After Yemen Wedding Strike, US Drone Policy Comes Under New Scrutiny

US Claims More Care in Drone Strikes Not Holding Water

The Obama Administration’s claims on its global drone assassination policy have rarely been internally consistent, arguing regularly that the strikes were incredibly accurate and that they were going to exercise more care in the future.

Then a wedding happened in rural Yemen, and US drones were quick with a “signature strike” against the procession, killing at least 12 civilians. Carloads of civilians were destroyed, and so were claims of US “care” in its drone policy.

While the administration has mostly ducked questions on the incident (or flat out lied) and insisted that particular care is still being taken, the incident reflects the extraordinary care not taken.

With the overwhelming majority of drone victims unidentified, the “signature strike” policy that the administration continues to defend, with Congressional support, is on even shakier ground than before, and the administration claims that all the anonymous people they killed must’ve been guilty of something are just not holding water.

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.