US Drones Cannot Function Without Ramstein Military Base in Germany

A US military base located in Ramstein, Germany is the high-tech heart of the United States’ drone program, according to documents obtained by The Intercept, an online news site co-founded by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

NEW YORK (Sputnik) — An unnamed source with knowledge of the US government’s controversial drone program told The Intercept that “without Ramstein, [US] drones could not function, at least not as they do now.”

These latest revelations, according to experts cited by The Intercept, allow US personnel to be charged with war crimes in accordance with German law.

“American personnel stationed at Ramstein could, in theory, be vulnerable to German prosecution if they provide pilots with data used in attacks.” 

The newly leaked documents should help spur action from German leaders, who according to Medea Benjamin, the author of the book “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control,” have been mute on the issue.

“In the past, Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and her government have claimed to have no knowledge of the role of Ramstein in the US drone wars, even though many respected German media outlets have published reports about this,” Benjamin told Sputnik on Friday.

Benjamin noted that US drone strikes had killed several German citizens, but the German government had refused to investigate the killings.

“By allowing the United States to use Ramstein for drone wars, the German government shares the guilt for thousands of murders, including in countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, where neither the United States nor Germany nor NATO are officially at war,” Benjamin said.

According to a 2014 report published by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the US President Barack Obama administration has launched more than 390 drone strikes, killing more than 2,400 people, at least 273 of which were reportedly civilians.