Another powerful and deeply disturbing article and "Democracy Now!" video about the extreme consequences to whistle-blowers by the American government. When Ron and I saw Jeremy Scahill a few weeks ago and first learned about Obama's role in the continued imprisonment of Yemeni Journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, I felt physically sick. You can watch Jeremy Scahill here and see and learn exactly what Ron and I recently did. We need to know what our government is doing, how those who attempt to reveal war crimes and the deaths children and women and innocent civilians are crucified while those who cause these deaths and atrocities go free. Bless Abdulelah Haider Shaye, Jeremy Scahill, and all the fiercely courageous ones who risk everything to tell us the truth. May they inspire us all. Another world is possible. Tag, we are all it! ~ Molly
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Published on Thursday, July 25, 2013 by Common Dreams
Abdulelah Haider Shaye 'put in prison because he had the audacity to expose' deadly US drone strike
Yemeni journalist Abdelela Shayie appearing at the state security court in the capital Sanaa, Yemen. (Associated Press)The White House is "concerned and disappointed" over the news that Yemeni Journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who was kept in a Yemeni jail for three years per the request of the Obama administration after he exposed a deadly U.S. drone strike, was released Tuesday.
Following news of Shaye's release, journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has written extensively about Shaye's story, contacted the White House for a comment.
The White House's response was brief and alarming:
We are concerned and disappointed by the early release of Abd-Ilah al-Shai, who was sentenced by a Yemeni court to five years in prison for his involvement with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
According to Scahill and numerous other journalists who have followed the story, Shaye's only involvement with Al Qaeda was conducting interviews with their members for major news outlets that included the Washington Post, ABC News and the New York Times.
Shaye's legal troubles only arose after he uncovered the deadly U.S. strike that killed dozens of innocent Yemeni civilians, after which he was thrown in prison. At one point Shaye was slated for early release, but a phone call from president Obama urged Yemeni officials to keep him behind bars.
"We should let that statement set in," Scahill said of the White House's response. "The White House is saying that they are disappointed and concerned that a Yemeni journalist has been released from a Yemeni prison."
"This is a man who was put in prison because he had the audacity to expose a U.S. cruise missile attack that killed three dozen women and children."
Watch Scahill in an interview with Democracy Now!, which aired Thursday morning, and read the full article here: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/25-8
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What people don't know about the broader force, the Joint Special Operations Command, is that they've been involved with repeated incidents where civilians have been killed, where actions have been taken that quite possibly will result in blowback against the United States. That's almost totally undiscussed... If they kill innocent children and call them al-Qaeda, then we are all al-Qaeda... This war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. It's what our democracy demands ... A perpetual war - through drones or special forces or troop deployments - will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways...
- Jeremy Scahill
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