When drones fly...

Assalaamu alaikum [peace be to you],

REMAINING SILENT ISN'T AN OPTION...

Today I'd like to talk more about drones, these scary war machines...

What was my crime?
A small house, once made of large cement blocks, is reduced to rubble in a sea of untouched homes and shops in Jaar, a town in South Yemen's Abyaan governorate. There are no signs of life where that house once stood -- no photos, furniture, and certainly no people left behind. In May 2011, the house was struck by a drone -- American, the locals say. Some believe the sole occupant, a man named Anwar Al-Arshani, may have been linked to Al Qaeda, although he kept to himself, so no one knows for sure. As Al-Arshani's house smoldered from the powerful blow, townspeople frantically rushed to inspect the damage and look for survivors. And then, just as the crowd swelled, a second missile fired. Locals say 24 people were killed that day, all of them allegedly innocent civilians.

Eighteen-year-old Muneer Al-Asy was among them. His mother Loul says she knows nothing about the United States of America-- not of its democracy or politics or people or values. All she knows is that it killed her son. She cannot read and does not own a television. Like many in her village, she says Al-Qaeda is "very bad," but the thought of her youngest son being killed by a US missile haunts her dreams at night. She screams in fury at the people who took her son: "criminals!" She rocks anxiously back and forth on her sole piece of furniture -- a long cushion in her single-room home -- recalling the day her son was "martyred" by a U.S. drone. "I am like a blind person now," says Loul. "Muneer was my eyes."


What the *!&%x are you exporting to us?
Thousands of miles from Washington, where the debate rages on over the moral and legal implications of using unmanned aerial vehicles for lethal targeting, the names and faces of many of the victims paints a somber picture. Some are fathers who can no longer buy food and medicine for their children. Some are kids whose only crime in life was skipping out on studies to play soccer with friends. Some are expectant mothers who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the U.S. focuses attention on the successful targeting of names on the notorious "kill list," the number of innocent civilians killed by U.S. drones on the rise -- threatening to destroy families, spark resentment, and fuel Al-Qaeda recruitment.

With the growing use of so-called "signature strikes" -- attacks against suspected but unidentified targets -- there have been increasingly troubling signs that many victims are deemed guilty by association. Having committed no crime, their names not part of any list and in some cases, not even known.
More significantly, thousands of Yemeni residents are showing signs of a vast range of psychological disorders linked to the fear of living under spy planes and drones, including trauma, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly since many report hearing a constant buzzing sound from the drones flying overhead. Some women claim to have miscarried from the sound of nearby strikes, and activists say this is a growing phenomenon. None of the families interviewed has received any type of compensation for damage or death.
"Whether true or false, if Yemenis believe drones are causing miscarriages, that's as detrimental to the U.S. winning hearts and minds as if it were reality," said Letta Tayler, a Yemen expert with New York-based Human Rights Watch. "There is an enormous amount of anger over the targeted killing program. If the U.S. makes mistakes, it needs to apologize, compensate, and hold thorough investigations to help prevent further deaths of civilians."


Where are your moral values?
In January, the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights launched an inquiry into the impact drones are having on civilians in countries like Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and Afghanistan and is aiming to assess whether the program is in-keeping with international law. Many activists in Yemen point to the tight-lipped policies of the US drone program, which make it extremely difficult to prove civilian casualties. "There is no accountability," said Atiaf Alwazir, a Yemeni-American researcher and blogger who has worked to document the cases of civilian victims. "There is no information regarding the kill list. An entire population could be deemed militant because they live in a certain area."
"The U.S. drone has entered the realm of the boogeyman here in Yemen," said Haykal Bafana, a Yemeni-Singaporean international lawyer whose hometown Wadi Hadhramaut has been heavily targeted. "What's the point of winning the war against Al Qaeda if USA has to throw away all of its principles and moral values?"

Fatimah, 9, says she feels frightened from the "planes that shoot" and her heart beats fast every day when she escorts her younger siblings to school. "I'm afraid they will shoot me," she says.
In January, tribesmen blocked the main roads linking to the capital in protest of government neglect. A number of tribes had attempted to alert Yemeni authorities to the increasing presence of Al-Qaeda in their area. But the authorities did nothing. The tribes were forced to rely on themselves, taking up arms against militants in an effort to drive them out. "The reality is my tribe can protect me from Al-Qaeda, but they cannot protect me from drones," said Entisar Al-Qadhi, 30, a native of Ma'rib.
Magda Awad Mohammed, 25, was widowed from that double strike in Jaar and is now faced with a daily, gut wrenching fear that she cannot feed her three young children. Her husband Adel Ahmed Mohammed was a day laborer who often took jobs selling bananas in town. She was happy when he didn't come home that day because she assumed it meant he found work. As fate would have it, he was in a souk near to Anwar Al-Arshani's home when it was hit by a drone. "My son is sick and I don't have money to buy him medicine," Magda says. "I can't do anything for them. I am helpless now."

End
^{This is just part from the whole article published in Theatlantic.com [link] on Apr 29 2013 by Vivian Salama.}


I repeat the words of Haykal Bafana: "What's the point of winning the war against Al Qaeda if USA has to throw away all of its principles and moral values?"
I appeal to the Americans of the USA and those whose country uses drones to kill people. If, according to your morality, you feel killing these innocent civilians is wrong, then please voice your disagreement and disapproval. Voice it to the world. Voice it LOUD! Don't remain silent! Don't be part of the crime!


More on Drones:


In order to know the severity of the issue, please read more about drones. these websites could be a good start:
- Drones Watch [link]
- No Drones Network [link]


If I'm right, it's from the God. If I'm wrong, it's from myself.