Peter Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst, has suggested that al Qaeda is winning the honesty war against the United States in a piece entitled “Is al Qaeda outdoing the U.S. on truth telling?”
While on first blush the suggestion might seem like partisan slander, a look at Bergen’s argument reveals an unsettling truth: we may be losing the honesty war to al Qaeda due to our secret, and unaccountable, drone program.
To make his point, Bergen compares two recent, and accidental, civilian massacres by each side, and how each side dealt with the situation. Unfortunately for the Obama administration, Bergen’s example demonstrates how we have become a nation so secretive in the region that we are incapable of apologizing for our mistakes, much less acknowledge them:
When Gen. David Petraeus was U.S. commander in Afghanistan in 2010 he issued guidance to his troops, one of the key points of which was to “be first with the truth.”
Yet, in Yemen where the U.S. has been fighting a small, undeclared war for the past four years, we have now arrived at the ironic point where America’s main enemy there, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is doing a better job of truth telling than the U.S.
In a video message released on Sunday, a leader of al Qaeda in Yemen apologized for an attack on a hospital in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa earlier this month in which civilians were killed … “We confess to this mistake and fault. We offer our apologies and condolences to the families of the victims,” said the al Qaeda leader.
Bergen’s example is contrasted with the U.S. military’s recent, tragic drone strike against a wedding procession in Yemen on December 12. The strike killed scores of innocent civilians on their way to a joyous celebration and sparked outrage in Yemen.
More outrageous, however, is that the Obama administration, unlike al Qaeda, has said nothing about the incident. No acknowledgement. No apology.
Nothing.
As Bergen notes, the Obama administration is hamstrung by its secret drone program – a program which prevents the Obama administration from telling the truth, particularly when it errs.
This gets to a key problem of the secretive American drone program. Its clandestine and unaccountable nature means that when the U.S. does make a mistake, as it inevitably will, instead of apologizing and making some kind of compensation to the civilian victims of a botched strike — a common practice when the U.S. military inadvertently kills civilians in wartime — American officials instead say … nothing.
Now, al Qaeda apologizing for its December 5 mistake is self-serving. Such admissions are meant to shore up and protect public support for their activities. However, the U.S. massacring Yemen civilians, and then not even acknowledging that it has done so, much less apologize, does more to shore up support for al Qaeda than anything the organization could do itself.
Meaning: our lack of honesty about a drone program which continues to kill innocent civilians makes us not only ruthless in practice, but in appearance as well.
More so than al Qaeda in the eyes of those in the Middle East. So much for winning hearts and minds.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, just out from Oneworld Publications.
Follow him on Twitter @David_EHG.
What a surprise that you of all people would be speaking fondly of Al-Qaeda or even making the comparison.
Even an idiot can see the difference between the actors. al-Qaeda, despite their “crocodile tears” and false apologies, specifically targets civilian groups. The U.S. does not. The fact that you refuse to discuss operational differences shows that this is simply one more rant against the U.S. and our ability to strike at those who would try destroy us.
Obviously acting in the same manner with the same intent as our enemy is not acceptable, however, at the same time hamstringing ourselves to tactical advantage would be just as bad. Do Americans need to come home in body bags for you to feel like you are some moral victor?
David, the fact of the matter is that “Isolationism” IS NOT a viable foreign policy alternative. The world is far more interconnected these days and while that is a great thing in some respects it also means that threats become more present as well.
To add to what Jon said, if the victims were non-Muslims, would al-Qaeda have apologized?
Awesome!
Now that Al Qaeda is apologizing for attacks in which civilians are killed, I am so excited for their forthcoming apology for the 9/11 attacks, the Bali Bombings, the 7/7 attacks, the Madrid train bombings, beheading Daniel Pearl, and even the first 1993 World Trade Center bombing. I am so excited I can hardly sleep. They are going to do that, right David?
Version is pretty much an apologist for AQ
Comparing the Administration to Al Qaeda reminds me of Sarah Palin’s “palling around with terrorists” remark.
Comparing the crimes of nations and governments is a futile effort.
The criminals are those who can not keep the peace.