Obama Ordered U.S. Military Strike on Yemen Terrorists

[StarfarerBill]

Source: ABC News

On orders from President Barack Obama, the U.S. military launched cruise missiles early Thursday against two suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, administration officials told ABC News in a report broadcast on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

One of the targeted sites was a suspected al Qaeda training camp north of the capitol, Sanaa, and the second target was a location where officials said "an imminent attack against a U.S. asset was being planned."

The Yemen attacks by the U.S. military represent a major escalation of the Obama administration's campaign against al Qaeda.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236

[dipsydoodle]

1. Reminds me of

Clinton strike against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Look what that led to.

[CJCRANE]

3. Others might say that Bush and the Republicans dropped the ball.

The Republicans were against fighting back against Bin Laden (when Clinton was in office) and Bush-Cheney refused to do anything about terrorism before 9/11 (in fact they and their allies facilitated it, but that's another story).

[dipsydoodle]

5. Looks like they missed their main target anyway

Courtesy of unhappycamper :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x28335

[CJCRANE]

6. He probably had the live video feed from the drone...

a little backdoor glitch that the neocons never bothered to fix.

[24601]

7. Especially all the neocons running everything since 20 Jan 09

the statute of limitations blaming everyone else expired 9-11-2009.

[CJCRANE]

8. The Obama administration is fixing the glitch. They can't fix everything overnight.

Fixes on the way for nonsecure UAV links

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x28317

[ShortnFiery]

15. I'm sure they're right on it. :P But we're CREATING more terrorists than we're KILLING.

How is THAT immoral act - Summary Executions without trial (we are NOT at war with Yemen) keeping Americans SAFER?

Watch out for that blowback.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

18. so you advocate the Bush/Cheney 2000/1 approach.

nt

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

44. Do you have the stats to back that up?

[Ian David]

21. "Hey, I can see our house from that drone! RUN AWAY!" n/t

[Kolesar]

9. What? Why don't you share your wisdom and tell us

what "it led to"?

[dipsydoodle]

22. If nothing else

arguments about exactly who lay behind the 2nd 9/11.

[Ian David]

20. That led to Republicans in the street shouting, "Wag The Dog! No War for Monica!"

And then Bin Laden got away to attack us on 9/11.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

43. What exactly did it lead to?

If you're arguing that the attacks on al-Qaeda's camp in Afghanistan is what led to 9/11, I've got to say, your case seems weak.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Boy....ABC pretty much reads like anti-Obama propaganda!

Yemen is our allies in fighting Al Qaeda. If anyone remember the Bombing of the Cole,
and then the bombing of the US Embassy in Yemen in 2007....that killed 16 people,
you'd understand why.

Yemen hails military cooperation deal with US
Sanaa (AFP) Nov 11, 2009

Yemen said on Wednesday that it had signed a military cooperation deal with the United States although the US embassy would confirm only that talks had been held on joint counterterrorism efforts.
Yemen's official Saba news agency said that the cooperation agreement was signed during talks in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday between the two countries' militaries.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Yemen_hails_military_cooperation_deal_with_US_999.html



As for the incident that ABC wrote about, the WAPO reports it from a slightly different context:

The United States provided intelligence and other assistance to Yemeni forces in attacks Thursday against suspected al-Qaeda targets, according to officials from both countries.

Yemen's government announced Thursday that its air and ground forces had attacked three sites, killing 34 al-Qaeda "operatives" and arresting 16. News accounts said several civilians also had been killed.
....

Yemen and the United States "cooperate closely on counterterrorism."

In the past week, Yemeni news media have carried reports of unmanned aircraft conducting apparent surveillance operations near the city of Marib in central Yemen. Marib is also the location of a 2002 strike by a U.S. drone that killed the reputed head of al-Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Ali al-Harithi, who was suspected to have organized the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Local media accounts suggested that a U.S. attack might again be imminent, because the 2002 strike also was preceded by sightings of drone aircraft over the city.

In recent years, al-Qaeda has expanded in Yemen, prompting U.S. concerns that the country could become an important haven for the organization. Militants have attacked U.S. missionaries, foreign tourists and Yemeni security forces. Last year, they targeted the U.S. Embassy with a car bomb and rockets. The attack left 16 people dead, including six assailants.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121804785.html

[totodeinhere]

33. I'm sorry, but with all due respect, I don't think you could ever bring yourself to criticize...

anything Obama. So unfortunately I have to take your comments with a grain of salt. I was with you 100% during the campaign, but too much has happened since then and I have soured on him and will support another Dem such as Dean in the 2012 primaries if he decides to run.

[NecklyTyler]

4. This looks like a practice run on an Iranian nuclear facilities strike

The military is testing the waters to see how Middle East governments react to military action in non-combatant countries

[ButterflyBlood]

10. Except this was done with the cooperation of the Yemeni government

Try again.

[pjt7]

12. Obama is quickly making Bush/Cheney

look like hippies.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

14. no he's not.

He's fighting the war Bush/Cheney substituted with their adventure in Iraq that cost us our economy.

[tabasco]

16. Exactly.

The utopians don't care about reality, though.

[ShortnFiery]

13. That makes it moral? Summary Executions without a trial? Are we at war with Yemen?

THESE immoral acts are keeping Americans safer? How?

[tabasco]

17. It's called combat.

Look it up.

[moodforaday]

27. Ah, it's combat!

Combat explains it. It's okay to kill civilians then. Sorry, my bad.

[tabasco]

37. Combat = killing someone before they kill you.

No trial necessary.

Just because we have better weapons doesn't make it something different.

[ButterflyBlood]

24. No we aren't at war with Yemen.

That's the point. The Yemeni government wanted to rid their country of bases of operations for a terrorist organization that is destabilizing their country and has attacked the American embassy before in the country. Since this means they had mutual interest with the US who was better equipped to deal with it, they gave approval to a missile strike against these bases. It's pretty ridiculous to expect Yemen to tolerate al-Qaeda terrorists in their country or for the US to not do anything about it either if the government is even ASKING for it.

[moodforaday]

26. And that makes extrajudicially killing people okay

how?

The important thing to note is no matter how many times you are going to be told it was an Al Qaeda training camp, it could not have been. The Huthi (billed as Yemeni rebels, if that's who they are) are Shia people, Al Qaeda are Sunni. They're enemies to each other. Bush didn't understand this for a long time, but Obama should and so should we.

[ButterflyBlood]

30. The article never mentions Huthi, it only mentions al Qaeda

al Qaeda is quite active in Yemen. They may not get along with the Huthis but that doesn't mean they aren't there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_attack_on_tourists_in_Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_attack_on_tourists_in_Yemen

If these camps were being used to plan attacks against US targets like the article says, expecting the US to NOT do anything about it beyond comical and really the type of thing I'd expect only from Freepers who believe Obama is a radical Muslim.

[moodforaday]

40. BBC calls them Huthis.

Or "Houthis", with an "o". They are not Al Qaeda, but they oppose Yemeni rulers. Basically Obama has used US forces to settle a score in a bloody internal dispute in Yemen.

The BBC article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8411726.stm
It is dated December 14, and refers a *different* air strike, that one by Saudi air force, but these are the same people being massacred: the Shia, enemy of the Sunni.

This article from Iranian PressTV references Obama's new strike and does mention the Shia "Houthi fighters":
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114119§ionid=351020206

There's always the possibility that the Yemenis call on Saudi Arabia to bomb the Houthi (Shia) rebels, and three days later call on Obama to bomb some supposed Al Qaeda (Sunni), a different faction entirely. Not impossible, but unlikely - especially given Clinton's little raid on a Somali pharmaceutical plant.

In an y case, do you think Obama took the Yemeni government's word, or did he ask for some hard evidence that those soon-to-be-dead people were dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists? Could we see that evidence, or does asking such questions compromise national security?

[Thothmes]

39. Why not. Homo sapiens has alway been a very

efficient killer.

[ShortnFiery]

11. Hey! Let's tear ass around with our KILLER Planes and Bombs ... Every damn where?!?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

19. self delete

nt

[madmx19790]

23. change we can believe in

[ButterflyBlood]

25. Did anyone seriously believe Obama WOUDLN'T take action against al-Qaeda?

Besides the Freepers that is. The Freepers kept spreading the whole "OBAMA IS A MILITANT MUSLIM WHO WILL SURRENDER TO AL-QAEDA!" nonsense up until the election. Oddly enough many seem to wish that they were right.

[moodforaday]

28. What Al Qaeda?

The Huthi - the Yemeni "rebels" who were attacked, are not Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda (if it even exists as a distinct entity) is comprised of Wahhabi Islamists, who are Sunnis - just like the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Huthi are Shia. That would mean they are sworn enemies of the Sunni, which is probably why the Yemeni government wants to eradicate them.

Unless you want to believe that every Muslim person killed by Western weaponry in the Middle East is Al Qaeda. I'm sure you won't be alone in that belief.

[ButterflyBlood]

31. al Qaeda is active in Yemen and was the target, not the Huthi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_attack_on_tourists_in_Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_attack_on_tourists_in_Yemen

[Andronex]

32. "Doesn't matter if they are not Al Qaeda."

We only need to say that anybody opposing American interest is... there is no need for a trial or any investigation, the national sovereignty of other nations doesn't matter, by definition people who have been blown to bits by American bombs are guilty, we should never question our leader.

[EFerrari]

29. The real terrorists that impact your life are on Wall Street, not in Yemen. n/t

[totodeinhere]

34. So lets fire a missle at Wall Street.

}( :sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

35. We already sent them a money bomb. They're good!

[IndianaGreen]

41. Obama lies as well as Bush and Cheney did when it comes to the Al-Qaeda bogeyman

and he is becoming a war criminal with his reckless drone strikes that kill more innocent civilians than anything else.

[New Dawn]

53. Women and children are not "al-Queda"

And that is who Obama just killed.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

57. Women and children were not the only ones killed in the airstrike

Though the high civilian death toll from this strike some raise some serious issues.

[Prometheus Bound]

36. Over 60 dead, most civilians including women and children.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x28335

[superconnected]

38. Can a peace prize be pulled?

I was hoping there was going to be a very good reason for this. Looks like smth bushco would pull now.

[IndianaGreen]

42. In this Orwellian world we live, war is peace!

and slavery is freedom.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

45. Source?

[Prometheus Bound]

46. LOL

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

47. I'm looking for something a little more official than the word of the people hiding the militants

Shocking, I know.

[ShortnFiery]

48. Yeah, it's not like our government ever lied us into a WAR or something so egregious ...

:eyes:

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

49. And geez, it's not like people loyal to insurgents gruops have ever lied about anything either...

:eyes:

[Prometheus Bound]

50. Would it kill you do do your own searching? Here's some video if that helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHyHWXEpFXw

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

51. Of course it wouldn't, however, if someone is going to post articles

the least they can do is await credible sources. With that said, thanks for posting this. It seems that several senior al-Qaeda figures were killed in this attack (six of them) and several others injured, though many civilians were also killed. I think it's fair to question whether or not an airstrike was the best option available in this instance.

[U4ikLefty]

52. source?

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

55. I read it here

Though I'm suddenly having trouble connecting to the site.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091218/FOREIGN/712179866

[Mari333]

54. of course this thread is loaded with armchair chickenhawks

sad frigging day for so many reasons. sad fcking week. sad fcking year.
edit to add: I am delighted that "Ignored" on here is being "Ignored".

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

56. Anything constructive to add?