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Opponents demand end to US drone strikes, secrecy
[Pak Daily Times] Activists opposed to US drone strikes against al Qaeda suspects demanded Friday an end to the secrecy surrounding the attacks, saying the bombings have claimed numerous civilian lives. "We are questioning the entire issue of a policy that is done under the shadows of secrecy without accountability," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the CodePink anti-war group. "If indeed this is a program that is supposed to be designed for reaching high-level al Qaeda members who are about to kill us Americans, this program is very much off the mark," Benjamin told a news conference. Benjamin was accompanied by Yemeni families whose relatives were killed in drone missile strikes, as well as Yemeni civil society advocates. One member of the Yemeni delegation included Faisal bin Ali Jaber, who lost a brother-in-law and a 21-year-old nephew in a drone strike on August 19, 2012. Jaber's brother-in-law had been a holy man known for his opposition to al Qaeda, and his late nephew was a policeman, activists said. "What we see as a result, is how counterproductive this policy is, how it has led to a growing anti-American sentiment," Benjamin said. The drone operations have been approved by Yemen's president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi but denounced by his own party as well as the National Dialogue, which gathers members of the country's civil society, according to Baraa Shiban, a member of the organization who also investigates drone attacks for a human rightsOne man's rights are another man's existential threat. group. "The image that is created by the American government doesn't really help us at the National Dialogue, Shiban said. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-17 |
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