Dear John,

On December 18, The New York Times did a great public service by publishing an incredibly in-depth report of its 5-year investigation into U.S. air wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. We want to thank investigative reporter Azmat Khan and the Times for this all-too-rare reporting, which included actually visiting over 100 of the sites and culling through thousands of Pentagon documents. Khan’s reporting on thousands of uncounted civilian deaths and casualties offers a sharp contrast to the U.S. government’s image of war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. 

But while The New York Times is helping to expose the human toll of U.S. air wars, another truthteller, drone intelligence analyst Daniel Hale, is behind bars.

Tell the NYT to call for Daniel's pardon! 

Daniel Hale used his first-hand experience identifying targets for the drone program to highlight how it relies on faulty criteria, and as a result, kills many civilians. Later, he worked for an intelligence agency where he had access to documents on how the drone program operates. Daniel provided those documents to The Intercept, which published them as The Drone Papers in 2015. 

In July, Daniel was sentenced to almost four years in prison. Immediately following his sentencing, Daniel was kept in a private jail with dreadful conditions for months before being transferred to a federal prison in Marion, Illinois. In Marion, Daniel is being kept in a Communications Management Unit, where he is heavily monitored. 

Daniel deserves freedom for telling us the truth about drone warfare. Tell the NYT to echo our calls while they report on the human toll of U.S. airstrikes! 

The Times report not only revealed the awful death toll, but the complete lack of accountability for those who ordered these strikes that killed civilians. Daniel Hale wanted to hold the wrongdoers accountable; instead, he was the one who was prosecuted. The New York Times should join Rep. Ilhan Omar and thousands of Daniel’s supporters in calling on Biden to immediately pardon him. As long as he's in prison, there is no justice.

Toward peace,
Medea, Danaka, Sam & the whole CODEPINK Team