Reaping what we sow: 4 drone strikes in Yemen in last 10 days: Terrorism and blowback

[cali]

The U.S. is saying that there's a serious (or more serious) threat of terrorism against Americans and American interests in Yemen. Our embassy and consulates have been shuttered, non-essential personnel have been ordered out and Americans have been warned not to travel there.

Gee, think our drone policies have anything to do with terrorism threats?

The drone policies of the administration are not only indefensible, they're counterproductive. It's a vicious cycle in which thousands upon thousands of Yemenis are.... terrorized.

To those of you that excuse or defend these policies- signature strikes, double tapping- I'm curious to see what you'll come up with in response.


<snip>

Tuesday’s drone strike is the fourth of its kind since July 28. The raids have killed 17 suspects in one week.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is seen as the terror network’s most capable franchise following the decimation of its core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years.

The Yemen-based group has attempted a number of attacks on US soil, including a bid to bring down a passenger plane in 2009 by a man wearing explosives in his underwear and a failed plot to send bombs concealed in printers.

The United States in turn has launched scores of drone strikes in Yemen, where the militant groups thrive in vast, lawless areas largely outside government control.

<snip>

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/06/u-s-drone-strike-kills-four-al-qaeda-suspects-in-yemen/

uly 3, 2013 12:30 PM ET

There are more than 80 names at the end of a human rights report published online this week. Each one is said to belong to a civilian killed or maimed as a result of U.S. missile strikes in Yemen since 2009. They were mothers, fathers, children and grandparents – and they stand in contrast to claims that the United States does not launch missiles into Yemen unless there is a "near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured," as President Obama told the nation in May.

The names are preceded by 25 pages of detailed descriptions of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen and their consequences, offering a rare level of information on specific attacks and their physical, psychological and financial impacts on individual Yemeni civilians.

"For me, its power is in the totality," says Gregory D. Johnsen, a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen and author of the book The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia. "We tend to hear about these strikes in drips and drabs over the course of months and years, but the report is the most comprehensive one I've seen on U.S. strikes in Yemen."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/new-report-documents-the-human-cost-of-u-s-drone-strikes-in-yemen-20130703#ixzz2bDBu77eh

Last night, McClatchy Newspapers published a detailed report alleging that a U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed not only suspected militants, but also a ten-year-old boy named Abdulaziz Huraydan. If true, the boy's killing sets a grisly new milestone. This is the first reported civilian death from a drone strike since President Obama's May 23 speech on counter-terrorism, in which he told us that the U.S. would only strike if there was a "near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured." A week after Obama's speech, Secretary of State John Kerry publicly stated, "We do not fire when we know there are children or collateral … we just don't."

The strike occurred two weeks ago on June 9. Adam Baron, the McClatchy journalist who covered the story and who recently testified before members of Congress about his numerous drone strike investigations, told me that a number of sources confirmed to him that the child, Abdulaziz, was killed. It appears that the boy was the younger brother of a suspected al Qaida militant, and that the strike targeted the car they were traveling in.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/yemeni-boy-killed-in-drone-strike-062113

[G_j]

1. The American drone policy

is criminal. period.

[leftstreet]

3. +1

[cali]

2. kick. The Yemen situation is the top story on the Google news page

this is vitally important context to that situation.

[malaise]

4. Life is not compllicated

Kill and be killed

[bullwinkle428]

5. The most vicious circle of all.

[cali]

6. Tribesmen shoot down Yemeni army helicopter: witnesses

Tribesmen shot down a Yemeni military helicopter on Tuesday as it fired rockets at gunmen suspected of involvement in blowing up oil pipelines in the center of the country, witnesses said.

The government has been frustrated by repeated attacks on Yemen's main oil export pipeline, often carried out by disgruntled tribesmen seeking personal gain or trying to force authorities to release jailed relatives.


Witnesses said the helicopter pilot was killed when the helicopter came down in the central Maarib province.

"The helicopter was firing from a low altitude at armed tribesmen accused of blowing up the oil pipeline," one witness said. "The gunmen fired back with a machinegun and it crashed."

<snip>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/06/us-yemen-helicopter-idUSBRE9750O620130806

time for drone strikes on them. there's oil to protect.