The Yemeni government has confirmed that today’s US-backed air strike was aimed at assassinating US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and officials speculated that he might have been slain in the attack.
Awlaki’s home was targeted during what the government called a “suspected al-Qaeda gathering,” and at least 34 people were killed, all of whom the Yemenis immediately labeled “suspects.” The identities of the slain were unclear.
The US, however, expressed hope that Awlaki and two “al-Qaeda leaders” were among the slain.
But according to Nasser al-Awlaki, the cleric’s father and a former government minister, the cleric wasn’t even home at the time and was visiting his uncle in a different city. He slammed the US for supporting the attack however, noting that his son was not accused of any crimes in the US and it was inappropriate for the American government to attempt to assassinate him.
Though US officials have repeatedly labeled Awlaki an al-Qaeda sympathizer and potentially even a member of the terrorist group, they have so far provided no evidence linking him conclusively with them.
The US support for the attack comes less than a week after the US launched a series of missile attacks against the nation which killed scores of civilians and a handful of “suspects.” All this is pointing to Yemen becoming the next battleground in the war on terror.
How is this any different than a mob hit?
Excellent Firepower! Now if they could only strike the US capital during a democratic caucass.
The way this is different from a mob hit, the mob rarely kills people for adverse opinions…… After all, the neocon cabal seems to have established the zeitgeist of the murderers and their rules of engagement too…. Of course, like everything else they have wrought, it comes from the third reich playbook from the stolen elections.. to the Reichstag fire (911) to the enabling act (patriot act) and the invasions… Poland (Afghanistan) Czechoslovakia (Iraq?) The demonizing of the Jews (Muslims) …..
There could be some facts that the "O" team have not shared, but on it's face, it's death penalty for
a bad attitude, shockingly by America on an American… Oh I forgot, a Muslim… Their lives and rights seem to be oblations to a greater (in their minds) G-d…. Thank You Pres. ("0")……. Opps, looks like I wrote Pres. zero instead of Pres. "O" OOOOOO, OOOOOOO……What doya know…. O=0 & 0=O
In reality I STILL have NOT totally given up on "O" but things like this strike on an AMERICAN and the Iran tone have my HOPE gauge with the needle just above EMPTY…………………………………………!!!!!
Obama's Af-Pak War is Not Just Deadly and Counterproductive: It's Illegal
AlterNet. Posted December 23, 2009.
"The use of these drones in Pakistan violates both the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit willful killing. Targeted or political assassinations — sometimes called extrajudicial executions — are carried out by order of, or with the acquiescence of, a government, outside any judicial framework. As a 1998 report from the UN Special Rapporteur noted, "extrajudicial executions can never be justified under any circumstances, not even in time of war." Willful killing is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, punishable as a war crime under the U.S. War Crimes Act. Extrajudicial executions also violate a longstanding U.S. policy. In the 1970s, after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence disclosed that the CIA had been involved in several murders or attempted murders of foreign leaders, President Gerald Ford issued an executive order banning assassinations. Although there have been exceptions to this policy, every succeeding president until George W. Bush reaffirmed that order."
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.
No, not a Mob hit. Not at all. The Mob, the goombas, got some amount of honor. This is more like one of those doped up Columbian or Jamaican gangs that go in and slaughter the whole family.
What an irony when the Outfit has more honor than the US Government!!! What a sick tragedy. The horror! The horror!
This is just another example of why they hate us. They hate us because of the United States government and its policy of dropping bombs and killing people who might or might not (given the track record of the United States government it is safer to assume not) be terrorist bad guys. They hate us because because the United States government supports corrupt and despotic governments like the one in Yemen that murder and torture their own people. They hate us because the United States government interferes in affairs that are of no concern to the lives or liberties of the American people such as the civil war that is raging in Yemen. Terrorism is just blowback from the foriegn policy choices made by the United State government. Terrorism like unemployment, inflation, the business cycle, crime, and the corruption of morals, is just a symptom of a larger problem; that problem is the United States government.
Hey, we "expressed hope" we got the bad guy. If not, Oh well. Of course if we were after a bad guy and other people were around and got themselves killed, then they probably were bad guys too. If not, Oh well.