Ray speaks at Sept. 30 protest against drones before Air National Guard base in Des Moines, Iowa.

“Pilots” at the base are slated to take part in the arm-chair, video-game-like, remote control, computer-screen, cowardly, “bug-splat” killing of faraway folks whom they are told might be, or might become, or might be thinking of becoming “terrorists.” (7 minutes)

Ray quotes from a 1961 Thomas Merton poem, “Chant to Be Used in Processions Around a Site with Furnaces.” It is actually an anti-poem spoken by the Commandant of a Nazi death camp who, after proceeding matter-of-factly through his daily routine of genocide, concludes with this admonition:

“Do not think yourselves better because you burn up friends and enemies with long-range missiles without ever seeing what you have done.”

Sputnik interviewed Ray via email on Sept. 30, while Ray was in Des Moines, regarding Syria, Russia, and U.S. policy.

The interview took place a couple of hours before John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Obama and Putin, after their meeting on Sept. 28, had instructed the two top diplomats to work things out.

Kerry and Lavrov emphasized that their instructions include the urgent task of establishing communication between top U.S. and Russian military leaders for “de-confliction” (as in, making sure that U.S. and Russian aircraft don’t run into each other while attacking ISIL in Syria).

If sane minds prevail, and if Obama can face down the Israel lobby – as he did on the Iran nuclear weapons deal – a broader anti-USIS “coalition” (not “led by the U.S.”) may be in the offing.

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151001/1027823898/Washington-Stance-on-Assad-Role-in-Syria.html

Whistleblower Tour Coming To Iowa

(itinerary)

By Ed Flaherty, September 14, 2015

FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern will launch their weeklong barnstorming speaking tour on September 24 in Dubuque. The tour, dubbed “The Truth Shall Make You Free,” is sponsored by the three Iowa chapters of Veterans for Peace and thirty-one other organizations. The itinerary includes nine cities and seven institutions of higher learning.

http://www.blogforiowa.com/tag/colleen-rowley/

U.S. Drones Cannot Destroy Cellphones and People Without Ramstein

If Germans don’t want to create still more jihadists and increase the risk to Germany itself, Berlin need to “grow up” and exercise its sovereign right to shut down the critically important satellite station in Ramstein. Ray, Elizabeth Murray, and Elsa Rassbach spoke in Berlin, Sept. 16, 2015. Following is link to a segment, in which Ray addresses der Drohnenkrieg and describes Germany’s key role in it.

(English with German subtitles; 7 minutes)