Unmanned: America's Drone Wars

Unmanned: America's Drone War, the eighth full-length feature documentary from director Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Foundation organization, investigates the impact that U.S. drone strikes have across the globe. The film reveals the realities of drone warfare-the violation of international law, the loss of life, the far-reaching implications for the communities that live under drones, and blowback the United States faces. Unmanned details the death of Tariq Aziz, a 16 year-old Pakistani boy, who like most teenagers, loved soccer and his computer. He was killed in a drone strike three days after attending a public meeting in Islamabad calling for the end of drone strikes in Pakistan. Unmanned also investigates the Obama administration's use of signature strikes that targets people based on 'pattern of life' characteristics. One such example took place in 2011 in Datta Khel, a tribal region in northern Pakistan, killing approximately 41 people and injuring scores more. In another original segment the documentary includes a never-before-seen interview with a school teacher named Rafiq ur Rehman. Rafiq shares his personal experience. His son and two daughters were injured in the same drone strike that killed his mother. Director Robert Greenwald traveled to Pakistan in the fall of 2012 and interviewed more than 35 victims, witnesses, psychiatrists, and Pakistani leaders. With exclusive footage of burial sites, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, Jirgas, and never-before-seen compelling interviews with experts the investigative documentary Unmanned - America's Drone War makes an urgent case that drone strikes create more instability than peace.

"Unmanned" investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad, observing their effect on the War on Terror, the lives of individuals, and U.S. foreign policy.

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In Unmanned: America's Drone Wars, the eighth full-length feature documentary from Brave New Films, director Robert Greenwald investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through more than 70 separate interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative journalists pursuing the truth, and top military officials warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life.

Throughout Unmanned, Greenwald intersperses in-depth interviews with never-before-seen footage from the tribal regions in Pakistan to humanize those who have been impacted by our drone policy. This footage, alongside interviews with Pakistani drone survivors, describes the brutal reality of drone attacks ordered during the Obama Administration. The film highlights the stories of 16 year old Tariq Aziz, killed by a drone a mere week after he participated in a public conference in Islamabad in 2011, and a school teacher, Rafiq ur Rehman, grappling with the loss of his elderly mother and the hospitalization of his children due to a drone strike last year, showing how delicate life can be in this virtual war where no one is accepting responsibility for the casualties.

00:00 Brandon Bryant, Former U.S.A.F. Drone Sensor Operator discusses his start in the drone program.

2:10 October 28, 2011 Pakistan, A press conference (Jirga) that brought community leaders and political organizers together with the media to discuss the inhumanity and fears of the current state of drone strikes.

7:10 Islamabad, Pakistan, A rally is held in protest of the drone attacks. People from all over the country with many different backgrounds came in the thousands to protest the United States drone program.

8:15 Tariq and friends were on their way to a soccer match when their car was hit by a drone. His friends reflect on the incident and discuss the injustice.

12:35 Tariq had been to the press conference, and discussed the issue with media. CIA decided to use a drone, instead of peaceful and lawful capture.

16:15 Breakdown of targeted killing methodology. Imminent threat is needed in order to use drones.

18:40 Brendon Bryant discusses hitting targets, and the graphic nature of brutal drone attacks.

21:05 The vast majority of drone victims have not been high profile targets. Signature strikes are attacks against civilians who may fit the profile of suspected terrorists.

24:23 Jirja are part of Pakistani conflict resolution, this open public event, where the community gathers. A drone strike attacked this peaceful event, killing the elders, devastating the community.

30:23 John O. Brennen former Chief Counterterrorism Advisor for the Obama Administration states in a press conference that there has not been a single collateral death in drone attacks.

31:06 Drone strikes have created a significant anti-American sentiment.

33:44 Pakistan court rules CIA drone strikes are an illegal war crime.

36:34 Brendon Bryant discusses firing a drone strike on what was believed to be a high level terrorist. Before drone landed, he saw a small movement around the building.

39:00 Rafiq ur Rehman, a schoolteacher, recalls the day a drone hit his home. Injuring his children, destroying his home, and murdering his mother.

45:54 Dr. Rizwan Taj and community members discuss the constant fear that the citizens of the region.

49:15 The drone strikes in Waziristan have created more terrorists, as the citizens are looking for revenge for the brutal killings.

52:05 Defense and aerospace firms are lobbying for continued drone use as it is a multi-billion dollar industry. The drone industry is also growing internationally with more countries developing attack drones.

54:00 Community based solutions are much more effective than the drone attacks.

56:15 Drone victims discuss their personal damages from the attacks. Brandon Bryant discusses his remorse for being involved in the drone program.

ABOUT BRAVE NEW FILMS Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films are at the forefront of the fight to create a just America. Using new media and internet video campaigns, Brave New Films has created a quick-strike capability that informs the public, challenges corporate media with the truth, and motivates people to take action on social issues nationwide.

The U.S. preferences are always to capture the terrorists because of the intelligence that can be gathered, but lots of the terrorist networks operate in a very remote regions and it's very difficult to capture them. However, of what we can discern from the pattern of drone strikes is that essentially Pakistan's been declared a no-capture zone. Captures automatically are not considered feasible.

If you just look at the numbers, there have been dramatically more people killed in recent years than captured. Three to four thousand people have been killed in targeted killings and only a handful have been captured. Despite all technological and human assets there's a lot of room for error. In drone attacks alone, over 300 children were killed. Those murders have to call into question the credibility of the kill-list methodology, because vast majority of strikes in Pakistan are against people whose identities the Government doesn't know.

Under the interpretations from the administration and the members of Congress, drone strikes could go on indefinitely against enemies who keep morphing into new enemies, but killing should be the exception not the rule. The U.S. should not have been using military force to attack innocent civilians let alone children. What kind of policy says it is legitimate and even sensible to assassinate a 16-year-old boy?

Before any strike is taken there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. That is not the case with the so called "signature strikes." Signature strike is a drone strike that isn't based on the identity of the target. These are strikes against people who "fit" the signature of what the U.S. Government says is a terrorist.

"In Unmanned: America's Drone Wars director Robert Greenwald investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through more than 70 separate interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative journalists pursuing the truth, and top military officials warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life."

Directed by

Robert Greenwald

Cast

	Akbar Ahmed	...	Himself - Former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.K.
	Shahzad Akbar	...	Himself - Reprieve Lawyer, Founder of Foundation for Fundamental Rights
	Philip Alston	...	Himself - United Nations, Former Special Rapporteur of Extrajudicial Executions
	Abdul Aziz	...	Himself - Tariq's eldest brother
	Tariq Aziz	...	Himself (archive footage)
	Andrew Bacevich	...	Himself - Professor of International Relations and History, Boston University
	Noor Behram	...	Himself - Journalist / Photographer
	Medea Benjamin	...	Herself - Co-Founder of Code Pink
	John O. Brennan	...	Himself - Director of the CIA (archive footage)
	Brandon Bryant	...	Himself - Former U.S.A.F. Drone Sensor Operator
	James Cavallaro	...	Himself - Stanford Law School Professor, Co-author 'Living Under Drones'
	David Cole	...	Himself - Professor, Georgetown University Law
	Cora Currier	...	Herself - ProPublica
	Mir Daad Kaan	...	Himself - Son of Deceased Khanay Khan
	Fayaz Dawar	...	Himself - Pharmacist, Miranshah
	Karen DeYoung	...	Herself - Sr. National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post
	Vicki Divoll	...	Herself - Former Legal Advisor, Counterterrorist Operations, C.I.A.
	Daphne Eviatar	...	Herself - Senior Counsel, Human Rights First's Law and Security Program
	David Glazier	...	Himself - Professor Loyola Law School
	Siobhan Gorman	...	Herself - Intelligence Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal
	Glenn Greenwald	...	Himself - National Security Columnist, The Guardian (voice)
	Kevin Jon Heller	...	Himself - Associate Professor, Melbourne Law School
	Osama Hinji	...	Himself - Writer, Researcher and Activist
	Kamraan Ismaeel	...	Himself - Son of Deceased Malik Ismaeel
	Muhammad Ismaiel	...	Himself - Child Psychology Specialist, North Waziristan (as Dr. Muhammad Ismaiel)
	Ahmed Jan	...	Himself - Tribal Elder
	Gregory Johnsen	...	Himself - Yemen Expert, Author 'The Last Refuge'
	Pardiss Kebriaei	...	Herself - Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights
	Imran Khan	...	Himself - Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
	Jemima Khan	...	Herself - Associate Editor, New Statesman
	Kamran Khan	...	Himself - Member of National Assembly
	Khalil Khan	...	Himself - Waziri Tribesman, Son of Deceased Haji Malik Babat
	Noor Khan	...	Himself - Tribal Malik, Son of Deceased Daud Khan
	David Kilcullen	...	Himself - Former Senior Advisor to General David Petraeus
	Jonathan Landay	...	Himself - Sr. National Security and Intelligence Correspondent, McClatchy Newspapers
	Jalal Manzar Khail	...	Himself - Tribal Leader, Miranshah, Northern Waziristan
	Mark Mazzetti	...	Himself - Author of the 'The Way of the Knife'
	Greg Miller	...	Himself - National Security Reporter, The Washington Post
	Hamid Mir	...	Himself - Capital Talk, Journalist
	Sadiq Nawaz	...	Himself - Close friend with Tariq
	Mary Ellen O'Connell	...	Herself - Notre Dame International Law Professor
	Barack Obama	...	Himself (archive footage)
	Robin Pagnamenta	...	Himself - South Asia Correspondent, The Times of London
	Leon Panetta	...	Himself - Former Secretary of Defense (archive footage) (as Leon E. Panetta)
	Asma Rehman	...	Herself (as Asma ur Rehman)
	Habib Rehman	...	Himself (as Habib ur Rehman)
	Kalim Rehman	...	Himself (as Kalim ur Rehman)
	Nabila Rehman	...	Herself (as Nabila ur Rehman)
	Rafiq Rehman	...	Himself (as Rafiq ur Rehman)
	Zubair Rehman	...	Himself (as Zubair ur Rehman)
	Naureen Shah	...	Herself - Former Associate Director, Counterterrorism & Human Rights Project Columbia Law
	Pir Zubair Shah	...	Himself - Council on Foreign Relations, Former New York Times Reporter
	Hina Shamsi	...	Herself - Director, ACLU's National Security Project
	Scott Shane	...	Himself - National Security Reporter, The New York Times
	Clive Stafford Smith	...	Himself - Founder of Reprieve
	Rizwan Taj	...	Himself - President of the Pakistan Psychiatric Society (as Dr. Rizwan Taj)
	Muhib Ullah	...	Himself - Brother of Waheed Rehman
	Lawrence Wilkerson	...	Himself - Former Chief of Staff, Secretary of State Colin Powell (as Lawrence B. Wilkerson)
	Neil Williams	...	Himself - Photographer / Journalist
	Chris Woods	...	Himself - Investigative Reporter

Produced by

Samantha Bates	...	associate producer
Jeff Cole	...	executive producer
Robert Greenwald	...	producer
Jeffrey Kanjanapangka	...	associate producer
Jemima Khan	...	co-executive producer
Natalie Kottke	...	co-producer
Jim Miller	...	producer
Charles Tenret	...	associate producer

Music by

Rob Himebaugh

Film Editing by

Jason Gutierrez
Joseph Suzuki

Sound Department

Travis Kidd	...	sound recordist
Matt Schwartz	...	sound designer

Camera and Electrical Department

Edgar Sardarian

...

camera operator

Editorial Department

Teal Greyhavens	...	assistant editor
Itai Levin	...	on-line editor

Other crew

Rusty Gaidzik

...

technical director (uncredited)

Thanks

Uzma Ahmed	...	very special thanks
Shahzad Akbar	...	very special thanks
Safoora Arbab	...	very special thanks
Jennifer Gibson	...	very special thanks
Ali Shah	...	very special thanks
Mudassar Shah	...	very special thanks
Clive Stafford Smith	...	very special thanks (as Clive Stafford-Smith)
Neil Williams	...	very special thanks