The US View of Yemen as Al-Qaida Hotbed is a Travesty of the Truth

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/08-1


A Yemeni army trooper looks on, while manning a checkpoint in Sanaa after Britain and France extended the closure of their embassies in Yemen. (Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Yemenis in the city of Sanaa awoke on Tuesday morning to the sound of rattling windows and a constant buzzing in the sky. It was a noise that brought one word to the minds of those who heard it – "drone" – and a sense of apprehension as they awaited the explosion on the ground that seemed sure to come at any moment.


Citizens of Yemen's capital are not accustomed to drones – strikes usually happen in more remote parts of the country – but the white object circling overhead, harmlessly as it turned out, gave them a small taste of what it's like to be on the receiving end.

"If this is how much fear, terror, and anger what just sounds to be a drone makes in Yemen's capital, imagine what it does in areas it actually bombs," activist Farea al-Muslimi tweeted.

In fact, it wasn't a drone on this occasion. The object in the sky was soon identified from photographs as a manned P-3 surveillance aircraft (or, as Yemeni journalist Shuaib Amosawa dubbed it, a "subservience plane&quot . Interestingly, the P-3 is mostly used for detecting submarines but has also seen service in Afghanistan where submarines are as rare as they are in Yemen. But what, exactly, was it doing over Sanaa?

[Kolesar]

1. Yeah, that hole in the Cole was really nothing

Bombed African embassies, uh, vaguely remember that

[cali]

2. That was in 1998 as I recall

I suggest reading the article. There are pertinent questions you should be asking: Is what we're doing in Yemen effective or counterproductive, is a good one to start with. Have you done any research about AQAP and Yemen recently?

[frylock]

3. fuck good old fashioned detective work. let's just drone bomb..

the shit out of everything. educate yourself ffs:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/could/

[Kolesar]

4. yeah, good

What's your plan for ending "the war on terror"?

[frylock]

5. drastically defunding the MIC

[Kolesar]

6. With a casually-offered presumption that the problem is as simple as that,...

you are anticipating that I am going to defend military spending.

When does your shift end and you turn it over to the Tsarina?

[frylock]

8. yes yes, we're all on the payroll for ummm.. who again?

[leftstreet]

7. DURec

[NuclearDem]

9. See also: self-fulfilling prophecy