Two weeks, 12 drone strikes, and 49 people killed. That’s the late July-early August count for US attacks in Yemen, and while officials say “at least 14” of the slain were probably militants, none of them were named.
And even if the attacks used the “threat” of imminent attack as an excuse, officials concede that the strikes weren’t really retaliatory against those attackers and did nothing to prevent the “threat.”
Rather, the administration had put in place a number of “limits” on such strikes in the months ahead of the period, mostly aimed at reducing the number of civilian casualties. Scandalously enough, officials say the limits were simply removed because of the threat, leading to the massive increase in attacks.
But an awful lot of those attacks hit things not remotely related to militants, blowing up a clinic and a school in Jaar, killing a number of civilians, and fueling anti-US sentiment across the nation.
The U.S. admits to four high value targets taken out in the recent Yemen strikes. The four dead divided by the 49 confirmed killed in these strikes equals 8.16%. That number is remarkably similar to a 2009 study by the London based Bureau of Investigative Journalism study that found found over 95% of drone victims in Pakistan that year were civilian non-combatants.
Four high value targets taken out? Let´s see, there was the school, one. And then there was the clinic, two. What were the other two high value targets?
The wedding party and burial party is my guess
"While other coups the US has backed didn’t come back to directly haunt them for years or decades…"
You are forgetting about the coup against Chavez in Venezuela. That took exactly one day to blow up in our faces. Condi Looked like an utter fool when that coup fizzled out about 6 hours after she went on TV and said that she was looking forward to working with the new government.
Lets just go ahead and murder a couple of innocent people halfway across the world, the American people don't really give a damn, at least this might distract them from all the crap going on in Washington.Iam calling this one a 'curveball'.
I strongly suspect that the goal of these strikes is not to eliminate militants, but radicalize moderates, and create as many NEW militants as possible, with the budget they have.
The US needs war like an addict needs his poison, and war requires enemies. The US finally has decided to manufacture the enemies it so desperately needs, out of ordinary citizens, by killing their families, friends and loved ones!
If the strikes didn't serve a useful purpose to the government, they would stop.
+infinity