Zardari, Kayani, and Corp Commanders are accessories in the drone attacks and are liable under International Law. They can be brought before The Hague International Court of Justice and tried for crimes against humanity.
Islamic View: Allah, al-Muntaqim
ALLAH’S LAW
An Islamic View on Allah’s retribution on those who kill innocents non-combatants.
The Beautiful Names of Allah:
al-Muntaqim : The Avenger, The Disapprover, The Inflictor of Retribution
The One who disapproves of wrongdoers.
The One who reminds us when our behavior is not right.
The One who is the avenger (such that we need not seek any personal revenge).
The One and Only One who has the right to exact vengeance.
Allah Almighty is the ultimate inflictor of retribution. Allah is al-Adl (the judge), Equalizer and Punisher.
Allah’s drones may be in any shape or form. No one, except Allah Knows and Allah is All-Knowing. But one learns from history of natural, social, economic, monetary, military, disasters, and other horrific events, which brought upon death and destruction of the oppressors like Hitler to Tojo, and their people, the Germans and the Japanese. Their nations wore ultimately decimated into rubble. Other oppressor nations may suffer may suffer natural disasters like tornados (drone like and un-predictable and do not discriminate), hurricanes, earthquakes, heavy rains & floods, disease, pestilence, economic deprivation like unemployment, job losses, national malaise, crime and famine, and above all a sense of national guilt which corrodes the soul and persist like a dagger in the heart.
But, will the perpetrators of drone attacks and their cohorts in Pakistan Asif Zardari, Gilani, Raja Rental, Rehman Malik, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, and his Corp Commander connect the dots, when Allah’s punishment comes. It will be too little, too late, even, if they repent!
A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
A Biblical View of God’s Wrath Against Those who kill and oppress innocent peole
LAWS OF HUMANITY
An accessory to a crime is any individual who knowingly and voluntarily participates in the commission of a crime. An accessory is not typically present at the scene of the crime, but contributes to the success of the crime before or after the fact. A person charged as an accessory to a crime before the fact is one who incites, abets, or aids a person in the commission of a criminal act. An individual who is an accessory after the fact receives, shelters, comforts, relieves, or assists a felon after the crime has been committed. A person can be an accessory if they provide any support or assistance, whether financially, emotionally, or factually.
By law, an accessory can be held as liable as the principle actor who carries out the criminal act. If a person is an accessory to a felony crime, they too can be charged with committing a felony offense and subject to penalties accordingly. However, there may be different penalties for being an accessory versus a principle actor in a crime. Federal law states that a person who is convicted of an accessory crime shall be subject to a penalty that does not exceed half of the maximum incarceration or fine for the principle act of the crime. If the principle crime is punishable by death, the accessory to the crime will not be imprisoned for more than fifteen years. These provisions are subject to exceptions as made by the federal government. State accessory laws may be similar to federal laws.
Accessory crimes and punishments are subject to the laws applicable to state or federal laws depending on the criminal offense. Some states accessory laws echo common law definitions of an accessory crime. Common law considers an accessory as guilty as the principle player(s) in a crime. Many states today, however, make a distinction between the severity of an accessory crime after the fact and the principle criminal act.
An accessory after the fact is an individual who knowingly shelters or aids a criminal after they commit a crime. The accessory does so in order to help the felon evade arrest or criminal prosecution. In some states the crime of being an accessory after the fact is considered less severe than the actual crime that was committed. Even in states with this distinction, an accessory can still be held just as liable for the criminal act as the perpetrator. Some states have provisions which do not consider a criminal’s spouse an accessory after the fact if they receive or comfort their spouse after a criminal act.
An accessory can be charged with being a conspirator in a crime when they had a higher degree of involvement in planning the crime or facilitating its commission. Conspiracy and accessory charges are technically different, but most of the time a person can be charged with both. A conspirator is an accessory to a crime that unlawfully plans a criminal act. In some cases, a conspirator can be found guilty even if the crime was never carried out, making this accessory offence legally controversial. Typically, one conspirator had to have committed an overt action, indicating that the conspiracy was put into action, in order for conspiracy charges to apply.
For a person to legally be found guilty of an accessory offense, the prosecutors must prove that the defendant had knowledge of the crime that was going to be, or had been, committed. The prosecutors must also prove that the alleged accessory had intentionally acted to help the criminal in the commission of the offense. A person who unknowingly houses a person who has just committed a crime, for instance, may not be charged with an accessory offense because they did not have knowledge of the crime. Spouses may also be exempt from accessory charges.
THE CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
U.S. predator drone attacks may constitute war crimes and all such killings can encourage others to flout human rights standards, a U.N. investigator said.
Defending armed drone use by calling them a valid response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States is unjustifiable, Christof Heyns, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told a U.N. Human Rights Council conference in Geneva, Switzerland, after Russia and China issued a joint statement to the council condemning drone attacks.
The CIA’s use of armed drones in places like Pakistan and Yemen began under President George W. Bush but has grown dramatically under President Barack Obama.
Drones
The Drone War in Numbers
Civilians reported killed: 391 – 780
Children reported killed: 175
Total strikes: 309
Obama strikes: 257
According to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
175 children killed in just 309 lethal strikes
“Even one child death from drone missiles or suicide bombings is one child death too many. Children have no place in war and all parties should do their utmost to protect children from violent attacks at all times.” Sarah Crowe, UNICEF
Remote Killiing of Civilians
The US has used armed drones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. There are already around 60 military and CIA bases around the world connected to the drone programme and more are being planned. Read more
The UK is currently using armed drones in Afghanstan.
Israel has used armed drones against Syria, Lebanon, Sudan and Palestine
175 children have already been killed by US drones, 160 of them in Pakistan. Read more
Pakistani civilian victims vent anger over US drones
In regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan children are having to live with the fear that they could be killed at any point in time by unmanned drones patroling the sky.
Drone Attack on Girls School (North Waziristan)
Read more by Kathy Kelly…
The Indefensible Drones: A Ground Zero Reflection
Watch Youtube video
US Drone Attacks in Pakistan – Murad Khan Aljazeera
2010, The Year of Assassination by Drones
Photos from an attack on Darpa Khel village, North Waziristan August 2009 [Reuters]
The graph below shows how suicide bombing in Pakistan is almost directly proportional to the drone attacks, rather than drone attacks lessening the chance of suicide bombings as claimed by the US. Read more
Drone wars expanding into Africa
The US use of drones is helping to extend the war on terror into Africa whilst evading accountability to congress under the provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. For example, US operations in Libya have not involved “…sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.”
Thus war is not war if US troops are not in the line of fire. The Obama administration is devising a new tactic – that of long-range missiles and the increasing use of the CIA and Joint Service Operations Command (JSOC) to conduct drone strikes and be the invisible army on the ground.
Risk-Free And Above The Law: U.S. Globalizes Drone Warfare
America’s Secret Empire of Drone Bases
U.S. Establishes New Drone Bases for African Shadow Wars
What are drones?
Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They are aircraft which are either controlled by pilots on the ground, often thousands of miles away from the action, or are programmed to function autonomously without any direct human control. Drones can be used for reconnaisance and surveillance or to drop missiles and bombs.
Pilotless aircraft have been experimented with since the World War I. The first ‘aerial torpedo’ was the Kettering Bug first flown in 1918 but developed too late to be of use in the war. By World War II, radio-controlled surveillance and assault drones had been developed by the US Navy. In 1942 an assualt drone successfully delivered a torpedo attack from a distance of 20 miles but their utililisation remained limited. The use of drones for reconnaissance took off during the Vietnam war but it was the 1980s which saw a significant development in their military use. The Predator RQ-1L, made by General Atomics was deployed in the Balkans in 1995, in Iraq in 1996 and Afghanistan from 2001. This was followed by the development of the Reaper, (also known as Predator B) which became operational in 2007.
MQ-9 Reaper Hunter/Killer UAV
The drones used in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are controlled from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada which is home to the 432d Wing pilots who fly the MQ-1B Predator and MQ-9 Reaper aircraft in support of US and Coalition troops.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Air Force Senior William Swain operates a sensor control for an MQ-9 Reaper during a training mission on Aug. 8, 2007, at Creech Air Force Base.
The drones are used for three main purposes: to support ground troops under attack by launching missiles and bombs from the air; giving a 24 hr a day surveillance of the ground and observing the ‘pattern of life’; to conduct targetted killings.
Watch Youtube video
The CIA also, reportedly, controls a fleet of drones from its headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in coordination with pilots near hidden airfields in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The drones are reportedly flown by civilians, including both intelligence officers and private contractors (often retired military personal) and the list of targets approved by senior Government personnel, although the criteria for inclusion and all other aspects ofthe program are unknown. The CIA is not required to identify its target by name; rather, targeting decisions may be based on surveillance and “pattern of life” assessments.
U.S. Legal Adviser Harold Koh Asserts Drone Warfare Is Lawful Self-Defense Under International Law
US Deadly Drone Attacks-News Analysis-10-16-2011
Robotic killing
Drones are increasing the remote and robotic nature of modern hi-tech warfare. They are encouraging a ‘playstation mentality’ amongst the troops where killing is simply watching the movement of figures or vehicles on the ground, pushing a button and seeing them engulfed in an explosion plume. There is a huge margin of error, often because of faulty intelligence, and civilian casualties are mounting. According to Pakistan bodycount, 2867 people have been killed or injured by drones in Pakistan alone, with a 2.5% success rate against Al-Qaida. Figures for Afganistan and Iraq are unknown. There is also no measure for the terror and psychological damage being done to the millions of children and adults who are in the constant sights of these unmanned systems.
The Weapons
The MQ-9 Reaper carries a variety of weapons including the GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb, the AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles (including the Thermobaric version AGM- 114N), the AIM-9 Sidewinder and recently, the GBU-38 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) Testing is underway to support the operation of the AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missile. The Reaper can remain for 14 – 16 hours in the air.
UK use of drones
The Royal Air Force operates General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, carrying GBU-12 Paveway 11 precision guided bimbs and AGM-14 Hellfire air to surface missiles. The Government is refusing to disclose how many of the 84 Hellfire missiles launched from Reaper drones have been the AGM-14N (thermobaric) missiles.
- There have now been over 190 drone strikes in Afghanistan by British Reaper crews
- Hellfire missiles are three times more likely to be uses than the 500lb bomb
A second RAF drones squadron is to be based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire in 2012. RAF pilots will control the Reaper drones currently flying in Afghanistan from there rather than from the US Air Force base Creech in Nevada as they do at present. The UK Reaper capability will be doubled to 10 aircraft.
Watchkeeper
The WK450 Watchkeeper UAV is a collaboration between Thales UK and Elbit. It will be deployed to Afghanistan in 2012. It is currently unarmed but this could change at a later date. In the meantime it will be used by the Royal Artillery along with a ‘loitering munition’ prowler bomb – a bomb which is fired up into the sky where it can loiter for up to ten hours until it is given the signal to plunge.
Thales UK provides interim tactical UAV services using unarmed Hermes 450s leased from the Israeli firm Elbit.
Drones and Death: The Israeli Connection
BAE Systems are also developing their own armed UAV, Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder.
Watch Youtube video
New UAV ’Taranis’ Unveiled For Ministry Of Defense
The UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft Systems pdf Ministry of Defence, March 2011
Future of UK’s largest missile range secure says MoD
Drones an answer to peak oil?
The military in the US and UK are well aware of the need to shift from major oil dependency. The Pentagon is currently the largest single oil consumer in the world. Solar powered drones are part of the solution.
Solar powered Unmanned Aircraft
Further information and campaign groups
Bro Emlyn for Peace and Justice
US Drone Strike Kills 21 in North Waziristan
Six Missiles Fired at House in Datta Khel
At least 21 people were killed today and three others wounded when US drones attacked a house in Datta Khel, North Waziristan Agency today. The strike destroyed the home, with six missiles being fired at it.
Officials were quick to label everyone slain as “suspects” and said that four of the people in the house were believed to be “foreigners.” The strike sparked panic across the area, and drones are reportedly still looming overhead. As usual none of the victims have been named.
It is the first strike since Pakistanreopened the border to occupied Afghanistan earlier this week, and the deadliest single attack in months. The border was closed in November to protest US attacks on Pakistani military bases, which killed 24 soldiers. It reopened after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally agreed to apologize for the killings.
US drone strikes against Pakistan have been hugely controversial, and the Pakistani parliament has demanded their end, calling on the cabinet to condition reopening the border on the end of the strikes. Despite this call, the border remains open.
