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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS Congress Held Hearing for Family of Grandma Killed by Drone--Only 5 SHOWED UP!!
(This is Shameful! Praise to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.)
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Congressional No-Show at 'Heart-Breaking' Drone Survivor Hearing
In "historic" briefing, Rehman family gives heartbreaking account of drone killing of 65-year-old grandmother... to five lawmakers
Despite being heralded as the first time in history that U.S. lawmakers would hear directly from the survivors of a U.S. drone strike, only five elected officials chose to attend the congressional briefing that took place Tuesday.
Pakistani schoolteacher Rafiq ur Rehman and his two children9 year-old daughter Nabila and 13 year-old son Zubaircame to Washington, DC to give their account of a U.S. drone attack that killed Rafiq's mother, Momina Bibi, and injured the two children in the remote tribal region of North Waziristan last October.
According to journalist Anjali Kamat, who was present and tweeting live during the hearing, the only lawmakers to attend the briefing organized by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), were Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.).
IBefore the handful of reporters and scant lawmakers, however, Rafiq and his children gave dramatic testimony which reportedly caused the translator to break down into tears.
In her testimony, Nabila shared that she was picking okra with her grandmother when the U.S. missile struck and both children described how they used to play outside but are now too afraid.
"I no longer love blue skies. In fact, I now prefer grey skies. Drones don't fly when sky is grey," said Zubair, whose leg was injured by shrapnel during the strike.
My grandmother was nobodys enemy," he added.
"Nobody has ever told me why my mother was targeted that day," Rafiq wrote in an open letter to President Barack Obama last week. "The media reported that the attack was on a car, but there is no road alongside my mother's house. Several reported the attack was on a house. But the missiles hit a nearby field, not a house. All reported that five militants were killed. Only one person was killed a 65-year-old grandmother of nine."
"But the United States and its citizens probably do not know this," Rafiq continued. "No one ever asked us who was killed or injured that day. Not the United States or my own government. Nobody has come to investigate nor has anyone been held accountable."
He concluded, "Quite simply, nobody seems to care."
The purpose of the briefing, Grayson told the Guardian, is "simply to get people to start to think through the implications of killing hundreds of people ordered by the president, or worse, unelected and unidentifiable bureaucrats within the Department of Defense without any declaration of war."
The family was joined by their legal representative Jennifer Gibson of the UK human rights organization Reprieve. Their Islamabad-based lawyer, Shahzad Akbar, was also supposed to be present but was denied a visa by the US authorities"a recurring problem," according to Reprieve, "since he began representing civilian victims of drone strikes in 2011."
"The onus is now on President Obama and his Administration to bring this war out of the shadows and to give answers," said Gibson.
VIDEOS of HEARING HERE:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/29-3
You can watch a recording of the briefing below and here:
http://unmanned.warcosts.com/briefing
Rex
(65,616 posts)I mean seriously, if they don't want to do their jobs I am sure a long line of other applicants are more than willing to take their place.
A few Ds show up, because that is all we have left of our democracy.
The message here of course is that almost all of them don't care.
And I smell their approval rating at around 9%. I think mold has a better approval rating.
Shameful and pathetic.
JimboBillyBubbaBob
(1,389 posts)Well said! As simple as doing the job, pathetic is correct.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)they show up to these kinds of hearings. sounds like you need to blame yourself for the no-shows.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Are you going to cry now?
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)taking in every syllable of these heart-rending stories? Placing your physical self in solidarity with those who suffer at the hands of the great American killing machine rampaging throughout the earth?
Rex
(65,616 posts)I LOVE it when I rub people like you the wrong way...it tells me I am doing something right!
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Kewl story bro! Keep talking you are really doing a great job at embarrassing yourself...I would say again, but I don't pay that much attention to people like you.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)so yours is not really an accurate statement.
Rex
(65,616 posts)My my you certainly are desperate for attention! Please do continue...you have not embarrassed yourself quite enough for my tastes.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)maybe when I have a couple of extra minutes I can search my previous threads and point out how many times you show up in them.
Rex
(65,616 posts)This is near priceless...
Pyrzqxgl
(1,356 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)The other guy is of course being nice and sweet...nice try. NEXT.
EDIT - oh and welcome back to DU! Gone 7 years and one of your five posts (after 7 years) is to me! I am so honored...don't stay a stranger now!
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)You're not very good at it. But you do seem to have a knack for sticking up for some of the worst pieces of shit on the planet.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)attend these hearings?
<cricket><cricket>
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)Have you ever heard of doing your job as a responsible adult? Irrespective of your life experience, that's what's expected of me, and that's what I require of my elected representatives.
zabet
(6,793 posts)These PAID employees of the citizens of the US to actually do the job they get paid handsomely for. It appears we need to cut their pay to minimum wage, make them no longer exempt from ACA, and enact term limits. The vast majority have 'gotten too big for their britches'.
I know than ANY job I have ever had.....I would have been fired from if I acted like a congressperson.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Post hoc ergo prompter hoc.
Ace Acme
(1,464 posts)I'm not going to ask them to do the right thing.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)That didn't work, the pentagon had a battery backup.
Ace Acme
(1,464 posts)Congress is our most accessible democratic institution. We can meet our congressional reps, talk with them, and we can vote them out every two years if we want.
We could have a revolution every two years in this country if we wanted. But as a country we've been hypnotized into a state of cynicism and despair.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)USA!....USA!....USA!
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Everyone who is anyone was there to grin and grab.
1000words
(7,051 posts)Shameful.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)and condescending to the collateral beings. We're Exceptional, don't cha know.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)The Master Race revisited.
Trailrider1951
(3,414 posts)I think some of us are
Scuba
(53,475 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,288 posts)MuseRider
(34,111 posts)with no sense of shame.
I am ashamed, it looks like others are as well.
Maybe the lawmakers who have better things to do with their time should have let people who do care inside to show this family that we are not all without decency.
I am again embarrassed and angry at how callous and uncaring our elected officials are. None of them are really about us so how can anyone who is harmed by us in another country expect even a cursory apology? Disgusting.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)Our level of concern is determined by which party is aiming and pulling the trigger.
brett_jv
(1,245 posts)Still pretty weak turnout, but at least there's that. Kudos to these 5 for doing the right thing despite of party affiliation.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Don't know that much about Nolan.
But no Keith Ellison? Raul Grijalva? Barbara Lee?
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)they are part of the evil cabal wolfing down canapes served by Lockheed Martin, obviously!
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)All the more reason they and others (any of Silicon Valley's trio of Lofgren, Honda and Eshoo would have been nice ) should've been there.
SaveOurDemocracy
(4,400 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)nt.
1000words
(7,051 posts)yeah that is a better way of looking at it. Thanks.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)are screwing us. They may well be "wolfing down canapes".
I find it interesting that instead of dealing with the discussion head on, you choose to make absurd statements. Why dont your centrist (corporists) care about this?
It's my opinion that conservatives have no empathy. Your centrist friends are conservatives and have no empathy. They dont give a crap if an old grandmother is killed with 10 million dollars of taxpayer paid for missile hardware. It's just part of the fun.
I am curious, how do you feel about this travesty?
Rebellious Republican
(5,029 posts)sand niggers, starting with Gulf war 1 through present. Why would they show up?
Taverner
(55,476 posts)And I mean ALL of congress
The DINO DiFi, Kerry the hypocrite...
The fact that recently the hawks in our party wanted a sequel to Iraq in Syria is just more reason to conclude WE are the evil empire
polichick
(37,152 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)Some are perfect, and more appropriate than anything else.
Yours is a very good example of that category.
polichick
(37,152 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)QuestForSense
(653 posts)But you know they just don't give a damn, they don't care. Shame on THEM.
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)SaveOurDemocracy
(4,400 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)we don't want to be bothered with such piffles. After all, there's an exciting football game to be watched.
pa28
(6,145 posts)If president Obama agreed to meet the family I believe he would advance the cause of accountability in our drone program.
However, not meeting the family is also a policy statement.
"Business as usual".
ReRe
(10,597 posts).... head up there and teach the Congressmen some work ethic?
The last two sessions have been the most do-nothing Congresses I've even seen in my long life. If they were worked to death by doing good, we might give them a break. Five showed up, and all Democrats. Wonder where the rest (around 195) of the Democrats were? Did the MIC throw a big can't-miss party? Hope this shows up on the overnight on C-Span.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)VIDEOS of HEARING HERE:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/29-3
You can watch a recording of the briefing below and here:
http://unmanned.warcosts.com/briefing
ReRe
(10,597 posts)Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Hard Core no shows.
Can't stand up and face the reality they help cause.
Cowards.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Where was Justin Amash?
mike_c
(36,281 posts)Wow.
Uncle Joe
(58,366 posts)Thanks for the thread, KoKo.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)TBF
(32,067 posts)and pay for health care instead. You know, helping folks out instead of killing them.
harun
(11,348 posts)QuestForSense
(653 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Noticeably absent was anyone in the broadcast raking congress over the coals for not attending this hearing.
Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)All 231 Republicans would have shown up to impeach the President.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)- K&R
riverbendviewgal
(4,253 posts)I know that the Republicans have no guts to show up.
karynnj
(59,504 posts)hearing - and I don't think this was a hearing of a standing committee because the Republicans chair the committees in the House.