Drone War Apocalypse

Dear Mr. President,

“There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents.” Your words at the UN on Tuesday. I thought of those words as I read the interviews with survivors, eyewitnesses and the family members of victims of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan (Living Under Drones). On January 23, 2009, 3 days after you took office, drones struck a house in Zeraki, North Waziristan and another house in Wana, South Waziristan. It was an attack against “suspected terrorist hideouts” that killed “at least 10 insurgents including five foreign nationals and possibly a high value target.” But within days that was shown not to be true. In Zeraki, between 7 and 15 people were killed, of which at least 7 and as many as 11 were civilians, including 3 children. Relatives and neighbors had gathered for tea and conversation at the home of an elder when the missile struck, a direct hit on the room in which the men were gathered. Faheem Quereshi, a 14-year-old boy was the sole survivor of the blast; he lost his left eye and suffered a fractured skull, shrapnel wounds and burns over the left side of his body. He was hospitalized for 23 days, lost hearing in one ear and has limited mobility. A top student before the strike, he is now unable to study or concentrate. His extended family has been economically devastated by the loss of primary wage earners. This was the first of 292 strikes you authorized in Pakistan; the story is repeated over and over in sickening detail, the death and maiming—physically, mentally, emotionally and economically—of innocent civilians resulting from drone attacks. On March 17, 2011 in Datta Kel, at least 3 Hellfire missiles slammed into a group of village elders and government officials gathered in a jirga to settle a dispute over a chromite mine. 42 people were killed, 12 injured. Four Taliban members were present to help resolve the issue. To this day, U.S. officials insist all were insurgents despite conclusive evidence to the contrary. As Goebbels said, if you tell a lie long enough, people will believe it. However, the war crimes that your CIA assassins commit, cannot be lied away. War crimes you authorize. Here’s more from your UN speech, “Long after these killers are brought to justice, Chris Stevens’s legacy will live on in the lives touched.” Substitute Barack Obama for Chris Stevens and think about your legacy, Mr. President. You will not be remembered as a Nobel Peace Prize winner bur rather as one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.