Children of Mahweet

 

 

We are more alike than different!

“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find
all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.” - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

I remember September 11^th like it was yesterday.  I was a student at the American University campus in Washington D.C.  As students hovered over the small television watching the twin towers fall, tears rolled down my face.  “Utter cruelty” I thought to myself.  More difficult was the realization that this vicious act was done by “Muslims”.  

“This simply can’t be” I thought to myself, no person of faith can deliberately kill in the name of God! But then again, history is full of stories of “religious” Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jewish people killing innocent civilians in the name of “God”.  

While majority of Muslims condemned the 9/11 attacks, unfortunately many Americans continued to view Muslims not Al-Qaeda as the enemy.  

Last July, I was in Abyan province in Yemen, and I visited families of civilian casualties of the “War on Terror”.  These families had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda or the Yemeni military, yet US drones and Yemeni aircraft hit their homes and killed or wounded their family members.  

Hearing their stories, and seeing the photos of those killed reminded me of that feeling I had when I saw the plane hit the twin towers.  Once again I felt horrified and thought to myself “Utter cruelty”.

The effects of the global war on terror are far reaching.  No matter who the perpetrator is, murder and death of civilians can not be justified.  Every individual that was killed unjustly should be honored, and their tragedy remembered.  Simultaneously, the politics that indiscriminately kills innocent people should be criticized. This policy is counter-productive and fuels hates and keeps societies in a cycle of violence. 

The anti-American sentiment that is rising in Yemen, reminds me of the anti-Islam sentiment that swept and continues to spread in the U.S.  These reactionary feelings are a product of internalizing political differences and forgetting the humanity that we share. 

The policies of the “War on Terror” are often very divisive. And helps promote hatred, and continues the cycle of violence.   The War on Terror has also made my job of trying to “bridge the gap” between “East & West” a more difficult one.  

  

While I am very vocal about my concerns regarding both the policies of the Yemeni and American government, visa-vi the “War on Terror”, I am also very vocal that politics is one thing, human beings are another.  We should not put both in one camp. 

As a person who spent a significant amount of my life in both worlds (US & Yemen) I find it easy to float between one or the other.  In each place I go, I attempt to deconstruct some of the images people have of the OTHER. 

For example, in Yemen I tell people stories about Muslims in America who didn’t have a mosque near by, so members of a church offered them space to perform Friday prayer there. Then I watch their shocked eyes.  It seems what I said was jaw-dropping.  So I continue: “America is not only what you see in Hollywood movies.”  

In the US, I tell people how Yemenis love to host foreigners and despite misconceptions, majority of Yemenis do not like AQAP.  Again I see people’s jaws drop from shock.  I continue: “Yemen is not only what you read about in your news feed”.

We can not let politicians drive us away from our shared humanity. 
 We need to remember that we are more alike than different.  As a reminder of that, here are 10 silly facts to remind us of our similarities:

 1. Both countries have talented sportsmen with skills for high jumping.  In Yemen the camel jumping tradition, and in the US the “slam dunking” tradition.  

camel jumping sport, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/The-Sport-of-Camel-Jumping.html

Slam dunking in the US

 
2.  Both countries have very low percentage of women in Parliament/Congress.  Women hold 90, or 16.8%, of the 535 seats in the 112th US Congress — 17, or 17.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 73, or 16.8%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.[1]  In Yemen the number of women  in parliament fell from 11 in 1993 to only 1 in 2003. (but there is a high chance it will increase to 30% with a quota that women are currently pushing for).

3.  Both countries love their STARS. Starbuger in Yemen and Starbucks in the U.S.

4.  The death penalty is legal in both countries.  And large groups in the population support the death penalty, despite the efforts of human rights activists for reform.

5.  Both societies have their own popular political satire show.  Daily Show in the US, Aakis Khat (against the Current) in Yemen.    
6.     Average citizens in both countries are very friendly and very welcoming.

7.     In both countries the Military Budget as percentage of GDP is very high: US its 4.060%, Yemen 6.600% [2]

8.  Both societies love movies.  Hollywood makes movies, Yemenis sell the latest movies in every corner, sometimes before they’re even released in the U.S.!

9. In both countries, if you have money you can get proper health care, if you don't, your screwed.

10.   U.S. & Yemen both lead the world in guns (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2012/07/2012726141159587596.html)

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[1] Center for American Women and Politics, http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/Congress-CurrentFacts.php

[2] Info taken from http://www.aneki.com/comparison.php?country_1=United%20States&country_2=Yemen

Invisible Casualties of the War

First published in Al-Akhbar

The life of fourteen-year-old Ali Alkhadr from Abyan was changed forever on 9 May 2011. Returning from a family visit in al-Mihrab village, Ali was hit by shrapnel from an air-strike that tore his jaw wide open. Air-strikes in the South that target al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) often indiscriminately kill or wound anyone in the surrounding area, including civilians, without warning.

According to Ali’s father, Alkhadr Ali Hassan, Doctors without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) generously conducted 1 million Yemeni Riyal ($4,660) worth of reconstructive surgery. Yet Ali still needs a lot more. The once studious teenager dropped out of school due to depression.

“He refuses to see his classmates because he is disfigured. It’s been eight months and there is nothing I can do to help my son,” said the boy’s father. “He does not want to go to school and one time I hospitalized him because he overdosed on drugs. I believe he wanted to end his life, and it pains me to see that. I don’t know what to do,” he added.


Ali Alkhadr is not alone in a country where civilians are often caught in the middle between militants and the government. These civilians are ignored in the mainstream media and their deaths denied by governments.

For a decade, US policy in Yemen has centered on counter-terrorism cooperation with Yemeni security forces through the training and funding of counter-terrorism units, targeted assassinations small on-the-ground operation units, and drone attacks. 

 

Terrorism is of grave concern in Yemen, and its consequences are far reaching. On Saturday 4 August 2012, locals in Jaar were the targets of a bombing by militants that killed at least 40 people. The Yemeni and US government’s response to these attacks in Yemen has included arbitrary arrests, homes being demolished, death and injuries, and displacement of civilians.
Since January 2012, there have been over 60 US air-strikes in Yemen, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), killing hundreds of civilians.

On 15 May 2012, an air-strike, believed to be a US drone, hit a civilian home. People nearby ran to see what had happened and to help the injured inside. 

“About 15 minutes later, another plane suddenly struck the same building killing 15 people, including my brother,” said 19-year old Hassan Ahmed Abdullah recounting the incident. “He was wounded by shrapnel in his chest, liver, and neck. He also had burns on 50 percent of his body.”

From scarred people to destroyed buildings, Abyan carries many testaments to the war on terror.

Most of the civilian homes in the impoverished area of al-Kod were destroyed by air-strikes and heavy artillery. This area houses some of the poorest people in Yemen. 

Bombs did not only hit homes but also struck schools and even the largest hospital in Abyan, al-Razi hospital.

“The bombing of al-Razi hospital was a tragedy, and I believe we will suffer from it for years to come, especially in light of Yemen’s economic social and political deterioration,” said psychologist and Jaar resident, Wahib Saad who also stressed the psychological trauma of such attacks.

 

US drones have not only resulted in death and destruction, but have also been counter productive to the counter-terrorism efforts, because with each casualty, militants groups gain more members.

“Today, when I hear a plane I immediately run to the house” said seven-year-old Ahmed. Ahmed’s drawings and the other children’s show images of darkness, death, and destruction, indicating that the generations to come will need much more than financial compensation to recover.
While many residents of Abyan believe that US strikes are more accurate in hitting their desired targets than Yemeni ones, the majority believes that the implications of US bombing are disastrous.

This is seen from the fact that US strikes are seen as an invasion, an occupation and a breach of sovereignty. A citizen journalist who preferred to remain anonymous said to me, “Let’s be honest, I am against US intervention. The Yemeni government has the right to rely on the US for help but not when the US is using Yemenis against their own brothers. As a southern separatist, I believe that we are already under two occupations, by the North and the militants, and I don’t want a third occupation by the Americans,” he said.

US drones have not only resulted in death and destruction, but have also been counter productive to the counter-terrorism efforts, because with each casualty, militants groups gain more members.
“These attacks have negative impacts on psyches of children who keep hearing: this is America that is killing you, don’t you have the pride and courage to fight it?” said Saad.

Similarly it has enabled militants to make people question the concept of a civil democratic state. A photo of a mosque destroyed by an air-strike with “This is democracy, even mosques have been destroyed” written on its wall summarizes what people view as American ideology.

The strikes have also helped hard-line Islamists recruit members. In a pamphlet distributed by a mosque in Aden, 15 lines denounced cooperation with the US on the basis that the drones kill innocent civilians. “Oh Muslims, do you know that the Americans are now in Yemen? Who allowed them to kill our sons and brothers every day using drones?

 

A photo of a mosque destroyed by an air-strike with “This is democracy, even mosques have been destroyed” written on its wall summarizes what people view as American ideology.

 

The strikes have increased anti-American sentiment in the country as a whole. In a rare public demonstration in Change Square in Sanaa, some protesters burned American flags in a protest entitled “No to American meddling.” Despite the grave violations against citizens, the Yemeni government has ignored the civilians and the majority of the wounded have not received any compensation. With no means to seek justice or redress for the unlawful attacks, young brothers, friends and relatives of those killed become easy targets for militant recruitment. “I will even join Satan if I have to in order to get revenge for my wounded seven year old son,” said one angered father from Jaar who preferred to remain anonymous.

The Yemeni government is a partner in these targeted strikes. Former President Saleh gave the US open access to Yemen’s air space to be used for air-strikes against AQAP. This policy continues today under the new transitional government, even with the presence of the former opposition, who previously called against these airstrikes. 

Despite the high number of civilian casualties due to air-strikes, many leading politicians and activists, including Nobel Peace Prize winner, Tawakkul Karman, have not advocated on their behalf. 

While we were sitting in the field clinic in Jaar, Wahib Saad asked a young boy: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The boy answered with utter silence. “See, he doesn’t have a dream” commented Dr. Saad, “I remember when I was his age I wanted to be a pilot. If this child has no dream, then we are a country with no hope.”