Is the MSM covering the bombing in Yemen, "deadliest direct assault on a U.S. Embassy in a decade"?

[ProSense]

16 dead in attack at US Embassy in Yemen

By PAUL SCHEMM and AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writers 20 minutes ago

SAN'A, Yemen - Militants linked to al-Qaida launched a brazen attack against the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital Wednesday, firing automatic weapons and setting off grenades and a car bomb in a furious fusillade that failed to breach the walls but killed 16 people, including a newly wed New York woman.

It was the deadliest direct assault on a U.S. Embassy in a decade claiming the lives of six attackers, six Yemeni guards and four civilians.

Yemeni security officials said civilian casualties could have been far worse. The streets were relatively empty because many people sleep late during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to press.

About 9:15 a.m., multiple explosions from the car bomb and grenades shook the affluent Dhahr Himyar district, a residential area dotted with five-star hotels and other embassies. Palls of black smoke rose over the street, lined with modern buildings in the style of the centuries-old white-trimmed mud brick houses that are a landmark of San'a's Old City. Snipers hidden across the street fired on emergency personnel rushing to the scene.

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Behind the U.S. Embassy Bombing in Yemen

By Andrew Lee Butters / Beirut Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008


Smoke is seen billowing outside the U.S.
embassy in Sanaa September 17, 2008.

The ancient Romans called Yemen Felix Arabia — Happy Arabia — for its advantageous spot on Middle Eastern spice routes. But modern day Yemen is anything but happy. Wednesday's attack on the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, is the latest sign of a growing al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic insurgency against the Washington-allied regime on the strategic southern tip of the Arabian peninsula.

The attack, which included an assault by heavily armed fighters and a car bomb, and left 16 people dead (including six of the attackers) is part of a long-standing pattern of incidents targeting the West and its allies, although no Americans were among Wednesday's dead. In 2000, al-Qaeda fighters rammed an explosives-packed speedboat into the U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and crippling the destroyer. A similar attack in 2002 against a French tanker sent 90,000 barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf of Aden.

Radical groups have taken advantage of Yemen's loosely knit tribal social structure to set up operational and recruiting bases in the country, according to terrorism experts. The country is awash in weapons, which are sold openly in urban markets known as gun souks. Its population of 22 million mired in poverty and illiteracy also provide a fertile recruiting ground for al-Qaeda. A French counter-terrorism official on a recent trip to Yemen was stunned to see the extent to which the country had become infiltrated by jihaddists.

Remote as it may seem, the collapse of security in Yemen poses a serious threat to stability in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, and a challenge to U.S. efforts to fight al-Qaeda. The ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden has been a major supplier of frontline fighters and suicide bombers deployed against America and its allies in Iraq and Somalia. The country also has a long border with Saudi Arabia, and sits on the eastern bank of the Bab al-Mandab, a narrow shipping channel that controls access to the Suez Canal.

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Did McCain comment on Yemen? No, Spain:

El Cid! (More on Mccain's Liberation of Spain)

We wanted to give you an update on the post below where we described Sen. McCain's latest gaffe in which he seemed to suggest that he might not be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minster Zapatero because he is among those world leaders who want to harm America.

<...>

Our review of the audio suggests the same conclusion. In the interview, McCain is asked about Hugo Chavez, the situation in Bolivia and then about Raul Castro. He responds to each of these with expected answers about standing up to America's enemies, etc. Then the interviewer switches gears and asks about Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. And McCain replies -- very loose translation -- that he'll establish close relations with our friends and stand up to those who want to do us harm. The interviewer has a double take and seems to think McCain might be confused. So she asks it again. But McCain sticks to the same evasive answer.

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edited title

[FrenchieCat]

1. Too busy with the Yahoo Email theft story......

Who dunnit, you know.... :shrug:

[billyoc]

2. No dead Americans, nothing to cover.

[ProSense]

3. "Susan Elbaneh, 18, a U.S. citizen from Lackawanna, N.Y."

My guess is this bombing doesn't mesh with their BS spin about winning the "war on terror."

[billyoc]

5. Ah, shit, I hadn't heard that. My condolences to her family and the rest of the victims.

I think you're right, "We'll keep you safe" doesn't mesh with reality.

[Cha]

4. This is terrible..I'm guessing the corporatemedia does Not want

to remind voters that since we went to War On Iraq that they helped instigate that we aren't able to keep terrorists from bombing our Embassies.

[ProSense]

6. US woman killed in Yemen embassy attack

US woman killed in Yemen embassy attack

WASHINGTON - The State Department has confirmed that a young American woman and her Yemeni husband were killed in a terrorist attack at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

A spokesman says officials have verified reports from the family of Susan Elbaneh that the 18-year-old from Lackawanna, N.Y., was among the victims of Wednesday's attack. Elbaneh, who was recently wed in Yemen in an arranged marriage, was outside the embassy with her husband apparently waiting to complete paperwork, according to her brother.

The attack killed 16 people, including six militants, and was the deadliest direct assault on a U.S. Embassy in a decade. The attackers failed to breach the compound's walls, and none of those killed or wounded were U.S. diplomats or embassy employees.

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