U.S. President Barack Obama. (AFP Photo/Michael Francis McElroy – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
SitiWanMahani - 2 kumpulan tentera utama berkaitan, Pegawai Rusia dan IBU Askar (Soldiers’ Mothers), telah ditangani Jawatankuasa Nobel dengan permintaan untuk menilai kenya-taan tidak berperikemanusiaan yang dibuat oleh Presiden Amerika Syarikat yang merujuk kepada peperangan Drone.
“Saya ingin membawa kepada perhatian anda bahawa ahli-ahli organisasi kami terkejut dan marah dengan kenyataan yang dibuat oleh pemenang Hadiah Nobel dan Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama (the statement made by the Nobel Prize laureate and US President Barack Obama) yang dipetik dalam ‘Double Down’ buku oleh Mark Halperin dan John Heilemann,” kata ketua ‘Pegawai-pegawai Rusia NGO semua – rasmi Rusia, Anton Tsvetkov, telah menulis dalam surat itu kepada jawatankuasa itu, seperti yang dipetik oleh laman berita Infox.ru.
“Sementara membincangkan penggunaan pesawat dalam operasi ‘Counterterrorist’ dalam sidang tertutup dengan pembantunya, Barack Obama sinis menyatakan bahawa adalah beliau ‘sangat bagus pada membunuh orang” (‘very good at killing people’). Sehubungan dengan ini kami meminta anda untuk memberi penilaian undang-undang dan moral rasmi Barack kata-kata Obama berhubung dengan keserasian mereka dengan tajuk yang tinggi, Hadiah Nobel, Nobel Keamanan,” tambah aktivis Rusia.
Tsvetkov kepada pemberita pada sidang akhbar di Moscow yang profesional dalam orga-nisasi tentera beliau adalah kuat terhadap penggunaan pesawat Drone dalam pertem-puran sebagai senjata ini sering menyebabkan kecederaan di kalangan orang2 awam. Beliau mendakwa Pegawai Rusia mempunyai maklumat membuktikan bahawa Obama sendiri membenarkan penggunaan pertempuran Drone semasa misi di Pakistan, Yaman, Afghanistan, Somalia dan negara-negara lain.
Pengerusi Jawatankuasa IBU Askar’, Flora Salikhovskaya, berkata kumpulan itu telah menyokong alamat ini sambil menambah bahawa menyelesaikan semua masalah melalui kuasa tentera telah menjadi tanda dagangan Barack Obama.
“Sebagai seorang IBU dan seorang peguam Hak Asasi Manusia, saya tidak dapat mema-hami memandu beliau. Saya tidak dapat memahami kenyataan oleh Presiden sebuah negara yang dia boleh membunuh orang. Obama mesti sama ada meminta maaf sebelum semua orang untuk kenyataan atau memberi [Peace] hadiah kembali (or give the [Peace] prize back) dan mengakui bahawa dia masih belum berkembang sehingga mempunyai tajuk yang tinggi,” katanya.
Seorang ahli yang tinggi diletakkan daripada Pegawai kumpulan Rusia, Aleksandr Mikhailov, berkata bahawa di Rusia walaupun penembak tepat tentera tidak pernah bercakap mengenai kemahiran mereka dalam pembunuhan.
“Mereka biasanya mengatakan bahawa mereka bekerja dengan sasaran. Satu lagi tidak perlu bercakap megah perkara itu!” Kata Mikhailov sidang akhbar.
Kedua-dua pemimpin NGO Rusia berkata mereka berharap ahli-ahli Jawatankuasa Nobel akan mengendahkan surat mereka. Mereka menambah bahawa ramai pakar telah menya-takan bahawa Hadiah Keamanan diserahkan kepada Obama adalah jenis pendahuluan yang diberikan sebagai balasan kepada janji-janji dan kenyataan akhbar yang dibuat semasa kempen pilihan raya sebelumnya. Tetapi dalam realiti perbuatan pemimpin Amerika Syarikat bercanggah dengan retorik yang lebih awal dan ini bermakna bahawa ‘terlebih dahulu’ boleh dibatalkan, aktivis mengariskan.
Sejak mengambil alih jawatan pada tahun 2008, dan memenangi Hadiah Nobel Keamanan pada tahun 2009, Obama telah meluaskan penggunaan pesawat dan pembunuhan yang disasarkan di negara-negara asing. Biro Kewartawanan Siasatan di London sebelum ini melaporkan bahawa pemimpin Amerika Syarikat telah membenarkan 326 serangan di Pakistan sahaja. Ia juga menganggarkan bahawa , sejak George W. Bush mengambil alih jawatan bagi penggal ke-2 pada tahun 2004, serangan telah membunuh mana-mana sahaja di antara 2,500 dan 3,600 individu, dan antara 416 dan 948 daripada individu-individu adalah orang2 awam
White House mendakwa bilangan orang awam dibunuh oleh pesawat adalah jauh lebih rendah daripada itu, tetapi ia tidak pernah mengeluarkan angka sendiri. Obama sendiri wajar program berdengung awal tahun ini, dengan mengatakan bahawa ia menghalang kematian lebih orang awam di tangan pengganas.
Kedudukan rasmi pihak Amerika Syarikat adalah bahawa semua ‘lelaki tentera umur’ dalam zon serangan boleh dianggap pejuang dan dirawat dengan sewajarnya.
‘Retract Peace Prize’: Russian NGOs blast Obama
over ‘killing people’ confession . . .
Two major military-related groups, Officers of Russia and Soldiers’ Mothers, have addressed the Nobel Committee with a request to evaluate the inhumane statements made by the US president in reference to drone warfare.
“I would like to bring to your attention that the members of our organization were surprised and outraged by the statement made by the Nobel Prize laureate and US President Barack Obama quoted in the book ‘Double Down’ by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann,” the head of the all-Russian NGO ‘Officers of Russia’, Anton Tsvetkov, wrote in the letter to the committee, as quoted by the Infox.ru news site.
“While discussing the use of drones in counterterrorist operations in a closed conference with his aides, Barack Obama cynically noted that he was ‘very good at killing people.’ In connection with this we ask you to give an official legal and moral assessment of Barack Obama’s words in relation to their compatibility with the high title of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate,” the Russian activist added.
Tsvetkov told reporters at a press conference in Moscow that military professionals in his organization were strongly against the use of drone aircraft in combat as this weapon often causes casualties among civilians. He claims the Officers of Russia possess information proving that Obama personally sanctioned the combat use of drones during missions in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries.
The chairwoman of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, Flora Salikhovskaya, said that her group was supporting this address adding that solving all problems through military force has become Barack Obama’s trademark.
“Being a mother and a Human Rights advocate, I cannot understand his drive. I cannot understand the statement by the president of a nation that he can kill people. Obama must either apologize before everybody for his statement or give the [Peace] prize back and admit that he has not yet grown up to bear this high title,” she noted.
A high placed member of the Officers of Russia group, Aleksandr Mikhailov, noted that in Russia even military snipers never boasted about their proficiency in killing.
“They usually say that they work with targets. One should never brag of such things!” Mikhailov told a news conference.
Both Russian NGO leaders said they hope the Nobel Committee members will heed their letter. They added that many experts had noted that the Peace Prize handed to Obama was a sort of advance given in return for promises and press statements made during the previous election campaign. But in reality the deeds of the US leader contradict his earlier rhetoric and this means that the ‘advance’ can be rescinded, the activists underlined.
Since taking office in 2008, and winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, Obama has greatly expanded the use of drones and targeted killings in foreign nations. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London earlier reported that the US leader had authorized 326 strikes in Pakistan alone. It also estimates that, since George W. Bush took office for his second term in 2004, the strikes have killed anywhere between 2,500 and 3,600 individuals, and that between 416 and 948 of those individuals were civilians.
The White House claims the number of civilians killed by drones is much lower than that, but it has never released its own figure. Obama himself justified the drone program earlier this year, saying that it prevented the deaths of even more civilians at the hands of terrorists.
The official position of the US side is that all ‘military-age males’ within a strike zone should be considered combatants and treated accordingly.
