16 year old attends anti-drone protest, 72 hours later is killed by drone strike

[Kuya]

JUAN GONZALEZ: We turn now to look at the secret U.S. drone war in Pakistan. Late last month, a group of Pakistanis met in Islamabad to discuss the impact of U.S. drone strikes in their communities. One of the attendees was a boy named Tariq Aziz, who had volunteered to learn photography to begin documenting drone strikes near his home. Within 72 hours of the meeting, Tariq Aziz himself was killed in a U.S. drone strike. He was 16 years old. His 12-year-old cousin was also killed.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Pratap Chatterjee, a reporter for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, director of CorpWatch. He was in Pakistan this month and went to the news conference, where Tariq Aziz was just days before he was killed. Pratap is back now in London.

Pratap, tell us what took place in Islamabad, how you came to meet Tariq Aziz, and then what happened.

PRATAP CHATTERJEE: Amy, a group here in London called Reprieve, which is a legal charity, and a group in Islamabad by the name of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights worked with Waziristan elders to create a Waziristan Grand Jirga, in which they brought together elders and families of those that had been killed in the drone strikes over the last five years in northern Pakistan. So they met at the Margala Hotel, and this jirga was held on Friday the 28th.

And there were probably 35 people, who were families, relatives of people who were killed, including—among them was Tariq Aziz, whom I met briefly, who was 16. And he had lost his cousin 18 months ago. His cousin’s name is Aswar Ullah, who was killed when he was riding a motorbike near their home village of Norak.

So, at that meeting, the elders, as is typical in a jirga, met to discuss what had happened. They adopted a resolution condemning the strikes and then went to a rally organized by Imran Khan. And Tariq Aziz traveled with all of us to the rally. There were lawyers. There were reporters. It was an open meeting, an open rally in front of the parliament in Islamabad.

After that, Tariq Aziz and the other attendees returned to their homes. And 72 hours later, when Tariq was traveling with his 12-year-old cousin to go pick up his aunt on Monday morning, he was killed in a drone strike.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/...ls_16_year_old

Is this ironic? Someone find me Alanis while i try to ignore the collateral from these bombs.

[Priran]

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/9109/dronesl.jpg

[Cleverness]

Is this ironic?

I don't think you could get anymore ironic than this.

[Dimmauk]

Was the aunt a terrorist?

[Kuya]

The kid shouldn't have had a terrorist aunt in a warzone. Or at least he should have been born from a different vagina. I hear that being born from an american vagina decreases your drone mortality rate by at least 99%.

[Yuri-G]

it's not really ironic. it could MAYBE be looked at as a case of situation irony - a situation in which the outcome is the opposite of what was expected - but that's a stretch. if anything, the fact that the kid had to deal with drones in the first place makes it much less a case of situation irony. anyone protesting drones is more likely to be affected by drones than someone living where drones are not a problem.

so no, it's not ironic.

[Gadritan]

Semantics drone 1/1.

[Demosthenes]

It IS irony.

[Demosthenes]

12 page argument about why it is and is not irony incoming.

[Pirian]

^Ends here, actually.

I don't think you could get anymore ironic than this.

It's coincidental.

[Yuri-G]

I think it's shameful that two kids are dead and we're debating over whether it's ironic or not.

(^ the above statement is an example of true irony - because really, this is hilarious. the arguing I mean, not the deaths).

[Pirian]

I think it's shameful that two kids are dead and we're debating over whether it's ironic or not.

25,000 people die a day from hunger, but we still have threads about food, so why is this shameful? I suppose they are both shameful, but that isn't the point... but then again, maybe it is, lol.

[hey]

I think it's shameful that two kids are dead and we're debating over whether it's ironic or not.

It's the more interesting discussion.

[Yuri-G]

that's why my post is ironic, you fools! it was meant to be an example of true irony: stating one thing while meaning the opposite.

...this is why we don't have irony on the internet, by the way. it doesn't work very well without body language and tone.

[kuronosan]

It would have been ironic if he was killed while protesting. This is just a tragedy that is closer to irony.

[Chun Liroy]

25,000 people die a day from hunger, but we still have threads about food, so why is this shameful? I suppose they are both shameful, but that isn't the point... but then again, maybe it is, lol.

Unless I have a personal emotional attachment to someone/thing, I don't see why its death should garner special attention compared to the thousands of others per day.

How about the 1000~ that died in the earthquake in turkey a couple weeks ago?

[Yuri-G]

1000 dead in turkey? shit, what are we gonna do for thanksgiving this year?

Spoiler: show

http://instantrimshot.com

edit: by the way, my post inspiring a debate on whether or not people dying merits our attention is actually a good example of situational irony. go figure.

[Kuya]

I don't see why its death should garner special attention compared to the thousands of others per day.

It helps that the government you're a citizen of has direct responsability for this kid's death.

[Chun Liroy]

I'm not emotionally invested in this kid or our government, therefore, I don't really care.

[Gadritan]

It helps that the government you're a citizen of has direct responsability for this kid's death.

I'm the citizen of a country. A country that knows how to spell.

Spoiler: show

hiyo