The Peacemaker With The Peace Prize And His Drones

Victim of Obama's first drone strike: 'I am the living example of what drones are'

Faheem Qureshi was 14 when a drone attack on his home left him with horrific injuries, several family members dead and his dreams for the future in tatters


Faheem Qureshi’s uncles sat with their neighbors, chatting, cracking jokes and sipping tea, in their family’s lounge for male guests. Qureshi, almost 14, stood nearby, bored and restless, thinking about when he could go to the nearby playground where he and the other Ziraki village kids played badminton and cricket.

It had been a long day – Friday prayers, a food shopping errand at his mother’s behest, hosting – but also a happy occasion, as people stopped by to welcome an uncle home to North Waziristan, in tribal Pakistan, from a work excursion to the United Arab Emirates. Then he heard a sound like a plane taking off.

About two seconds later, the missile punched a hole through the lounge. Qureshi remembers feeling like his body was on fire. He ran outside, wanting to throw water on his face, but his priority was escape. The boy could not see.

Even though no known terrorists or terrorists sympathizers were killed in this attack the ever compliant media in the US would report that "several terrorists militants" had been killed even though most of the victims of these attacks seem to be innocent  civilizations.

 “The US government takes seriously all credible reports of non-combatant deaths and injuries. In those rare instances in which it appears non-combatants may have been killed or injured, after-action reviews have been conducted to determine why, and to ensure that we are taking the most effective steps to minimize such risk to non-combatants in the future.

“Although we will not comment on specific cases, were non-combatants killed or injured in a US strike, condolence or other ex gratia payments, such as solatia, may be available for those injured and the families of those killed,” Price told the Guardian.

“Are we not the same human beings as these two westerners who were killed?” Qureshi asked in his first interview with an American journalist, conducted through translation. The interview was facilitated by the human rights group Reprieve.

Here's the best part: “The US government takes seriously all credible reports of non-combatant deaths and injuries. If they truly took these of incidents seriously  there would have been an investigation into what happened and how it came to be that this young man's' home was attacked. Further there the U.S. government should have provided monetary support to the family for those lost, injured and the house that was destroyed in the mistaken attack.  That will never happen.