Mohammed Hailar/Reprieve
A screenshot from a video recorded by a local activist and lawyer shows the aftermath of the March 29, 2018 U.S. drone strike which killed four civilians and critically injured Adel Al Manthari near Al Ugla, Yemen.
Awaiting discharge from a hospital in Cairo, Adel Al Manthari, a Yemeni civilian, faces months of physical therapy and mounting medical bills following three surgeries since 2018, when a U.S. drone strike killed four of his cousins and left him mangled and bedridden to this day.
On October 7, President Joe Biden announced a new policy regulating U.S. drone attacks, purportedly intended to reduce the numbers of civilian casualties from the attacks.
Biden, however, did not mention any regret or compensation for the thousands of civilians like Adel and his family whose lives have been forever altered by a drone attack. Human rights organizations like the UK-based Reprieve have sent numerous requests to the U.S. Department of Defense and the State Department, seeking compensation to assist with Adel’s medical care, but no action has been taken.
Instead, Adel and his family rely on a GoFundMe campaign that has raised sufficient funds to cover his most recent surgery and hospitalization. But, Adel’s supporters are now begging for more assistance to pay for crucial physical therapy plus household expenses for Adel and two of his sons, his primary caregivers during their extended stay in Egypt. The family struggles with precarious finances, yet the Pentagon’s budget seemingly can’t spare a dime to help them.
Writing for the New York Review of Books, Wyatt Mason described a reportedly safer drone weapon, the Lockheed Martin Hellfire 114 R9X. Nicknamed the “ninja bomb,” it is an air-to-surface, drone-launched missile with a top speed of 995 miles per hour that purportedly avoids collateral damage as it carries no explosives. Yet, as Mason cites, it’s been reported in The Guardian that “The weapon uses a combination of the force of 100 pounds of dense material flying at high speed and six attached blades which deploy before impact to crush and slice its victims.”
Adel was attacked before the “ninja bomb” was fully deployed. But it is unlikely that he would have survived had his attackers hit the car in which he and his cousins were traveling with the barbaric weapon designed to slice up their broken bodies. Of course, this is little comfort to a man who recalls the day when he and his cousins were attacked.
The five of them were on their way to examine a real estate proposition for the family. One of the cousins worked for the Yemeni military. Adel worked for the Yemeni government. None of them were ever linked to terrorism. But they were targeted anyway. The impact of the missile that hit them instantly killed three of the men. Adel saw, with horror, the strewn body parts of his cousins, one of whom was decapitated by the explosion. One cousin, still alive, was rushed to a hospital where he died a few days later.
The Biden Administration wants to depict a kinder, gentler form of drone attack, avoiding collateral damage by using more precise weapons like the “ninja bomb” and assuring that Biden himself orders any attacks waged in countries where the United States is not at war. The “new” rules actually continue policies set up by former President Barack Obama.
Annie Shiel, of the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), says the new lethal force policy entrenches the previous policies. “The new lethal force policy is also secret,” she writes, “preventing public oversight and democratic accountability.”
President Biden can authorize the killing of other human beings anywhere in the world because he has determined, as he said after he ordered the drone assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri, “if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Martin Sheen, noted for his portrayal of fictional U.S. President Josiah Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing, has provided the voice-over for two cable spots critical of U.S. drone warfare. The ads began running this past weekend on CNN and MSNBC channels showing in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden’s hometown.
In both spots, Sheen, who has a long history of opposing war and human rights violations, notes the tragedy of civilians killed overseas by U.S. drones. As images of press reports about drone operator suicides roll, he asks: “Can you imagine the unseen effects on the men and women who operate them?”
Humanity faces the rising perils of climate catastrophe and nuclear weapons proliferation. We need voices of integrity like Sheen’s and the leadership of people like former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn:
“The United States has just approved its biggest-ever defense budget. These resources used for weapons are all resources not used for health, education, housing, or environmental protection. This is a perilous and dangerous time,” Corbyn wrote in April. “Watching the horror play out and then preparing for more conflicts in the future will not ensure that the climate crisis, poverty crisis, or food supply is addressed. It’s up to all of us to build and support movements that can chart another course for peace, security, and justice for all.”
Well said.
The current lineup of world leaders seem incapable of leveling with their people about the consequences of pouring money into military budgets which continue to allow “defense” corporations to profit from weapon sales worldwide. The defense industry’s fueling of forever wars and their legions of lobbyists assure that government officials continue feeding the greedy, barbaric corporate missions of outfits like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Atomics.
We must follow the bright lights arrayed across the world as grassroots movements campaign for environmental sanity and seek to abolish war. And we must engage in the gentle personalism which endeavors to tell Adel Al Manthari that we are sorry, so very sorry, for what our countries have done to him, and we earnestly wish to help.