US drones kill Yemen civilians

This video is called Yemeni Civilians Protest U.S. Drone Attacks (November 2011).

By Will Morrow:

US expands military intervention into Yemen

4 July 2012

Under the guise of the “war on terror,” the Obama administration is expanding US military operations in Yemen through stepped-up drone attacks and special operations forces on the ground.

What is being presented as a US offensive against the local Al Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is in reality a direct military intervention to prop up the widely despised regime of President Mansour al-Hadi, which confronts a developing civil war throughout the country. The Yemeni military is fighting armed tribal and Islamist forces, particularly in the south and, reportedly, southern separatist armed groups and protesters.

In its coverage of US military operations, the Western media has, predictably, repeated as good coin US and Yemeni government claims—without any evidence—that those killed by Yemeni forces and US drone strikes are AQAP “militants.”

In the latest display of the US military’s reckless indifference toward civilians, Yemeni officials told Xinhua news agency that a drone pursued a pick-up truck into the southern port city of Aden on June 25, before firing two missiles and killing all three passengers. It is reportedly the first strike inside Aden, which has a civilian population of more than 800,000 people. No evidence has been provided to support claims that the three men were AQAP members. Referring to an article in the Arabic-language Mareb Press, UPI noted: “Residents in Aden worry the drones will bring only destruction to the province.”

The Military Solution: The Lessons Washington Can’t Draw From the Failure of the Military Option. Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: “Americans may feel more distant from war than at any time since World War II began. Certainly, a smaller percentage of us – less than 1% – serves in the military in this all-volunteer era of ours and, on the face of it, Washington’s constant warring in distant lands seems barely to touch the lives of most Americans”: here.

USA: Billions of Tax Dollars for Drones While Kids Starve and Cities Go Broke: here.

Drone strikes are “capital punishment for people accused of a crime without being given a trial” – German legal expert: here.

Tensions between the Obama administration and the Pakistani government remain high amid continuing US drone strikes in Pakistan: here.

CIA drone strikes violate Pakistan’s sovereignty, says senior diplomat: here.

“Whatever Is Left Is Just Pieces of Bodies and Cloth”: New Report Details the Horror of Living Under Drones: here.