American Drones Killing Civilians in Yemen

[The Northerner]

The War on Terror has a new front. The United States is expanding military operations in Yemen, where al-Qaeda has a foothold in the South. The last several months have seen a dramatic increase in drone strikes, lead by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the CIA, carried out against suspected militants. Reports coming out of southern Yemen today say that at least 12 civilians have been killed by an American drone strike.

The CIA and JSOC monitor suspected militants and operatives using surveillance techniques as they search for “patterns of suspicious behavior”. When these patterns are observed, drones strike by firing explosives to the area. These “signature strikes” are aimed at anonymous, suspected militants based on observed behavior. Included as a criterion of “suspicious behavior” is presence near known al-Qaeda locations.

American drones are killing anonymous militants and civilians because they are near locations under surveillance. After a drone strikes, there is often a second even more dangerous round fired to the location. This creates a civilian risk because the first explosion often attracts a crowd. Another recent American strike killed 8 civilians in the process of killing 7 suspected militants due to this second strike.

The practice of conducting signature strikes is not new, as American forces have been carrying them out in Pakistan for several years. What is new is the campaign in Yemen is being targeted toward possibly two-dozen suspected al-Qaeda militants. The rise in drone strikes will likely cause more civilians casualties that will go largely underreported as they have in other countries where the United States is carrying them out.

Read more: http://ivn.us/2012/05/15/american-drones-killing-civilians-in-yemen/


Does anyone suspect that the deaths of civilians and destruction of properties caused by civilian-slaughtering drones will only incite more hatred and likely more terrorism directed at the US?

[Luminous Animal]

1. Kicking for the handful of anti-war DUers that are still around.

[Mnemosyne]

3. And another. No wonder they hate us; we are the terrorists. nt

[sabrina 1]

12. If Americans do not speak out against this slaughter of innocents, then they are no better

that any country they are so ready to condemn, rightly so of course, for remaining silent when their governments slaughter people for profit.

Airc, this 'drone program' is operated by the CIA and from what I recall from Jeremy Scahill's excellent article on the drone war, Blackwater, under its new name, was also part of the operation. It is an ongoing crime of disastrous proportions and we are complicit if we remain silent about it.

I would hope it is not true that people on this forum, which is a Democratic forum, have not flip flopped on this issue.

I believe it was Robert Fisk who witnessed the aftermath of a drone strike several years, during the Bush years and his description of the carnage, the grief of the parents whose children were blown to bits, was hard to read. At that time the use of drones was just beginning.

Why are Americans so immune to the killing of children by their government in other countries? We claim to care about children and will spend months on end being outraged over the death of one American child but are completely silent about the tragic killings of innocent children in the most horrendous, cruel way almost on a daily basis over the past decade. Something is very wrong about that.

[xchrom]

2. Du rec. Nt

[Dokkie]

4. Rec n Kick

The anti war movement will rise again. Lets hope it doesn't take a Romney victory for it to happen

[Bonobo]

5. Can we start aDU Group for people that still give a shit about this stuff?

Nice to see the usual suspects here.

[inna]

11. i sort of like the idea; otherwise i'm ready to give up on this site

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. How many countries have we droned so far?

Let's see...did we drone Iraq?
I know about Afghanistan, pakistan, Libya, now Yemen and I think we were droning "suspected______"
in Sudan?

[Vattel]

7. Americans killing innocent people is hardly news.

(sarcasm)

[Luminous Animal]

8. Kick for the innocents in Yemen who are terrorized and killed in my name.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. Woot Woot! Let's kill more terrorists disguised as

children! Woot Woot!

USA! USA! USA!

(in case it's needed)

[inna]

10. my prediction is that you'll be banned soon

- and i say this as someone who has a lot of appreciation for your posts


- traditional left-wing posters don't fare well on this site as of lately, this has been a fairly distinct trend


- recommended, needless to say; i'm not trying to diss you at all if there are any doubts...

[DirkGently]

13. That's the only possible result. (nt)