Drone Strikes Kill anti al Quada relatives – Washington Offers Sympathy and Silence

Faisal bin Ali Jaber, an engineer from Yemen, came to Washington D.C. to find out why his brother-in-law and nephew, at a meeting with local al-Qaeda to urge them to change their ways, were blown to pieces by a US drone missile.

It was the day after his son’s wedding in his native village, Khashamir, and he was eating dinner at home with several relatives when they heard a whirring from the sky. Looking out the window, he and his relatives saw a flash, and then heard a series of terrific crashes, “as if the whole mountain had exploded.” The village erupted in panic.

Mr. Jaber’s daughter, who was very close to the strike, was so traumatized that she did not get out of bed for three weeks, he said. The mother of one of the dead men went into a coma after she heard the news and died a month later.

When Mr. Jaber arrived on the scene that night, less than a mile from his house, he found bits of charred human flesh spread on the ground, he said. It was not until two hours later, through the accounts of witnesses, that the identities of the dead men and what had happened to them became clear.

Mr. Jaber’s brother-in-law, the imam, had been approached earlier that evening by three Qaeda militants who were angry about a speech the imam had delivered condemning terrorism. The imam reluctantly agreed to talk to the men, but just in case he was accompanied by Mr. Jaber’s nephew, the policeman. The volley of missiles killed all five men.

He has met with half a dozen members of Congress and officials at the State Department and National Security Council

But no one has been able to explain why his relatives were killed, or why the administration is not willing to acknowledge its mistake.

NY Times

“Everyone is living in complete horror,” Jabar said when asked about how his Yemeni friends and neighbours feel about the drone strikes, launched by the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command in Yemen.

Farea al-Muslimi, a 23-year old Yemeni journalist and activist who also met White House officials about the drones in April, said Jabar’s “heart-breaking narrative” was well known in Yemen.

“His story is a clear example how the most benefits from drone strikes go to al-Qieda, actually,” Muslimi said.

The Guardian