Pentagon Defends Yemen Killings, Insists Slain Were ‘Female Combatants’

Locals Reported a Lot of Dead Women and Children

SEAL Team 6’s weekend raid in Yemen killed a lot of people, with local officials putting the toll at 57 slain. The Pentagon hasn’t finalized their own toll, but is hard at work shifting their narrative after media reports of a large number of women and children getting shot up in the hour-long raid.

Though they didn’t mention it at all yesterday, the Pentagon is now claiming that there “were a lot of female combatants” involved in the fighting, and that of the 14 people they say were killed in the fighting, there were a number of women.

The Pentagon refused to comment on the images of several slain children, including the eight-year-old of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, saying they’re still “evaluating” the death toll. They stuck to the 14 terrorists killed figure from yesterday despite credible reports of a lot more dead bodies than that being left in the wake of the US attack, leaving totally open who all the rest of the slain were.

One US soldier was reported killed in the offensive, and three others wounded. A fourth US soldier was also wounded in the first evacuation attempt, during which a V-22 Osprey crashed. This was the first ground raid authorized by President Trump, who bragged it would “assist the US in preventing terrorism.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.