White House approves broader Yemen drone campaign

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Well, it is campaign season and looking "tough on terra'" sells.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-approves-broader-yemen-drone-campaign/2012/04/25/gIQA82U6hT_story.html?hpid=z5

The United States has begun launching drone strikes against suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen under new authority approved by President Obama that allows the CIA and the military to fire even when the identity of those who could be killed is not known, U.S. officials said.

The expanded authority will allow the CIA and JSOC to fire on targets based solely on their intelligence “signatures” — patterns of behavior that are detected through signals intercepts, human sources and aerial surveillance, and that indicate the presence of an important operative or a plot against U.S. interests.

Congressional officials have expressed concern that using signature strikes would raise the likelihood of killing militants who are not involved in plots against the United States, angering Yemeni tribes and potentially creating a new crop of al-Qaeda recruits.

Critics have also challenged the legal grounds for expanding the drone campaign in Yemen. In an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Sunday, Bruce Ackerman, a law professor at Yale University, argued that war measures adopted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were not aimed at al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate and don’t provide Obama “with authority to respond to these threats without seeking further congressional consent.”

[kenny blankenship]

1. Hey, Bruce, if he can kill Americans abroad because he feels like it

he can certainly incinerate the occasional village of foreigners without having to ask anyone's permission. Try to keep up.

[gratuitous]

2. Surely some of the 139% will be along shortly

In poll after poll, Gallup offers up the meaningless metric of how many "liberal Democrats" "approve" of the Obama administration. Last time it was posted here, I think the approval rating was around 139%. Surely one of them will be along just any time to explain to the slow coaches like me what a swell idea this is, and how we all have to line up behind the President in support of this vital program, and would you rather we had troops stationed in Yemen getting killed, and oh, I suppose you'd rather have President McCain, and why do you hate America, and there's a really, really good reason for this program and its expansion, and we won't just fire missiles off willy-nilly, and anyone who gets killed was a bad, bad person, unless they weren't, in which case they'll be more careful about who they hang around with next time.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Don't forget the "spokesperson" vowing "a full investigation" of the ensuing atrocities.

Usually looking stern and surrounded by flags.

[gratuitous]

4. Followed by the inevitable exoneration of all concerned

Except for any malcontents who told a reporter about the atrocities.

[bluestate10]

7. I support the expansion. I have confidence that correct decisions are being made.

Now, I am not saying that a person that is in the wrong place at the wrong time doesn't get killed on occasion. What I will say is that those people don't get targeted and efforts are made to not kill them unjustly. I have not problem at all with people that dedicate their lives to killing innocent people and who awake with that view every day being killed by a drone strike. I make no aplogies for that view.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. "..a person that is in the wrong place at the wrong time doesn't get killed on occasion."

Would that include you, or your family? Or, just the damned furriners?

[gratuitous]

10. I see no reason to reply now

That about covers it.

[Luminous Animal]

9. Civilians awake every day with the view of being killed by a drone strike.

Not only do I apologize to the Yemeni's who are being terrorized by the U.S. but I weep for them as well.

Currently, there is a 20% kill rate civilians to "militants".
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/03/29/arab-spring-saw-steep-rise-in-us-attacks-on-yemen-militants/

Total US attacks 27 – 45 (some multiple) with up to 35 since May 2011
Total killed 280 – 522
Civilians reported killed killed 55-105

[IamK]

5. Blowing up people you do not like (or close to people you dont like) is never bad... n/t