And the war drones on …
After King Herod sent Roman soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the young boys under the age of 2, we learn that their mothers, like Rachel of old, wept in sorrow and could not be comforted (Matthew 2:16-18). Warfare, whether fought with swords or with drones and smart bombs, causes great sorrow and suffering, especially when innocent children are killed.
U.S. drone warfare in places such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia is a high-tech, distant battle far removed from our daily lives. Yet in this undeclared war, thousands of people have been injured and killed, including the children named below. Created and loved by God, these children reveal the high human cost of war. Let us mourn the loss experienced by the families of these children, pray for all wars to end, and for the courage to act faithfully for peace.
Congregations may wish to read a selected number of these names during Sunday morning prayers for peace. Arranging a display of several articles of children’s clothing such as a sneaker or flip flops, a shirt, and scarf will further help to humanize the cost of war.
Names provided by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, which reports that between 170-199 children have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
Below is a list of children killed by U.S. drone strikes:
In PAKISTAN
- Noor Aziz | 8 | male
- Abdul Wasit | 17 | male
- Noor Syed | 8 | male
- Wajid Noor | 9 | male
- Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male
- Ayeesha | 3 | female
- Qari Alamzeb | 14| male
- Shoaib | 8 | male
- Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male
- Tariq Aziz | 16 | male
- Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male
- Maezol Khan | 8 | female
- Nasir Khan | male
- Naeem Khan | male
- Naeemullah | male
- Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male
- Azizul Wahab | 15 | male
- Fazal Wahab | 16 | male
- Ziauddin | 16 | male
- Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male
- Fazal Hakim | 19 | male
- Ilyas | 13 | male
- Sohail | 7 | male
- Asadullah | 9 | male
- khalilullah | 9 | male
- Noor Mohammad | 8 | male
- Khalid | 12 | male
- Saifullah | 9 | male
- Mashooq Jan | 15 | male
- Nawab | 17 | male
- Sultanat Khan | 16 | male
- Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male
- Noor Mohammad | 15 | male
- Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male
- Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male
- Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male
- Abdullah | 18 | male
- Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male
- Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male
- Shahbuddin | 15 | male
- Yahya Khan | 16 |male
- Rahatullah |17 | male
- Mohammad Salim | 11 | male
- Shahjehan | 15 | male
- Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male
- Bakht Muneer | 14 | male
- Numair | 14 | male
- Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
- Ihsanullah | 16 | male
- Luqman | 12 | male
- Jannatullah | 13 | male
- Ismail | 12 | male
- Taseel Khan | 18 | male
- Zaheeruddin | 16 | male
- Qari Ishaq | 19 | male
- Jamshed Khan | 14 | male
- Alam Nabi | 11 | male
- Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male
- Rahmatullah | 14 | male
- Abdus Samad | 17 | male
- Siraj | 16 | male
- Saeedullah | 17 | male
- Abdul Waris | 16 | male
- Darvesh | 13 | male
- Ameer Said | 15 | male
- Shaukat | 14 | male
- Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
- Salman | 12 | male
- Fazal Wahab | 18 | male
- Baacha Rahman | 13 | male
- Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male
- Iftikhar | 17 | male
- Inayatullah | 15 | male
- Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
- Ihsanullah | 16 | male
- Luqman | 12 | male
- Jannatullah | 13 | male
- Ismail | 12 | male
- Abdul Waris | 16 | male
- Darvesh | 13 | male
- Ameer Said | 15 | male
- Shaukat | 14 | male
- Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
- Adnan | 16 | male
- Najibullah | 13 | male
- Naeemullah | 17 | male
- Hizbullah | 10 | male
- Kitab Gul | 12 | male
- Wilayat Khan | 11 | male
- Zabihullah | 16 | male
- Shehzad Gul | 11 | male
- Shabir | 15 | male
- Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male
- Shafiullah | 16 | male
- Nimatullah | 14 | male
- Shakirullah | 16 | male
- Talha | 8 | male
"The Khan family never heard it. They had been sleeping for an hour when a Hellfire missile pierced their mud hut. Black smoke and dust choked the villagers as they dug through the rubble. Four-year-old Zeerak’s legs were severed. His sister, Maria, 3, was badly scorched. Both were dead. When their cousin, Irfan, 16, saw them, he gently curled them into his arms, squeezed the rumpled bodies to his chest, lightly kissed their faces, and slid into a stupor …"
— From The Los Angeles Times as quoted by Medea Benjamin
In YEMEN
- Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female
- Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female
- Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female
- Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female
- Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 | male
- Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male
- Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | female
- Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 | female
- Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female
- Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female
- Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male
- Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female
- Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female
- Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female
- Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female
- Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male
- Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female
- Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female
- Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male
- Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male
- Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female
- AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male
- Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male
- Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male
- Nasser Salim | 19
"I was overwhelmed with sadness meeting families of drone victims suffering a miserable combination of personal loss and devastating economic burden. Many of the children of strike victims that I saw were severely malnourished, and families, who had lost their main financial provider, had little hope for the future."
— Ibrahim Mothana in testimony to the U.S. Congress
