Amid the grim accounts of civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes, the attack that killed Faisal bin Ali Jaber’s relatives has stood out.
On August 29, 2012, a drone flying above the Yemeni town of Khashamir launched four missiles at a group of five men standing near a vehicle on a remote mountainside. All of them perished. Three of the men were suspected al Qaeda militants, but the other two were Jaber’s relatives — his nephew Walid Abdullah bin Ali Jaber was a local police officer, and his brother-in-law Salim bin Ahmed Ali Jaber was a respected imam who days earlier had publicly denounced al Qaeda.
Their deaths triggered protests across Yemen. In the years since, Faisal has committed his life to finding answers — and justice — for his slain kin.
Earlier this week, the drone killings were the focal point of a historic lawsuit that was heard in a German courtroom. Though a panel of German judges dismissed the case on Wednesday, and the current security crisis in Yemen prevented Faisal from attending the proceedings, he and his attorneys consider their effort a victory, marking the first time Germany’s role in U.S. drone strikes has been acknowledged in court.
“One of the good things to come out of the decision that was taken by the judges is that an appeal is immediately available to us,” Faisal said in a phone interview. “So the path remains clear for us to continue challenging this case in the German courts.”
Faisal filed the suit along with two of his relatives in an administrative court in Cologne in 2014. The complaint, brought by the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights as well as Reprieve, an international human rights group, alleged that by permitting the U.S. government to use its air base at Ramstein to facilitate drone strikes across the globe, Germany violated its constitutionally enshrined duty to preserve human life.
The suit called on the German government to extend right to life protections to the Yemeni plaintiffs who, the complaint alleged, live under a constant threat of extra-judicial killing made possible, in part, by the U.S. running counterterrorism operations — specifically drone strikes — out of Ramstein. As a classified document obtained by The Intercept and published in April confirmed, the sprawling air base in southwestern Germany serves as a crucial satellite relay station for so-called targeted killing operations carried out by U.S. forces around the world, including drone strikes in Yemen.
“Some people, perhaps some German people, may think that the story was really about who presses the button and perhaps Germany isn’t responsible for that,” Faisal said. “But actually, the infrastructure and what goes on behind the scenes to allow all of this to take place is crucial to the story. And the other side of the story is that innocent people are dying and suffering on a daily basis as a result of the drone program. And that’s what this case is aimed at — to help the German people understand that Ramstein plays a fundamental role in this process.”
In two hours of arguments from human rights lawyers and government attorneys, the court was presented with a range of proposals for protecting the Yemenis’ right to life, including the discontinuation of the contract that allows the U.S. military to operate the base in Germany. The judges were ultimately unconvinced that the court had the authority to discontinue the contract and noted that even if it did, the political challenges would be tremendous “because the cancellation would jeopardize many vital and authorized geopolitical and defense-related interests of the defendants.”
In the ruling dismissing the suit, judge Hildeund Caspari-Wierzoch added that “the German government is not obliged to prevent the United States from using the air base in Ramstein for executing drone strikes in Yemen.”
Kat Craig, one of the Reprieve attorneys representing the Jaber family, said the court’s decision was actually among the best outcomes the plaintiffs and their lawyers could have hoped for.
“I don’t think anybody was holding their breath about a low administrative court in Cologne deciding that the federal government had to shut down an air base that was run by the most powerful ally that they had,” Craig said. She added that the court did, however, stake out some key positions. “Significantly, they said our allegations regarding the use of Ramstein were plausible,” Craig noted. “That’s a far more robust statement than we’ve had from any institution in Germany to date.”
The court also affirmed that the plaintiffs had standing to file their complaint even though they are not German citizens and live outside Germany — thus rejecting a key argument put forward by government attorneys. Potentially paving the way for future litigation, Craig called the court’s position a “huge step forward.”
Faisal and his fellow plaintiffs have a month to file an appeal, and according to Craig, “absolutely” intend to do so.
Photo of Faisal bin Ali Jaber: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
… was fuer ein Trauerspiel fuer die (siehe Ausschnitt aus dem Artikel unterhalb, mit meinen Anmerkungen in Klammern) !!!
The judges were ultimately unconvinced that the court had the authority (?!?) to discontinue the contract (what f…. contract ?!!) and noted that even if it did (diese Aussage ist ein erneutes Armutszeugnis …), the political challenges would be tremendous “because the cancellation would jeopardize many vital and authorized geopolitical and defense-related interests of the defendants (allow me to laugh wholeheartedly).”
In the ruling dismissing the suit, judge Hildeund Caspari-Wierzoch added that “the German government is not obliged (auf Hoheitsgebiet …?! Also sind wir zugegebener Weise doch eine US-Kolonie …) to prevent the United States from using the air base in Ramstein for executing drone strikes in Yemen.”
Wo ist ein Klaeger in DenHaag ?!!
As usual, it is open season on the Germans, who in the current generation provided intelligence proving that Saddam Hussein did not have WMDs, who refused to take part in the oil adventure in Libya, who advocated strong reform of the banking system, who have taken the lion’s share of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, while we English speakers continue to believe that we are somehow better than everyone else.
The plaintiffs in this case have good reason to be encouraged, first because they were given standing (which has not happened in the US), and secondly because this case is likely to wind its way to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, where the judges are placed to influence policy at the national level. Moreover, this case provides further information in the hands of the German public, who are lamentably slow to recognize that the USA of the Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift, and “Ich bin ein [sic!] Berliner” no longer exists, having morphed itself into a fascist state.
While watching the movie “kiss the Girls”, the picture became quite clear regarding serial killers. What better place to hide evil deeds than by joining forces with those whose stated and explicit goal is to stamp out those evil deeds. Of course in the movie those forces are the FBI and local LEOs. On a much grander and global scale, the picture of patriotic and loyal soldiers carrying out their orders is troubling, in that the assumption is made that these people are just like you and I, in which case you and I would find our orders spiritually, morally, and ethically repugnant. Do we hear those considerations in discussions about the drone killings? All I ever hear is the legal cover lawyers and courts give for these planetary serial killers.
Part of the attractiveness of remote control warfare is that there is a video game mentality; just as the bombardiers during WW2 and Vietnam did not visualize the women and children being blown to bits or incinerated as a result of their actions, the drone operators never come into direct contact with the fruits of their efforts. I think that one element in the refusal of the US government, MSM, and most of its citizens to admit the horrendous toll of innocent lives in the drone attacks is its desire to maintain the illusion of innocence of the drone pilots. Were they to actually know what they are doing, perhaps they would realize they are no better than the guards in the Nazi death camps, and some of them might refuse to continue. Perhaps.
The Germans and the Australians suffer from genetic disorders that tend to attach them and their actions to their glorious past. If they spoke English they could join us as the sixth eye.
So there we have it. German judges believe that the right to life does not inhere in foreigners – at least, not in Muslims living in Asia. Mind you, the Chief Colonial Power (TM) agrees, as witness its genocide of several million Asians over the years for no particular reason. (Rich Americans were worried about the spread of horrid communism, rich Americans were worried they would lose control of oil and gas, rich Americans wanted to support Israel come hell or high water, etc). It was probably too much to hope that a German court of law would assert its independence of the Chief Colonial Power (TM), seeing that German is just as much a colony as Iraq or Yemen.
It’s interesting how legal standards vary between countries. I’m liking this German concept that you can’t be an accessory to a crime unless you press a button. Knowing that someone is committing a crime, you can rent them a place to live, provide facilities to implement the crime, give logistical support, and furnish a full range of services such as communications, electricity, heat, water and instrumentation.
Just don’t press the button.
Very astute Benito. Stepping out of character now and then looks good on you.
dronesR4cowards