Family of grandmother killed in US drone strike arrive for Congress visit

[Indi Guy]

Source: the guardian

Drawing on a pad of paper in a Washington DC hotel, Nabeela ur Rehman recalled the day her grandmother was killed. "I was running away," the nine-year told the Guardian. "I was trying to wipe away the blood." "It was as if it was night all of the sudden."

The date was 24 October 2012, the eve of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holy day. Nabeela's father, Rafiq ur Rehman, a school teacher living in the remote Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan, was dropping off sweets at his sister's home when it happened.

He had hoped to make the visit a family affair but his mother urged him to go alone. Rafiq did as she wished then stopped at the local mosque for evening prayers before taking the bus home. As the vehicle came to a halt at his stop, Rehman noticed something unsettling: members of his community were preparing to bury a body at a small graveyard nearby. "I got a little worried," Rehman said. He asked a boy what was going on. The child informed him that the mother of a man named Latif Rehman had been killed in a drone attack. The boy did not know the man he spoke to was Latif Rehman's younger brother.


"That's when I first knew," Rehman said, describing how he learned of his mother's death. The fruits Rehman had collected at the bazaar fell from his hands. "I just dropped everything. I was in a state of shock," he said. Rehman feared the worst. He knew his children were with their grandmother. "I frantically ran to my house." Rehman arrived home to find that the charred remains of his mother had already been buried. Two of his children, Nabeela and her 12-year-old brother, Zubair, had been injured and taken to a nearby hospital, neighbors said. "At that point, I thought I had lost them as well," Rehman said...



Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/27/drones-attack-pakistan-family-rehman-congress

[Thinkingabout]

1. I wonder why families are residing in compoundswhere the weapons are stored, seems this would

Not be a safe for children to reside.

[go west young man]

7. Evolve.

[Dragonfli]

10. Um, harvested fruit is not the same as weapons and a grandma should be able to store such produce

without being blown up for it.

Slow day at FR?

[Thinkingabout]

11. The question is why is a grandmother living in a compound where weapons are stored, if

I am concerned about safety I would not be living in a compound and having my grandchildren around where weapons are stored which could blow up and injure myself or my grandchildren. Picking fruit in a compound where weapons are stored is not a safe area to be. Do you think for a moment OHSA is monitoring the storage of these weapons? Safety first, don't go running across an interstate highway when you know cars are going very fast.

[Dragonfli]

14. Why do you claim grandma had a stockpile of weapons? Was she NRA?

A home is not a "compound" and I have heard nothing about any stockpiles, just average except perhaps as "reported" on places you frequent (I don't follow far right news sources) - Hint rudge and FOX makes shit up.

[Thinkingabout]

15. I did not have to search very far and I found the information, here lies the problem,

a portion of the story gets written up and the rest of the details does not, ergo, it sounds like they targeted grandma but there was more. I do not know if she is a part of the NRA, don't know what her relationship to the targets may have been. Search for drone strikes on the date in the article and there is the rest of the information. It wasn't just grandma who died in this strike.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

3. Blaming the victim.

...

[Indi Guy]

4. Indeed.

Where were we when the NeoCon Kool-Aid got passed around the DU?

[go west young man]

6. Too true..

I don't recognize this place sometimes. DU'ers blaming innocent people because they live in the Middle East or are Muslim. It's antithesis to what liberals stand for. Kudos to Robert Greenwald and Alan Grayson for helping this family to make their case. Grayson is more impressive everyday. He's someone all democrats should aspire to be like.

[Riftaxe]

5. How do you ensure all the victims are Islamic

when you randomly fire them into crowds and houses of people?

The fact that you're a fan of collective punishment is as obvious as it is appalling.

[go west young man]

8. Evolve.

[debunkthis]

9. How can we justify

extrajudicial killing in any form and then call ourselves a civilized society?

[Indi Guy]

12. Killing of any sort by our military must be scrutinized with extreme diligence.

There are no do-overs; and "sorry" can't make up for errors or so called "collateral damage."

[polly7]

13. K&R. nt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Pakistani family of drone strike victim give harrowing testimony to Congress

Translator brought to tears by family's plea as Congress hears from civilian victims of alleged US drone strike for the first time

The family of a 67-year-old midwife from a remote village in North Waziristan told lawmakers on Tuesday about her death and the "CIA drone" they say was responsible. Their harrowing accounts marked the first time Congress had ever heard from civilian victims of an alleged US drone strike.

Rafiq ur Rehman, a Pakistani primary school teacher who appeared on Capitol Hill with his children, Zubair, 13, and Nabila, 9, described his mother, Momina Bibi, as the "string that held our family together". His two children, who were gathering okra with their grandmother the day she was killed, on 24 October 2012, were injured in the attack.

"Nobody has ever told me why my mother was targeted that day," Rehman said, through a translator. "Some media outlets reported that the attack was on a car, but there is no road alongside my mother’s house. Others reported that the attack was on a house. But the missiles hit a nearby field, not a house. All of them reported that three, four, five militants were killed."
...
An Amnesty International report, published last week, lists Bibi among 900 civilians they say have been killed by drone strikes, a far higher number than previously reported. The Amnesty report said the US may have committed war crimes and should stand trial for its actions.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/29/pakistan-family-drone-victim-testimony-congress

[Enrique]

17. and FIVE members of Congress show up to hear the testimony

[Indi Guy]

18. Unconscionable...

...both the attacks and the little attention paid.

I hope all the knee-jerk flag wavers are proud. "U-S-A, U-S-A!"