US air raids kill 63 civilians in Yemen

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Press TV plus Al-Jazeera

US air raids kill 63 civilians in Yemen

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:55:55 GMT

Yemen's Houthi fighters say scores of civilians, including many children, have been killed in US air-raids in the southeast of the war-stricken Arab country.

The Shia fighters on Friday reported the deaths of 63 people, including some 28 children, in the southeastern province of Abyan.

Almost 90 people were also injured in the attacks by US warplanes in the village of Bakazam, they added.

Yemen's southern provinces have recently been the scene of US airstrikes which Washington claims to be aimed at uprooting an al-Qaeda cell operative in the Persian Gulf state.

But the residents of the area dismiss the claims that al-Qaeda members are being targeted in the US attacks, while a Yemeni lawmaker has also called for an investigation into the raids.

The US operation in southern Yemen comes on top of a joint Saudi-Yemeni military campaign in the country's war-weary north where Sana'a and Riyadh forces are engaged in a fierce fighting against the Houthi fighters.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114056§ionid=351020206

'Dozens killed' in Yemen raids

Residents of Abyan said that there was no al-Qaeda training camp in the area and that the raids had destroyed several homes.

Abbas al-Assal, a local human rights activist who was at the scene, said 64 people were killed, including 23 children and 17 women.

"The government wants to show the world that it is serious in pursuing al-Qaeda elements and that the south of Yemen is a refuge for al-Qaeda. That is not true at all," al-Assal told the Associated Press by telephone.

Ali Mohammed Mansour, gave similar casualty figures, and said that he helped bury the dead in a mass grave.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/2009121863810908568.html

Rebels in Northwest Yemen are accusing the United States of killing at least 120 people and wounding 44 in air strikes. Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been conducting an offensive against the Shia

VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWuY6UOzEH4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E85mb3KM2uk&feature=video_response



Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114056§ionid=351020206

---

According to tonight's ABC News, the orders to expand the war into Yemen came from President Obama. Escalation only leads to more escalations!

As in prior US bombings, a lot of civilians get killed.

[aquart]

1. We're at war with YEMEN?

Do they have oil?

[IndianaGreen]

7. Saudi Arabia has a strategic interest in Yemen, and its Wahhabi government

[Posteritatis]

29. Considering they coordinated this with the Yemeni military, I rather doubt that

But let's all emote, because that feels better.

[ProSense]

2. You need to fact check before posting reports from less than credible sources

Yemen Opposition Says Govt Attacks Killed Civilians

Yemen said on Thursday that security forces and warplanes had foiled a planned series of suicide bombings by attacking targets including an al Qaeda training center in the southern province of Abyan and sites in Arhab district.

The troops killed 30 al Qaeda militants and arrested 17 in Abyan and in Arhab, northeast of the capital Sanaa, it said.

U.S. President Barack Obama called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying the operation "confirms Yemen's resolve in confronting the danger of terrorism represented by al Qaeda for Yemen and the world," Yemen's state media said.

Earlier, the Yemeni security forces had conducted a successful attack on a number of al Qaeda members in various areas of Yemen,34 of Al-Qaeda member were killed. Yemeni security sources said that A-Qaeda had intended to undertake a number of terrorist operations in Yemen.

link

[IndianaGreen]

5. The Yemeni government is Wahhabi and is backed by Saudi Arabia

The rebels are Shia. The Wahhabis see the Shia as heretics. Al-Qaeda is Wahhabi.

For the White House to claim they were striking Al-Qaeda targets is a bald faced lie, since the Shia are hated by Al-Qaeda.

The truth is that Obama has chosen to start a new war in Yemen, by siding with Saudi Arabia.

[ProSense]

9. Your post is bogus. n/t

[IndianaGreen]

10. It is not bogus at all

and you have no facts to support your assertion.

[ProSense]

11. It's bogus

Source: Yemen airstrike kills al Qaeda deputy

You need to stop being so desperate.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Here is Al-Jazeera's report on the civilian casualties

'Many more killed'

Residents of Abyan said that there was no al-Qaeda training camp in the area and that the raids had destroyed several homes.

Abbas al-Assal, a local human rights activist who was at the scene, said 64 people were killed, including 23 children and 17 women.

"The government wants to show the world that it is serious in pursuing al-Qaeda elements and that the south of Yemen is a refuge for al-Qaeda. That is not true at all," al-Assal told the Associated Press by telephone.

Ali Mohammed Mansour, gave similar casualty figures, and said that he helped bury the dead in a mass grave.

<snip>

A provincial security official said that "grave mistakes occurred in the operation due to failures of information, which led to a large number of civilian deaths".

Mansour, the resident, rejected claims that targeted site was a training camp, and said that community was only 100 metres away from a main road and two kilometres from an army base.

“If (al-Kazemi) was wanted, why didn't the authorities come and arrest him all this time?” he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/2009121863810908568.html

[shadowknows69]

40. Don't you know IG? Aljazeera was only a credible source about US war crimes when Bush was in power.

[arcadian]

42. I'd like to see you back up your claims that the sources are not credible.

Let's see it. Al Jazeera is a credible news source.

http://aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/US-air-raids-kill-63-civilians-in-SE-Yemen.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. The northern rebels ('Houthi') are Shia; the attacks in teh OP were in the south

But the Iranian website relayed what the northern Shia rebels had to say about the attacks in the south.

Here's Al Jazeera on it:

As well as tackling al-Qaeda fighters and sealing with growing secessionist feeling from south Yemen, the government has for five-years waged a campaign against a group of Shia Muslim fighters in the country's north.

The conflict with the Houthi fighters, which has cost the lives of thousands of people, is a mix of local and tribal concerns stemming from historical roots.
...
Zaydism is a branch of Shia Islam, though its practices often appear closer to Sunni Islam than traditional Shia belief.

Saada, in the north, was their main stonghold and since their fall from power the region was largely ignored economically and remains underdeveloped.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981294214604934.html

The US is siding with the Yemeni government; and not 'starting a new war'.

[femrap]

19. I've read that Yemen is the poorest of

the ME nations.....no oil.

Maybe they have some other kind of resource we need....or we're just helping our 'good buddies,' the Saudis.

I'm sick of it.

[Goldstein1984]

28. Would that be Saudi Arabia the democracy?

Here's why a country with 5% of the world's population does 50% of its "defense" spending.

[IndianaGreen]

31. The same Saudi Arabia that has financed the Taliban

and runs a global network of Wahhabi schools in which children are taught to hate Jews, Israel, gays, and women.

[Goldstein1984]

35. That's the one

Greg Mortenson, in "Three Cups of Tea," writes about the Saudi agents arriving in Pakistan with briefcases full of money to build and finance the schools.

Our "leaders" have created a tangle of relationships that reflect hypocrisy and a willingness to deal with anyone to achieve their ends.

[harkadog]

15. It was on ABC News

Are you saying they just made it up?

[bluestateguy]

3. This strikes me as false

nt

[IndianaGreen]

8. Video doesn't lie

and neither does Al-Jazeera.

[grantcart]

13. AL - Jazeera reports that Al Queda fighters were killed

My mis representing the fact that Al Jazeera had reported both sides of the dispute and seemed to give more credence to the charge that legitimate Al Queda targets were hit you seriously undermine your own credibility.

From the link on Al Jazeera


At least 34 people have been killed in raids on suspected al-Qaeda hide-outs and training sites in Yemen, security officials have said.

At least 30 suspected fighters militants were killed on Thursday in the area of Mahsad in the southern province of Abyan, Saleh el-Shamsy, a provincial security official, said.

[IndianaGreen]

16. And it quotes a local human rights activists on the civilian casualties

and a provincial governor admitting that civilians were killed.

[grantcart]

30. And yet your summary only recorded one side of Al Jazeera's report

and then you report the one side suggesting that Al Jazeera was reporting a conclusive report that civilians were killed.


Al Jazeera's reporting was fine and yours was biased.

[FreakinDJ]

4. Thanks for the Dis-Information

[ShortnFiery]

6. Winning the hearts and minds in Yemen! Oh yeah! Breaking International LAW.

How does THESE "Summary Executions" and collateral damage of civilians make AMERICANS safer? :eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

18. and building new bases in Latin America!

More and more wars under the pretext of fighting Al-Qaeda.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. What international law was broken?

[cowcommander]

14. Obama's campaign contributors are giddy with joy

Ahh, more war, more war!

[scentopine]

22. I was a contributor. I am far from giddy, In fact, I want to vomit. -nt

[cowcommander]

26. No, I'm talking about these guys

But while the president may be showing disloyalty to his political base, he's remaining faithful to the defense industry interests that so generously funded his campaign.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org database, the top recipient of defense industry money in the 2008 election cycle was Barack Obama, whose haul of $1,029,997 far surpassed Republican contender Sen. John McCain's $696,948.

During the 2008 cycle, the industry contributed a total of $23.7 million to federal candidates -- far more than the $17.4 million it invested during the 2006 cycle or the $18.1 million in the 2004 cycle.

The top five defense industry contributors during the 2008 elections were Lockheed Martin at $2.5 million, Boeing at $2.1 million, Northrop Grumman at $1.8 million, and Raytheon and General Dynamics at $1.7 million each.


http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/12/the-campaign-cash-behind-the-afghanistan-escalation.html

[scentopine]

27. LOL! War is for sale just like like health care Time for another gulp of pepto... -nt

[FiveGoodMen]

20. GoBama!

:grr:

[polly7]

23. Unbelievable.

F!!k !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:grr:

[progressoid]

24. WTF??

[IndianaGreen]

25. HRW: Saudi Arabia/Yemen: Protect Civilians in Conflict with Rebels

Here is some background on the human tragedy in Yemen:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2009
1:46 PM

Saudi Arabia/Yemen: Protect Civilians in Conflict with Rebels

Aerial Bombings Reportedly Cause Civilian Casualties, Displacement

NEW YORK - December 4 - Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Huthi rebel forces involved in the armed conflict in northern Yemen should take all necessary measures to spare civilians from the fighting and ensure that they receive humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said today.

Since early November 2009, Saudi warplanes have bombed Yemeni villages in areas controlled by Huthi rebels. Yemeni armed forces and Huthi rebels have been involved in renewed fighting since August, which has resulted in civilian casualties and displaced thousands of people.

"The escalating conflict in northern Yemen risks escalating civilian casualties," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. "All sides must avoid harming civilians and ensure that aid reaches them quickly."

On November 3, a cross-border raid by Huthi rebels, who have been fighting the Yemeni government intermittently since 2004, set off Saudi aerial bombing raids on November 5 that continue to the present. The Saudi deputy defense minister, Prince Khalid bin Sultan, said on November 10 that Saudi forces were seeking to establish a 10-kilometer corridor inside Yemeni territory free of Huthi rebel positions.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the parties to the conflict take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population from attack as is required by the laws of war. A recently displaced person told London's Guardian newspaper that Saudi loudspeakers warned residents to evacuate their homes but may have conducted attacks without regard to whether civilians remained in the village.

"We heard the sounds of planes and heavy shelling," the person was quoted as saying. "The Saudis were bombarding the Huthi positions and our village was hit."

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/12/04-10

This is another civil war!

[Goldstein1984]

32. Idea to save money:

Why don't we just hijack planes and fly them into buildings full of civilians?

[classysassy]

33. " The ugly americans "

and we ask the question why don't they love us.?

[PufPuf23]

34. I don't post much but look in my journal

about military in Africa (AFRICOM) and Latin America.

I am anti-war regardless of D or R.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

36. YouTube and the Iranian propoganda organization are not useful sources of information.

Do you have a legitimate press organization backing this up?

[G_j]

41. Since when is Aljazeera Iranian? nt

[Stella_Artois]

37. He give Obama a break

He's an American president. He's there to make sure war is something that Americans do in foreign lands like the one i live in.

I do wonder if such a large number of Americans would love war quite so much if it was something that happened a little closer to home, 9/11 notwithstanding.

[GreenTea]

38. Is admin.strategy, kill as many civilians as possible in hopes of killing an al-Qaeda member or two?

Great strategy Obama administration.

[G_j]

39. that is technically an act of war, correct?

then, that would be "aggressive war" which is a war crime, correct?


NO WONDER OBAMA DID NOT WANT BUSH OFFICIALS PROSECUTED OR EVEN INVESTIGATED!