundreds of Marines, many of whom I had lived with for years, filed past me and boarded the plane. I fought the Gulf War from a military brig, and after worldwide anti-war protesters helped spring me, we fought the war in the streets. [READ MORE >]