The Current

'Drone' documentary targets deadly US military program

In the American war against terror, the drone is a very widely deployed tool. A new documentary film turns a critical lens on the U.S. military's drone program and what it means for those on the ground, at home and abroad.
Three children stand amidst the rubble in the Dande Darpa Khel region of North Waziristan. They are holding remnants of a drone-fired missile and rubble from their neighbour's house. They don't yet understand their parents were killed in the strike. Jalaluddin Haqqani, an Afghan fighter and Taliban member who went on to found the Haqqani network, is said to have been the target. (Noor Behram Copyright @ Flimmer Film 2014. All rights reserved)

(Photographer: Lucian Muntean Copyright @ Flimmer Film 2014. All rights reserved)
"We were the ultimate voyeurs, the ultimate peeping toms.  And we're getting orders to take these people's lives. It was just point and click."- Brandon Bryan, former drone operator in the U.S. Military.

Brandon Bryan spent five years as a drone operator in the U.S. Military. 

By his own estimation, he was involved in operations that killed 1,626 people. Though to this day, he says he doesn't know how many of those killings were justified.

Drones have become a staple technology in the U.S. war against terror but they're very seldom seen, and their operators are seldom heard.

(Photographer: Steven Moore Copyright @ Flimmer Film 2014. All rights reserved)

But Brandon Bryant has become a vocal critic of the U.S. drone program. And he's one of the main figures in a new documentary film called, "Drone."

The film "Drone" opens in theatres across North America today.

Director Tonje Hessen Schei and Brandon Bryant joined Kelly Crowe from New York. 


What do you think of the Drone program?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott.