Unmanned: America's Drone Wars

Last updated
Unmanned: America's Drone Wars
Directed by Robert Greenwald
Produced by
  • Robert Greenwald
  • Jim Miller
Edited by
  • Joseph Suzuki
  • Jason Gutierrez
Music byRob Himbaugh
Production
company
Release date
  • October 30, 2013 (2013-10-30)
CountryUnited States

Unmanned: America's Drone Wars is a feature-length documentary film released by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films in October, 2013, [1] [2] investigating the impact of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere. [2] [3]

Contents

Synopsis

The film highlights the stories of 16-year-old Tariq Aziz, killed by a drone in 2011; [1] [3] [4] and school teacher, Rafiq ur Rehman, whose mother was killed and children hospitalized due to a drone strike in 2012. [4] [5] [6] Unmanned includes more than seventy interviews. [2] [6] Prominent among these are a former American drone operator; [6] [7] Pakistani families of drone victims who are seeking legal redress; [4] high ranking politicians and some of the military’s top brass, [6] [8] warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life. [9] With the intent of humanizing those who have been impacted by US drone policy, Unmanned intersperses these interviews with never-before-seen footage from tribal regions in Pakistan. [9] [10] [11] The film claims that covert military drone strikes are often imprecise, and result in creating more enemies for the American people, who have little knowledge of how drone victims are targeted and killed. [1]

Release

Unmanned premiered theatrically in New York City on October 30, 2013. [2] [12] In keeping with Brave New Films' unique distribution model, it was also made available online for free. [4] [9]

Congressional briefing

In anticipation of the release, and for the first time ever, Brave New Films and Reprieve brought survivors of US drone strikes to Capitol Hill to testify at a Congressional briefing. [4] [13]

Reception

The initial response to Unmanned was positive. Michael Moore's website said, "It should be required viewing in all schools and homes in the United States." [7] The Front Page Online calls it "ardently compelling." [11]

Interviewees

Interviewees include:

See also

Related Research Articles

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An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircraft ordnance such as missiles, ATGMs, and/or bombs in hardpoints for drone strikes. These drones are usually under real-time human control, with varying levels of autonomy. Unlike unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicles, UCAVs are used for both drone strikes and battlefield intelligence.

Robert Greenwald American filmmaker

Robert Greenwald is the founder of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film and advocacy organization whose work is distributed for free in concert with nonprofit partners and movements in order to educate and mobilize for progressive causes. With Brave New Films, Greenwald has made investigative documentaries such as Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004), Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004), Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005), Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006), Rethink Afghanistan (2009), Koch Brothers Exposed (2012), and War on Whistleblowers (2013), Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote (2020), as well as many short investigative films and internet videos.

Nek Muhammad Wazir

Nek Muhammad Wazir was a prominent Pakistani mujahideen or jihadi leader. He was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan, FATA, Pakistan in 2004. This was the first CIA drone strike inside Pakistan.

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This is a list of aviation-related events from 2008:

Brave New Films Non-profit organisation in the USA

Brave New Films (BNF) is a nonprofit film company based in Culver City, California. Founded by filmmaker Robert Greenwald, BNF produces feature-length documentaries and investigative videos that seek "to educate, influence and empower viewers to take action around issues that matter."

Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in Northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Most of these attacks were on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Northwest Pakistan. These strikes began during the administration of United States President George W. Bush, and increased substantially under his successor Barack Obama. Some in the media referred to the attacks as a "drone war". The George W. Bush administration officially denied the extent of its policy; in May 2013, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time that four US citizens had been killed in the strikes. In December 2013, the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against US drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of "the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms."

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Wali-ur-Rehman

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2011 NATO attack in Pakistan United States-led NATO attack on Pakistani troops in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

The 2011 NATO attack in Pakistan was a border skirmish that occurred when United States-led NATO forces engaged Pakistani security forces at two Pakistani military checkposts along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border on 26 November 2011, with both sides later claiming that the other had fired first. Two NATO Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship and two F-15E Eagle fighter jets entered as little as 200 metres (660 ft) to up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) into the Pakistani border area of Salala at 2 a.m. local time. They came from across the border in Afghanistan and opened or returned fire at two Pakistani border patrol check-posts, killing 28 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 12 others. This attack resulted in a deterioration of relations between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani public reacted with protests all over the country and the government took measures adversely affecting the American exit strategy from Afghanistan, including the evacuation of Shamsi Airfield and closure of the NATO supply line in Pakistan.

Targeted killing Murder or assassination by governments against perceived enemies

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Disposition Matrix Database of information for tracking, capturing, or killing suspected enemies of the United States

The Disposition Matrix, informally known as a kill list, is a database of information for tracking, capturing, "rendering", or killing suspected enemies of the United States. Developed by the Obama administration beginning in 2010, it goes beyond existing kill lists and is intended to become a permanent fixture of U.S. policy. The process determining criteria for killing is not public and was heavily shaped by National Counterterrorism Director and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John O. Brennan.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2013:

2014 in aviation

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The use of drones by the United States military has attracted differing public opinion both within and outside the United States.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 DB Grady (Aug 5, 2013). "Interview: Robert Greenwald's war on drones". The Week. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Movie screening: 'Unmanned: American Drone Wars'". The Express Tribune. 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  3. 1 2 Anwar Iqbal (2013-10-31). "Film about civilian deaths in drone strikes released". Dawn.com . Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 George Zornick (October 24, 2013). "New Film Highlights the Human Cost of Drone Warfare". The Nation. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  5. ↑ "Rafiq ur Rehman". The Guardian . Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Amy Goodman (October 31, 2013). ""These Drones Attack Us and the Whole World is Silent": New Film Exposes Secret U.S. War". Democracy Now . Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  7. 1 2 David Swanson (October 29, 2013). "Unmanned". MichaelMoore.com . Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Patrick Gavin (2013-10-28). "Drone documentary coming to Hill". Politico . Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 Amir Jalil Bobra (October 27, 2013). "Documentary on drone screened". The Nation . Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  10. ↑ Margaret Sullivan (September 20, 2013). "Responding to Reader Comments on War Photographs and Drone Victims". The New York Times . Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Ari L. Noonan (October 28, 2013). "Greenwald Returns to War, Armed, Against Drone Wars". The Front Page Online. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Denise Chow (October 31, 2013). "'Unmanned: America's Drone Wars' Documentary Premieres in NYC". Live Science. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  13. ↑ Bill Moyers (October 30, 2013). "Preview: The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
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