National Bird Page #3

gets up in front of the nation

and says that they're doing

everything they can to ensure

that there is near-certainty

that there will be

no civilians killed, he

is saying that because he

can't say otherwise.

Because any time

an action is taken

to finish a target there

is a certain amount

of guesswork in that action.

Because it's only in the

aftermath of any kind

of ordnance being dropped

that you know just how

much actual damage was done.

And oftentimes we, the

intelligence community,

is reliance.

The joint Special Operations

Command, the CIA included,

is reliant on intelligence

coming afterwards

that confirms that who

they were targeting

was killed in that

strike. Or that they

weren't killed in that strike.

LISA:
We all know

people die in war.

We all know that.

If we don't, we're diluted.

The fact of the matter

is, is that these things,

these devices can go pretty much

unimpeded anywhere in the world

and blow crap up.

And there is no single governing

body about how they're used.

And that is something that

will promote war, not deter it.

The people that really

get the impact, aside

from the people at the

distant end who are getting

hit by these weapons, are

all these new recruits

that are coming in.

And you know, the people

that are being affected

are America's children.

People die, things

get destroyed,

and people who are aged

18 to 24 sit and watch it.

How can anyone not

find that disturbing?

HEATHER:
Hearing politicians

speak about drones,

being precision weapons, being

able to make surgical strikes,

to me it's completely

ridiculous.

It's completely ludicrous to

even make those statements.

It's as flawed as it can

be with people operating

it from across the world.

It they really think they can

send a bomb through a window

of a compound and

hit one militant,

then why are we seeing

so many civilians

dying of collateral damage?

I'd like to ask

those politicians,

have they not been

notified of that?

Do they not know what's

going on in their own war

that they're controlling?

REPORTER (ON VIDEO):

A former US drone

operator and analyst has slammed

American and British militaries

for fabricating

faulty information

on the civilian deaths and the

US led drone war, worldwide.

Heather Linebaugh has questioned

the accuracy of the information

collected by the drone

saying, "The videos

provided are not

clear enough to detect

militants from civilians."

The former American

analyst also said

that drones in the US at wars

are not used as protection

but rather as a weapon.

HEATHER:
This is a

perfect example of what

it would look like, unaltered.

This is probably the best

you'll get on a good day.

It's why it's so difficult

to make that choice.

I say there's at least two

possible, possible children.

And then one of them runs away.

It's like, I care

because of what

I've... what I've

seen happen to, like,

my fellow veterans and stuff.

Like, how... what I've

seen happen to people.

Like, my friends have

suffered so much.

I've had so many friends

that are like, oh, man, I

can't live with myself

for what I did in Iraq.

Like, I can't live with myself

for the things that I've done.

And not... this isn't

just for myself.

Like, this isn't some kind

of, like, self-healing thing

for me.

Like, I found more

self-healing through doing

massage and everything.

This isn't even that

therapeutic for me.

Every time I do one of

these things I'm like,

I feel awful, because then

I have to talk about it

and tell people about it

and all kinds of stuff.

And people think my story's all

mega important or something.

And it's... I'm not

saying this for, like,

the importance of myself.

I'm saying it because

I need to say it.

Because my other

veteran friends are too

drunk to spend time to

say anything about it.

Or they're not around anymore.

Trying to just get people to

change how they view things

and they're like,

policymakers aren't listening,

policymakers don't care.

It's not going to

change anything.

So I'm gonna put

myself out there,

risk being put on

some kind of FBI

watch list or something

for just saying

that, yeah, the drone program

makes people feel bad.

Like, I'm basically saying

the drone program can give you

post-traumatic stress disorder.

That shouldn't be a surprise.

And like, for me to just

say something like that

and then have people say

it's not gonna make a change.

"You're gonna be the

next Edward Snowden."

It's just- it pisses me off.

And it makes me not

even want to try.

Because if I'm gonna get all

this awful horrifying attention

from like, the government

and stuff, what's the point?

Like, if I ended up... if

someone come in to my house

and puts a bag over my

hand and hauls me away,

then what was the point

of anything I did?

Am I really changing

people's minds?

Or are people just going

to share it on Facebook

and then move along?

[sniffles] I'm

spending all this time

doing all this

stuff and it could

be for absolutely nothing.

Like, I could be

living a normal life,

spending time with friends,

spending time with family.

And like, I'm spending all

this time for this thing

that I don't know if anybody

is going to care about.

And I don't know if anybody's

gonna be like, oh, well, let's

really care about the

soldiers in the drone program

because according

to the left, we're

all a bunch of baby killers.

And according to the

right, we shouldn't

be having any problems

because we're not

walking around in Afghanistan.

Exposed Facts is dedicated

to supporting whistleblowers,

whistleblowing, and

independent journalism.

Our next speaker,

Jesselyn Radack,

is a director of a

National Security

and Human Rights Program

at the Government

Accountability Project.

As an attorney,

she's represented

many whistleblowers.

And I'll mention just a few of

them:
Edward Snowden, Thomas

Drake, and John Kiriakou.

So Jesselyn Radack.

I represent seven

people, investigated,

charged, or prosecuted under

the Draconian Espionage Act.

Espionage Act prosecutions

occur largely in secret,

and have been brutal.

I hope that will change.

I hope also that Whistleblower

Protection will be extended

to protect people in

the National Security

and Intelligence arenas who

have made all of the bomb shell

disclosures about war

crimes, about torture,

about secret surveillance

that you've heard

about over the past decade.

HEATHER:
When "The Guardian"

thing first happened,

I was so scared because

everybody started calling me

a whistleblower and saying like,

this is another Edward Snowden.

And I didn't think I

mentioned anything classified,

but then they started

saying like, she

mentioned capabilities.

Well most whistleblowers

are not blowing a whistle

on classified, and if

they do have access

to classified

information, they're

able to blow the

whistle on things

without ever getting

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