(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Exactly one week ago, Brian Terrell was sitting in a police station in Bahrain, awaiting deportation for his participation in a nonviolent demonstration.
Tonight, the Maloy, Iowa, resident spoke to more than 40 people at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St., about his experience and his opposition to the United States’ use of remotely controlled drones in airstrikes in Afghanistan.
Terrell is the former mayor of Maloy, a peace activist, and co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a Chicago-based group that nonviolently resists U.S. war-making.
Last week, Terrell and the other U.S. citizens acted as observers with Witness Bahrain, a group that aimed to have civilians monitor and report the situation in Bahrain. The group was marching toward the Pearl Roundabout Tuesday as part of a protest on the one-year anniversary of Bahrain’s uprising when officials arrested them.
In Facebook updates, Terrell wrote of authorities pelting their car with tear gas canisters, as well as the hospitality of Bahraini citizens.
But despite the violence he said he witnessed against protesters and U.S. citizens in Bahrain, Terrell said he returned with hope.
“[I'm left with] just a real hope to be in a population of all these people acting courageously,” he said. “…Even though I was very frightened, I saw people doing things that were heroic.”
One example of heroism Terrell witnessed was a man picking up the tear gas canisters with his bare hands and throwing tossing them away. Terrell showed a photo depicting the man in mid-throw, somewhat obscured by eerie clouds of gray gas.
The rest of Wednesday’s event, however, focused on why Terrell and groups like Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Veterans for Peace are actively protesting the use of U.S. drones. The remotely controlled aircrafts are manned by soldiers thousands of miles away, he said, resulting in inaccurate strikes and civilian deaths.
Terrell showed photos of his time in Afghanistan last year, read articles about U.S. drone use, and played a video of a protest in front of Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. Terrell and several others were arrested during the non-violent protest.
“Our country’s going in a really horrible direction,” he said. “We need to take stock and turn around.”
Iowa City resident Jean Hagen attended the event Wednesday as a friend of Terrell’s and active participant in the War Resisters League.
“[Tonight] reinforced my belief that these drones are inaccurate, immoral, and inhumane,” Hagen said after the event.
Terrell will speak tomorrow at the Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, 120 E. Boyson Rd.
“The history of Afghanistan and our place in it is something we should be paying attention to,” he said.
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