The Yemen Thread
POSTED BY: DREAMTROVE
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 22:06
VIEWED: 6706
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I think this has been missing for a while.
Here's some pasta, I'll try to add more.
NYT:
U.S. Air Campaign in Yemen Killed Guantánamo Ex-Prisoner
By ERIC SCHMITTMARCH 6, 2017
Graffiti in Sana, Yemen, protested American drone operations in the country last year. The United States has carried out over 40 airstrikes in the country in the past week. Credit Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto Agency
WASHINGTON — For a fifth consecutive night, American warplanes and drones on Monday pummeled suspected Qaeda targets in Yemen as the Pentagon said an earlier attack in the country had killed a former prisoner held at the United States detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said an airstrike last Thursday — the first night of a larger Pentagon campaign to roll back gains made by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or A.Q.A.P. — killed the former detainee, who was using the name Yasir Ali Abdallah al Silmi. While at Guantánamo, he was held as Detainee No. 679 and went by the name Mohammed Tahar, according to military records...
Read more
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/world/middleeast/yemen-airstrikes-qa
eda.html?_r=0
Saudi-led coalition used cluster bombs in Yemen: Amnesty
AFP on March 9, 2017, 1:42 pm
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Dubai (AFP) - Amnesty International on Thursday accused the Saudi-led Arab coalition battling rebels in Yemen of using banned cluster munitions in raids on residential areas.
VIDEO The Saudi-led coalition intensifies air strikes on the Yemen port of Hodeidah, potentially trapping civilians, the United Nations human rights office says.
The Brazilian-manufactured munitions were fired in a February 15 attack on three residential districts and agricultural land in Saada province of northern Yemen, a stronghold of the Shiite Huthi rebels, it said in a statement.
Two people were wounded in the attack, said Amnesty, which has also reported that the coalition used cluster munitions in October 2015 and May of last year...
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/world/a/34600830/saudi-led-coalition-used-clu
ster-bombs-in-yemen-amnesty/#page1
YEMEN has reportedly demanded the US halt ground operations in its country unless they have permission after a raid green-lighted by Donald Trump killed civilians.
Yemeni officials are said to have confirmed their government has sent a firm message to the White House condemning the January 29 operation that left one US Navy Seal dead along with women and children.
Anwar al-Awlaki aged 8 died in a US raid
Eight-year-old daughter of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was among those killed in the US raid. US Seal William “Ryan” Owens also died in the Saudi led attack
Speaking anonymously to CNN, one official said: “The green light the US had for conducting ground missions is now red.”
This is because of the botched raid and the fact the government was not consulted about it going ahead, it’s claimed.
Foreign minister Abdul Malik Al Mekhlafi later condemned the raid in a Twitter post as “extrajudicial killings”.
Photographs of children apparently killed in the crossfire caused outrage in Yemen, reports The Times.
The eight-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric and US citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011, was reportedly among those killed...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2817449/donald-trump-yemen-bans-us-raid-a
l-qaeda-bases-after-new-presidents-first-raid-killed-little-girl-and-us-marine
This US-Saudi mission Claimed the lives of two American citizens, and 9 children.
The target: Nawar al-Awlaki
And US Navy Seal William "Ryan" Owens
Also here:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/yemen-strike-eight-year-o
ld-american-girl-killed-al-
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Quote:
Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:
I think this has been missing for a while.
Here's some pasta, I'll try to add more.
NYT:
U.S. Air Campaign in Yemen Killed Guantánamo Ex-Prisoner
By ERIC SCHMITTMARCH 6, 2017
Graffiti in Sana, Yemen, protested American drone operations in the country last year. The United States has carried out over 40 airstrikes in the country in the past week. Credit Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto Agency
WASHINGTON — For a fifth consecutive night, American warplanes and drones on Monday pummeled suspected Qaeda targets in Yemen as the Pentagon said an earlier attack in the country had killed a former prisoner held at the United States detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said an airstrike last Thursday — the first night of a larger Pentagon campaign to roll back gains made by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or A.Q.A.P. — killed the former detainee, who was using the name Yasir Ali Abdallah al Silmi. While at Guantánamo, he was held as Detainee No. 679 and went by the name Mohammed Tahar, according to military records...
Read more
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/world/middleeast/yemen-airstrikes-qa
eda.html?_r=0
Saudi-led coalition used cluster bombs in Yemen: Amnesty
AFP on March 9, 2017, 1:42 pm
Share Tweet Email
Dubai (AFP) - Amnesty International on Thursday accused the Saudi-led Arab coalition battling rebels in Yemen of using banned cluster munitions in raids on residential areas.
VIDEO The Saudi-led coalition intensifies air strikes on the Yemen port of Hodeidah, potentially trapping civilians, the United Nations human rights office says.
The Brazilian-manufactured munitions were fired in a February 15 attack on three residential districts and agricultural land in Saada province of northern Yemen, a stronghold of the Shiite Huthi rebels, it said in a statement.
Two people were wounded in the attack, said Amnesty, which has also reported that the coalition used cluster munitions in October 2015 and May of last year...
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/world/a/34600830/saudi-led-coalition-used-clu
ster-bombs-in-yemen-amnesty/#page1
YEMEN has reportedly demanded the US halt ground operations in its country unless they have permission after a raid green-lighted by Donald Trump killed civilians.
Yemeni officials are said to have confirmed their government has sent a firm message to the White House condemning the January 29 operation that left one US Navy Seal dead along with women and children.
Anwar al-Awlaki aged 8 died in a US raid
Eight-year-old daughter of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was among those killed in the US raid. US Seal William “Ryan” Owens also died in the Saudi led attack
Speaking anonymously to CNN, one official said: “The green light the US had for conducting ground missions is now red.”
This is because of the botched raid and the fact the government was not consulted about it going ahead, it’s claimed.
Foreign minister Abdul Malik Al Mekhlafi later condemned the raid in a Twitter post as “extrajudicial killings”.
Photographs of children apparently killed in the crossfire caused outrage in Yemen, reports The Times.
The eight-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric and US citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011, was reportedly among those killed...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2817449/donald-trump-yemen-bans-us-raid-a
l-qaeda-bases-after-new-presidents-first-raid-killed-little-girl-and-us-marine
This US-Saudi mission Claimed the lives of two American citizens, and 9 children.
The target: Nawar al-Awlaki
And US Navy Seal William "Ryan" Owens
Also here:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/yemen-strike-eight-year-o
ld-american-girl-killed-al-awlaki
And here, with Glenn Greenwald:
http://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american
-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/
ETA:
Interesting take, I don't know this sNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:That's pretty appalling. Genetic terrorists? Also, terror suspects include children? And terror suspects are somehow terrorists without ever having a trial? i'm sorry, my point was this: It's their fucking country. No terrorists. It's Yemen, and the Yemeni are trying, and have been, to separated themselves since the end of the cold war, why are we bombing them? because they're too close to "our" oil, so we're backing the saudi campaign to annex them. And oh look, a large number of false narratives from both sides.
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Not sure I follow the point you are trying to make.
You support the eradication of terrorists, murderers?
You support the use of children as shields from surgically targeted strikes?
You bemoan the loss of beloved and acclaimed innocent Gitmo detainees?
You prefer Trump wait about 7 years before cleaning up the gene pool?
I grant there's such a thing as a genetic male, but not a genetic terrorist
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Quote:
Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:Quote:That's pretty appalling. Genetic terrorists? Also, terror suspects include children? And terror suspects are somehow terrorists without ever having a trial? i'm sorry, my point was this: It's their fucking country. No terrorists. It's Yemen, and the Yemeni are trying, and have been, to separated themselves since the end of the cold war, why are we bombing them? because they're too close to "our" oil, so we're backing the saudi campaign to annex them. And oh look, a large number of false narratives from both sides.
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Not sure I follow the point you are trying to make.
You support the eradication of terrorists, murderers?
You support the use of children as shields from surgically targeted strikes?
You bemoan the loss of beloved and acclaimed innocent Gitmo detainees?
You prefer Trump wait about 7 years before cleaning up the gene pool?
I grant there's such a thing as a genetic male, but not a genetic terrorist
OK, thanks for the clarification. I was getting derailed with all of the "American" references to the targets in the linkys.
So you're saying the Yemeni have been trying to separate themselves within Yemen between terrorists and peaceful factions? Do you feel the peaceful factions are being out-shouted or overshadowed by the terrorist bent? Do you feel the peaceful factions were well served by Obama's Middle East policies?
Do you feel the Saudis created the perception than Yemenis are enemies of America? As part of their long-term strategy to acquire Yemen? Does Yemen have something special that the Saudis want?
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Quote:
Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:
The target: Nawar al-Awlaki
Just horrible that this beautiful child and 8 others along with the American casualties died for what? ... some supposed Al Qaida computer hard drives? And this supposed "intelligence" changes what exactly? What was so important that she had to die for it?
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Quote:
Originally posted by Riverlove:
Just horrible that this beautiful child and 8 others along with the American casualties died for what? ... some supposed Al Qaida computer hard drives? And this supposed "intelligence" changes what exactly? What was so important that she had to die for it?
So true, all so Saudi's can invade and control the Suez oil trade. It's what we do. Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump. She was a US citizen too. You'd think someone'd raise hell, but you know the score: oppose the politician, not the war. Meh.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SOCKPUPPET:Quote:
Originally posted by Riverlove:
Just horrible that this beautiful child and 8 others along with the American casualties died for what? ... some supposed Al Qaida computer hard drives? And this supposed "intelligence" changes what exactly? What was so important that she had to die for it?
So true, all so Saudi's can invade and control the Suez oil trade. It's what we do. Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump. She was a US citizen too. You'd think someone'd raise hell, but you know the score: oppose the politician, not the war. Meh.
I'm not going to start screaming "war crime", but someone must be held accountable for killing these kids. The United States cannot kill children and just brush their deaths off as collateral damage. No General, no Intelligence bigwig, no President, no one could ever justify these Yemeni children's deaths, or even come close to answering satisfactorily to the anger I feel over this.
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JSF,
I mentioned americans because as president of the US bombing americans is something you're not supposed to do.
Now, re the situation in Yemen, it's complicated.
1) Yemen was one of the cold war divided territories, a communist soviet north yemen and a pro-western south yemen.
2) To say "terrorists"complicates matters. Just about no one in Yemen is interested in any way in international terrorism, even if some of the same groups are present. What's happening instead is a civil war. So you might hear "Al Qaeda" or "Mujahideen" but these are fighters in a civil war, not terrorists. In Yemen, I mean.
3) A group may be Saudi or Iranian backed, but the issue here is what a post cold war Yemen would look like.
There's been some trouble for many years obviously. Former communist North Yemen now technically rules Yemen, and has in the post-war period, but lately Saudi backed Sunni Wahhabi militias have taken over the south and are pressing into the north.
My point is not to take sides in the conflict, just to clarify the situation:
Iran is backing North Yemeni Shia Zaidi Houthi rebels who want to secede from Saudi control and take some or all of Yemen with them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_insurgency_in_Yemen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaidiyyah
For some perspective on the issue, it's worth pointing out that the Zaidi ruled yemen for 1000 years, and are entirely domestic, until now, when they have support from Iran.
Specifically:Quote:
JSF:
So you're saying the Yemeni have been trying to separate themselves within Yemen between terrorists and peaceful factions?
I think the Saudi backed militias would fit our traditional model of "al qaeda" muhaehidden interfering internationally, whereas the defending Shia are more of a guerilla force, but I wouldn't call either one peaceful. Unless you mean outside of Yemen. Quote:
I'm sure if we gave them their country back, they'd be fine. Instead, we're helping the Saudis, thus making America their enemy, so they might end up attacking us just because we got involved.
Do you feel the peaceful factions are being out-shouted or overshadowed by the terrorist bent?Quote:
Lol. Um. No. Actually, I don't think anyone benefited from the Obama Nation other than a few international bankers.
Do you feel the peaceful factions were well served by Obama's Middle East policies?Quote:
Oh, definitely.
Do you feel the Saudis created the perception than Yemenis are enemies of America?Quote:
As part of their long-term strategy to acquire Yemen?
DefinitelyQuote:
Does Yemen have something special that the Saudis want?
Definitely. First, lots of oil, and second, the Gulf of Aden, which controls oil traffic through the Red Sea.
Yemen was the eastern most kingdom of the kingdoms of Upper Egypt, and like with persia, the existence of ancient history created a cultural barrier, which doesn't sit well for the concept of a peninsular unity, which i'm sure is the koolaid the Saudis are peddling.
The problem with situations like this is that if we back the Saudis, someone else stronger than Iran will ultimately end up the Zaidi, so I suspect there's not really any way the issue is going to be long term resolved in the Saudis favor short of genocide. IOW, they're going to have to go in and militarily occupy the oil fields and ports and are going to require our constant military aid in order to maintain the occupation.
Not being a Yemeni, I can't speak to the N/S split, and cultural divides, and whether 30 years of communist rule disrupted society and if so to what extent, or if the westernization was pro-sunni in any way, but clearly the Zaidi are still there, and north yemen is still shia and south yemen is still sunni.
What this is not about is that Saudi are not currently going in to defend Sunnis. They're attacking Shia. Now, without us in this conflict, would Saudi
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Quote:
Originally posted by DREAMTROVE:
I agree complete. The attack on Nawar "Nora" al-Awlaki and the other children is unjustifiable and requires an investigation. We have a few options.
petitions.whitehouse.gov
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
Where's Amnesty Int'l., The World Court, or even the UN in all this? They're always crying about some stupid thing or another, but when there's something real like this, nada?
Quote:
Trump needs to know that those of us who accept him as president are not supporters or followers, and this is not going to be like the bush or obama years where this sort of story is a weekly occurance and nothing ever gets done. At least a head must roll, that will be sufficient to stop them from doing it again.
It's a horrible thing and you're right about heads rolling. It makes Benghazi look like a Sunday picnic.
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Quote:
Originally posted by G:Quote:
Originally posted by Riverlove:
Just horrible that this beautiful child and 8 others along with the American casualties died for what? ... some supposed Al Qaida computer hard drives? And this supposed "intelligence" changes what exactly? What was so important that she had to die for it?
For the glory of Trump! He doesn't seem to have the intelligence or empathy to connect the action with the consequences, or the consequences with real people, or real people with any personal responsibility. He's been living in that King Trump land for too long.
You really need to drop your partisan bullshit. Just because the media didn't talk about it the last 8 years doesn't mean that it hasn't been happening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_from_U.S._drone_stri
kes
According to the Long War Journal, as of mid-2011, the drone strikes in Pakistan since 2006 had killed 2,018 militants and 138 civilians.[4] The New America Foundation stated in mid-2011 that from 2004 to 2011, 80% of the 2,551 people killed in the strikes were militants. The Foundation stated that 95% of those killed in 2010 were militants and that, as of 2012, 15% of the total people killed by drone strikes were either known civilians or unknown.[5] The Foundation also states that in 2012 the rate of known civilian and unknown casualties was 2 percent, whereas the Bureau of Investigative Journalism say the rate of civilian casualties for 2012 is 9 percent.[6] The Bureau, based on extensive research in mid-2011, claims that at least 385 civilians were among the dead, including more than 160 children.[7] The Obama administration estimated in June 2016 that US drone strikes under Obama had killed 64 individuals conclusively determined to be non-combatants, in addition to 52 individuals whose status remained in doubt.[8]
It has been reported that 160 children have died from UAV-launched attacks in Pakistan[9] and that over 1,000 civilians have been injured.[10] Moreover, additional reporting has found that known militant leaders have constituted only 2 percent of all drone-related fatalities.[11] These sources run counter to the Obama administration's claim that "nearly for the past year there hasn't been a single collateral death" due to UAV-based attacks.[12]
The New America Foundation estimates that for the period 2004-2011, the non-militant fatality rate was approximately 20%.[13]
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