(source: Photobucket commons)
Democracy Now makes their videos and transcripts available for public use, so as a public service, I am reposting this shocking story, certainly grounds for charges of crimes against humanity:
To see the original story, click here.
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Guest:
Feryal
Ali Gauhar, Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer and human
rights activist. She served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United
Nations Population Fund. Her most recent book, set in Afghanistan in
2002, is called No Space for Further Burials.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, I wanted to bring in another guest into
this discussion. As I was saying earlier, it's been over a month since
the floods began in Pakistan. Still, towns, villages remain submerged.
Some 21 million people have been displaced from their homes, and the
threat of forcing victims to stay outside their villages in camps or
alone on roadsides.
We're joined right now by someone who has just returned from
Pakistan. She has been working in the flood-ravaged areas. Her name is
Feryal Ali Gauhar. She's a Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer, human
rights activist. She served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United
Nations Population Fund and is the only UN Goodwill Ambassador who quit
over the invasion of Iraq. Her most recent book is set in Afghanistan.
It's called No Space for Further Burials.
Feryal Ali Gauhar, welcome to Democracy Now! It's
interesting to go from Kathy Kelly in Nevada, who's talking about this
protest at Creech, where one of the drone programs is based, to your
experience of the flooded areas in Pakistan. Can you talk about the
connection?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Well, yes, there is a very real
connection, although that's not the only element that we're concerned
about. But it is well known, if not acknowledged by--particularly by the
state, that the base for the drones, where they're housed before they
are automated, is in Pakistan. The current government has literally gone
blue in the face denying that.
But I just happened to stumble across a contractor--and that's not
the Blackwater contractor--the contractor who built the base, who
inadvertently, actually, spoke about it. But he was speaking about it in
a different context, and that context was the fact that he was there at
the time of the flooding--and, you know, this is the worst catastrophe
to have hit any state since apparently biblical times. So, he actually
mentioned to me that the River Indus, which is one of the largest rivers
in the world, carrying now a volume of water which has not been known
in contemporary history, was breached on the left bank deliberately in
order to protect the base, which is on the right bank. And the breaching
caused, consequentially, the inundation of an entire district, which
resulted in the displacement of millions, not thousands, but millions,
because we have 170 million people in the country, and this particular
district is one of the most densely populated. So, yes, there is a
connect between, you know, what is considered to be a natural disaster,
but then the management of that disaster is not natural at all.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is a base that is used, run by US
military, to run its drone attacks?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Oh, absolutely. In fact, it is a base
where non-US military personnel are not allowed. In fact, the person I
was talking who was there, who built the base, actually said to me that
one of the reasons why non-US military personnel are not allowed is not
just for security of the US military personnel, but because they do not
wish to share the technology. They are--you know, we've had a long
historical and political tie with the People's Republic of China. And
so, there is this fear that was expressed while the contractor was
working on the base that the drone technology, you know, should remain
specifically in the hands of the US military, and it should not be
replicated by any other nation. So there is that protection of the
technology itself. It's not just the protection of the personnel.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is in Sindh province?
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