Drone protesters arrested at Tucson airshow
Submitted by rick on 5 April 2010 - 3:48am
"WAR IS NOT A SHOW"
BANNER-HOLDERS ARRESTED
AT DAVIS MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE
March 21, 2010
"WAR IS NOT A SHOW"
BANNER-HOLDERS ARRESTED
AT DAVIS MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE
TUCSON
-- On Sunday afternoon, March 21, at the Aerospace and Arizona Days
military exhibition and air show at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, two
Tucson residents were arrested for trespass. John Heid, 55, and Gretchen
Nielsen, 77, unfurled a banner declaring "War is Not a Show" and stood
peacefully near the Predator UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle).
-- On Sunday afternoon, March 21, at the Aerospace and Arizona Days
military exhibition and air show at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, two
Tucson residents were arrested for trespass. John Heid, 55, and Gretchen
Nielsen, 77, unfurled a banner declaring "War is Not a Show" and stood
peacefully near the Predator UAV (Unmanned aerial vehicle).
Nielsen
stated, "When I see the display at the Air Show --- the fighter planes,
the bombers, the attack aircraft ---I see a display of yesterday's
toys. When I see the ground control station and data terminal for the
unmanned MQ-1 Predator, I see an extension of teenage computer games.
When I see our young adults in uniform who have been trained to kill on
command, I see yesterday's children.
"When I see proud, patriotic
parents and grandparents enjoying the thrill of war games at the Air
Show, I see tomorrow's parents and grandparents begging what's left of
the world for forgiveness."
Heid stated, "War is not a show. It
is killing us. And them. Combatants and children alike. Our soul and
civil society. The moral order too is a casualty. War is hell. Not a
cause for celebration. A frontal assault on reason. And the earth. War
is not a spectacle or family entertainment.
"Today at the Air
Show we see its shiny weapons, not its bloody victims. Not the nearly
4,400 dead U.S. soldiers. Not the tens of thousands of Iraqi, Afghani or
Pakistani civilians. We glorify the mighty flying death machines and
ignore the havoc they wreak.
"Today, just after the seventh
anniversary of the war on Iraq, we vigil beside an MQ-1 Predator drone.
Over 700 Pakistani civilians have been killed by this machine's Hellfire
missiles. Davis-Monthan is home base for the 214th Reconnaissance Group
of the Arizona National Guard which flies around-the-clock combat
missions over Iraq and Afghanistan with the Predator.
"In the
shadow of death we raise our plea for peace. For skies free of weaponry.
For an end to war without end. The show is over, let peace begin."
The
pair was taken to the Pima County Jail, where they were processed and
released by 10 p.m. They are scheduled to appear in Tucson City Court
for arraignment - Heid on April 29 and Nielsen on April 30.
Photos
may be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/WarIsNotAShow
