To: The Colorado State House, The Colorado State Senate, and Governor Jared Polis
Stop US Drone Assassinations
End support for the extra-legal assassination of unknown people by drone strikes. It is outrageously expensive, internationally illegal, and entrenches rather than eliminates opposition to the US by radicalizing those who have lost innocent friends and family members.
Why is this important?
Of the 4700 killed in US drone strikes over the last ten years, we knew the names of only 160, ten of whom were wanted leaders. That leaves us with 4540 men, women and children killed with remotely-fired missiles (costing $68,000 each) on the basis of their patterns of movement--often in countries like Somalia and Yemen, where we are not officially at war. Drone pilots like Brandon Bryant can attest we often hit innocents, like the child he killed on his first strike. This practice is so extra-legal (not to say illegal) that President Obama has to personally sign off on each strike. Would we ever let another country do this on our soil? If we stand for the rule of law and fair trial, if we are trying to create a safer world, if we want to end rather than aid the radicalization of people in other countries, we have to lead by example--and that means saying 4540 is enough. End Colorado congressional and executive support for extra-legal drone assassinations.