Amnesty International Says U.S. Drone Officials Should Be Tried for War Crimes

By Joshua Keating

Read this on Slate.com

This article covers the group, Amnetsy International talks of two new reports out today cast a disturbing light on America’s drone war. One by the Amnesty International focuses on recent strikes in Pakistan and one in Yemen where the story of Mamana Bibi,

a 68-year-old grandmother killed by hellfire missiles while tending her garden on Oct. 24, 2012:

 

“She was standing in our family fields gathering okra to cook that evening,” recalled Zubair Rehman, one of Mamana Bibi’s grandsons, who was about 119ft away also working in the fields at the time. Mamana Bibi’s three granddaughters: Nabeela (aged eight), Asma (aged seven) and Naeema (aged five) were also in the field, around 115 and 92ft away from their grandmother to the north and south respectively. Around 92ft to the south, another of Mamana Bibi’s grandsons, 15-yearold Rehman Saeed, was walking home from school with his friend, Shahidullah, also aged 15.

                         

Accustomed to seeing drones overhead, Mamana Bibi and her grandchildren continued their daily routine. “The drone planes were flying over our village all day and night, flying in pairs sometimes three together. We had grown used to them flying over our village all the time,” Zubair Rehman continued. “I was watering our animals and my brother was harvesting maize crop,” said Nabeela.

 

Then, before her family’s eyes, Mamana Bibi was blown into pieces by at least two

Hellfire missiles fired concurrently from a US drone aircraft.

A second strike hit the field nearby a few minutes later, badly injuring one of Mamana Bibi’s grandsons who had run to the scene of the first explosion.

The report notes that “it is not possible for Amnesty International to fully assess the reasons behind the killing of Mamana Bibi without further information from the US authorities,” though a Pakistani intelligence source suggested that a local Taliban fighter may have used a satellite phone nearby several minutes before the strike. However, the nearest roads are almost 1,000 feet away from where she was hit. The strike came a year after now-CIA Director John Brennan.

I think that there are some crazy people out there who know that this is crazy, and maybe unconstitutional, or even not enough.  I think that we need to continue to use and re-learn with our drones for the better safety and peace of our people.  There being a long time that people have argued against that is expected but I believe that it is in the best interest of my personal view because I do feel safer that we are conducting tests and getting better.