Drone Victim Mohammed Saleh Qayed Taeiman, age 13 (right) who died in a drone strike in January 2015 pictured with his younger brother 2013 (NODV)
An interfaith conference consisting of 150 ministers, priests, imams, rabbis and other faith leaders gathered together to discuss Drone Warfare at Princeton Theological Seminary in late January. They spent a week discussing the impact of armed drones which they stated affected “mainly Muslims” (such as Mohammad Taiman, pictured above) and devised a statement to address this issue as follows:-
The Policy Recommendations from the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare:
IMMEDIATELY HALT LETHAL DRONE STRIKES
The Hebrew Bible states, and the New Testament affirms, “Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:15, I Peter 3:11)
The Quran teaches, “Act justly for that is what piety demands.” (49:9)
The Sikh tradition teaches that all of humanity is one family. “The sword may only be used for self-defense or to protect life when all peaceful means have failed.” (Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru of the Sikhs)
Unitarian Universalists covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
Pope Francis has said that, “War is madness” and warns that perhaps World War III has already begun, “one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction.”
We, the more than 150 religious leaders who attended the Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare at Princeton Theological Seminary, January 23-25, 2015, represent many of the world’s religions, and the Just War, Pacifist and Just Peace traditions. We are compelled to address our growing concern about the use of lethal drones by the United States and other countries.
Our concerns center on the nature of lethal drones as a weapon, namely their use in targeted killings of specific individuals most of whom are Muslims, their impact upon targeted communities, their operation by remote control, and the consequences that drones increase hostilities. After two and half days of presentations and conversation and in full awareness of the differences in our faith traditions and our beliefs about war, we have come together to issue this statement of recommendations.
1. We call on the Administration to immediately halt targeted lethal drone strikes.
2. We call on the administration to be transparent and accountable on the past use of such strikes by public disclosures including but not limited to:
- Acknowledging strikes conducted
- Accounting for victims
- Explaining official criteria for the “kill list”
- Disclose all legal justification for authorization of strikes
- Detailing the methods of investigating deaths
- Disclosing the standards and mechanisms for compensating victims
3. We call on Congress to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that has been used as a legal justification for the lethal drone program.
4. We call on the President to rescind the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency, Joint Special Operations Command, or any other government agency or contractor to use weaponized or lethal drones.
5. We call on the President and Congress to commission an independent study on the impact of lethal drones on drone operators, targeted persons and affected communities to determine the full extent of costs and consequences (including political, economic, social, psychological, racial, and religious) of the use of drones from 2001-present.
6. We call on the U.S. government to pursue a negotiated global ban on semi-autonomous and autonomous weapons systems.
7. We call on the U.S. government to press the international community to abide by and especially hold our allies accountable to the same recommendations as stated here, beginning with an immediate halt to targeted lethal drone strikes.
We call on our leaders to take us off the path of unending war by implementing these recommendations. As people of faith, we advocate the rigorous pursuit of Just Peace, based on upholding dignity and human rights for all, with resources dedicated to this alternative at a level matching that spent on the current drone warfare program.
End
Mohammad died in a lethal drone strike 26th Jan 2015 (NODV)
Pressure from community and religious leaders is valued and the US moral compass on this issue appears to be broken with indifference from government to the sufferening of civilian victims. Recently I reported on the case of Mohammed Tuaiman (age 13) who was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on 26 January in Hareeb while travelling as a passenger in a car. The strike killed him, his brother-in-law Abdullah Khalid al-Zindani and another man, see link,
Since then the Independent spoke to his older brother Maqded who stated that Mohammad (who had previously lost his father and another brother in a drone attack) used to dream of them. He is reported by his brother as saying,
“a lot of the kids in this area wake up from sleeping because of nightmares from them and some now have mental problems. They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day and night, we even dream of them in our sleep.”
Last year Mohammad told the Guardian,
“They tell us that these drones come from bases in Saudi Arabia and also from bases in the Yemeni seas and America sends them to kill terrorists, but they always kill innocent people. But we don’t know why they are killing us…..In their eyes, we don’t deserve to live like people in the rest of the world and we don’t have feelings or emotions or cry or feel pain like all the other humans around the world.”
Maqded recalled to the Independent, how he found his brother,
“I saw all the bodies completely burned, like charcoal. When we arrived we couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t move the bodies so we just buried them there, near the car.”
It will be interesting to see what response government give to the proposals from the interfaith conference and if there are any moves forward. Despite child victims travelling from Pakistan to give evidence at Congress little seems to have changed in practice.
Saadullah was injured in a drone attack, losing both legs and an eye, 3 relatives died in a strike (BBC)
I asked a well regarded local community leader in Pakistan (name withheld for security reasons) if he had seem any signs of military or Pakistan air force co-operating on drones? I had received a letter a few months ago alleging that several members of the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) were asking to be taken off “drone duty” on ethical grounds and if they refused they were being penalized over their pensions. He told me the following,
“It was 10 June 2009 morning time, my brother and 2 cousins were gone to Makeen. I was going to shop, two Pakistani jet planes came, US drone was also flying as it was a routine. It was morning time, sunlight was not fully dispersed on the ground, so planes and drone were very clear in the sky. Jet planes fly under and over the drone.. all the people with me were very excited, because we thought that perhaps government decided to take down drone but I was wrong. Jet do that for few minutes then at once go toward Makeen and drop bombs there.
I was very worried about my brother and cousins, fortunately they were safe and came back.. more than 120 people died including dozens of women and children. My cousin was for a few months psychologically disturbed. Later I got that the play of our jet planes with US drone was actually capturing their attack in the camera of drone and after that in my valley which is between Ladha and Makeen drone attacks were increased because they maybe got signal to do attacks frequently without any solid suspects proof..
I told this thing in many of my speeches and mentioned in my columns .. so madam it will be true that many officers ignore to participate in campaign there …”
Link
Jemima Khan’s Full Documentary on Drone Attacks UNMANNED America’s Drone Wars 26th October 2013
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 
Pingback: Families Demanding that the USA Clear their Name as their family was Collateral Damage in USA Drone Attacks in Yemen | Eslkevin's Blog
Reblogged this on Eslkevin's Blog and commented:
Families Demanding that the USA Clear their Name as their family was Collateral Damage in USA Drone Attacks in Yemen
The families of an anti-al-Qaeda cleric and a police officer killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen have filed a lawsuit asking a U.S. court to acknowledge their deaths were “unlawful.” Salem bin Ali Jaber and Waleed bin Ali Jaber were killed in August 2012 in eastern Yemen during a meeting with three strangers suspected of being al-Qaeda members. Yemen paid the families of Salem and Waleed a total of $155,000 in compensation for their deaths, which the families believe came from the United States. But unlike the families of the two U.S. and Italian hostages mistakenly killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, the Yemeni families have never received an apology or explanation. Alka Pradhan, an attorney representing the families with the human rights group Reprieve said the lawsuit seeks to clear the victims’ names, not obtain monetary damages.
Alka Pradhan: “This is a huge point of honor for the family. Salem being who he was, being a well-known Imam who preached against al Qaeda to have his name tarred as a militant, to have Waleed who is a police man, who enforced rule of law or tried to enforce rule of law as much as possible in Yemen, to have these two tarred as militants. The family really cannot live with that. They are not asking for money. They want an acknowledgement that this is not the case.”
Thanks for link… It is important that such points are clarified regarding whether individuals that were unlawfully killed had any link to insurgents as you say, its a point of honor for family. Often militants will state themselves if persons are not connected to them and are civilians. I recall once Taliban informing me that innocent persons had been arrested not linked to them for a crime which Taliban had owned up to in media statement and they did not want civilians punished for their activities. They even told details of crime scene to prove their point that were not in media. Reprieve and other organizations and individuals including myself have called for US to name all persons killed in drone strikes but often they don’t appear to know themselves. As someone who has litigated against governments, the last thing they usually wish to do is issue an apology even when money is paid out. Liability impinges on US “honor” and proper compensation for unlawful killing would be far more than any $155,000. I once offered to waiver any money myself for simply an apology and explanation through lawyers on other “unlawful killings” by US but it was a “no-go area”!!!
Its a sad USA policy that too many Americans give a blank check to –costing lives and tens of trillions of dollars over the past 5 days.
Pingback: Trump’s Generals Go Full-Ballistic on Yemen Civilians and Warriors alike this past month | Eslkevin's Blog