April 19, 2014
A drone strike (click here) Saturday killed 15 Al-Qaeda suspects and three civilians in Yemen's central Baida province, a stronghold of the extremist group, a security official said.
The jihadists were travelling in a vehicle towards the southern Shabwa province, witnesses said. The three civilians were passing by in another car.
The United States is the only country that operates drones in Yemen, but officials rarely discuss the covert programme.
Last month, Yemen's President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi defended the use of drones against Al-Qaeda in his country, which has killed dozens of militants in a sharply intensified campaign over the past year.
Drone strikes "have greatly helped in limiting Al-Qaeda activities, despite some mistakes, which we are sorry about," Hadi told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.
The drone programme has come under criticism from human rights activists concerned over civilian casualties....
Every American should be worried about the drone program. There wars being fought in their name where innocent people die and world leaders such as President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi take great risk to support these attacks. If innocent people are causalities the unrest won't end, it will simply propagate a greater and more dangerous war.
People inspect the wreckage of a car hit by an air strike in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda (reuters tickers)
April 19, 2014
By Mohamed Ghobari
...Yemen (click here) has been fighting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - regarded by Washington as one of the most lethal wings of the group - but AQAP still manages to carry out significant attacks against security forces in the poor Arab country.
Stability in Yemen is a top priority because of the country's location next to oil exporting giant Saudi Arabia. Riyadh also watches AQAP with concern since the branch was founded by citizens of both countries and has sworn to bring down its ruling al-Saud family.
Nasser Salem, a witness who arrived at the scene after the strike, said: "We found a completely burnt car and body parts strewn around and we started picking them up," he told Reuters....
...Al-Bayda has seen serious security incidents in the past. In December, 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed by an air strike after their party was apparently mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, according to security officials....
It is quite a machine now, isn't it? At one time it was about surveillance.
There really is no comparison to the capacity of militants to that of sophisticated weapon systems. I realize these criminals kill important people. But, civilians are important, too.
April 19, 2014 - 19:17
AMT
...AQAP (click here) is considered to be the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda in the world and it overran much of Yemen's south in 2011.
A video posted online earlier this week purported to show AQAP leader
Nasser al-Wuhayshi addressing more than 100 members of the group at a
mountainous location in al-Bayda.
In the film, thought to have been shot near the border with Shabwa province, al-Wuhayshi pledges to pursue the war against Western "crusaders."
Civilians and the promise of a far more peaceful world is what most Americans believe to be the best mission for it's military anywhere in the world. The men that become militants are mostly young people called to a mission for reasons perverted by ignorance and misguided religious dogma. Their cause should never be made legitimate for the sake of ending al Qaeda globally. They believe they are correct no different than governments believe they are correct.
Any serious USA military campaign has to prioritize, nearly first, it is giving the young men absolutely no reason to be recruited to violence in the first place. The deaths of innocent people serve as the best recruiting tool they have. One has to ask, are they wrong after all?
April 19, 2014
By Mohamed Ghobari
...Yemen (click here) has been fighting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - regarded by Washington as one of the most lethal wings of the group - but AQAP still manages to carry out significant attacks against security forces in the poor Arab country.
Stability in Yemen is a top priority because of the country's location next to oil exporting giant Saudi Arabia. Riyadh also watches AQAP with concern since the branch was founded by citizens of both countries and has sworn to bring down its ruling al-Saud family.
Nasser Salem, a witness who arrived at the scene after the strike, said: "We found a completely burnt car and body parts strewn around and we started picking them up," he told Reuters....
...Al-Bayda has seen serious security incidents in the past. In December, 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed by an air strike after their party was apparently mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, according to security officials....
It is quite a machine now, isn't it? At one time it was about surveillance. There really is no comparison to the capacity of militants to that of sophisticated weapon systems. I realize these criminals kill important people. But, civilians are important, too.
April 19, 2014 - 19:17
AMT
...AQAP (click here) is considered to be the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda in the world and it overran much of Yemen's south in 2011.
A video posted online earlier this week purported to show AQAP leader
Nasser al-Wuhayshi addressing more than 100 members of the group at a
mountainous location in al-Bayda.In the film, thought to have been shot near the border with Shabwa province, al-Wuhayshi pledges to pursue the war against Western "crusaders."
Civilians and the promise of a far more peaceful world is what most Americans believe to be the best mission for it's military anywhere in the world. The men that become militants are mostly young people called to a mission for reasons perverted by ignorance and misguided religious dogma. Their cause should never be made legitimate for the sake of ending al Qaeda globally. They believe they are correct no different than governments believe they are correct.
Any serious USA military campaign has to prioritize, nearly first, it is giving the young men absolutely no reason to be recruited to violence in the first place. The deaths of innocent people serve as the best recruiting tool they have. One has to ask, are they wrong after all?
