drones ad hoc hearing testimony - baraa shiban
DESCRIPTION
Testimony delivered at Congressional Progressive Caucus hearing on drones and oversight for the executive's "targeted killing" authority.TRANSCRIPT
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Congresswoman Barbara, thank you for inviting me to speak. I’m Baraa Shiban, and I’m Reprieve’s Project Coordinator in Yemen investigating targeted killings. I’m also a Youth representative in Yemen’s National Dialogue, which I’ll say more about later. Today I want to explain what the secret air war has meant to the people of Yemen, and how that affects US interests. I want to be clear: Yemen faces many challenges, and al-‐Qaida is one of them. But I firmly believe these airstrikes are harming the interests of both our peoples. You have already heard that drones lead to civilian casualties. But that bland label doesn’t convey the magnitude of these mistakes, or just how damaging dead innocents are to the US’ interests in Yemen. One reason the strikes harm US and Yemeni interests is that they send the message that US either can’t or doesn’t bother to sift friend from foe. Last summer, a strike in Khashamir in southeast Yemen killed an anti-‐al-‐Qa’ida imam Salem bin Ali Jaber, and his 21-‐year-‐old nephew Waleed. Just days before he was killed the imam had denounced al-‐Qa’ida’s hateful ideology. I spoke to the imam’s relative Faisal, who said the family had feared Salem might be assassinated by militants. They had no idea he’d be killed by a US drone. And while Salem’s family only want justice, others will certainly exploit this sad story and persuade desperate Yemenis that revenge is the only way. Another reason strikes are more damaging than the US realizes is that, while the US may not be acknowledging or discussing dead civilians, Yemenis are. Reprieve interviewed several witnesses to the strike last September on the shuttle between Sabool and Radaa villages. At least 12 civilians died in this strike. One young farmer we spoke to, Ahmed, lost both parents and his ten-‐year-‐old sister in the attack. The US government has not investigated these deaths. There is no public evidence it is even trying to count them. But even in a place as poor as Radaa, many villagers have a camera phone. The farmers from Sabool showed us videos of people pulling charred bodies from the wreckage. They were scarcely recognizable. But besides the horror of it all, one thing struck me about the footage I watched. In it, you could see many Yemeni farmers gathered around the carnage filming exactly the same thing. This is how stories of US injustice percolate through Yemen. Terrible images like those I saw can take on a life of their own. US aid reaches these areas rarely, if ever. What does the US mean to these people now? A blasted car, and gruesome footage of dead families. This is not a pointless popularity contest for America. Every lethal mistake the US makes is kerosene for an insurgency. And it all comes at a critical time for Yemen. You see, we Yemenis are currently in a National Dialogue. Think of this as a sort of Constitutional Convention. This is a process the US supports to the tune of millions of
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dollars. The reason for this, of course, is that the US rightly believes Yemen’s stability is a vital national security interest. But from my many conversations, with witnesses, families, government officials and sheikhs, I can say that the secret air war in Yemen threatens to destroy this process. To ordinary Yemenis, drones make a mockery of the National Dialogue. How can a normal citizen believe in a gradual political process while his village is being hit by air strikes? How can a Yemeni buy in to “dialogue” while his children fear going to school because of drones hovering overhead? In 2011 Yemeni youth took to the streets by the thousands demanding a new, democratic civil state. We carried that spirit to the National Dialogue. But every strike on our villages and cities drains this process of legitimacy. If the US wants the Dialogue to succeed, it has to stop these self-‐defeating strikes. Sad to say, the stories I told are not the only such stories in Yemen. But I am happy to know that American officials are starting to listen to Yemeni voices. I speak to you as one of those voices. We youth know we are Yemen’s future. I can earnestly say that we want a positive relationship with the US. But we also know that this air campaign threatens the chance for a stable, prosperous Yemen. I hope the US will reconsider it. Thank you for your time.