Drone Air strike kills 15 civilians (on their way to a wedding) in Yemen

[Wilikon]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/12/us-yemen-strike-idUSBRE9BB10O20131212

(Hint: Not Bush's fault)

(Reuters) - Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.

The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a drone.

"An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital," one security official said.

Five more people were injured, the officials said.

The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network.

Yemen, AQAP's main stronghold, is among a handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using drones, although it does not comment on the practice.

Human Rights Watch said in a detailed report in August that U.S. missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen.

Stabilizing the country, which is also struggling with southern separatists and northern rebels, is an international priority due to fears of disorder in a state that flanks top oil producer Saudi Arabia and major shipping lanes.

On Monday, missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed at least three people travelling in a car in eastern Yemen.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

[oxxymoronn]

This is just terrible.

Obama's drone program is one the most cowardly and disgusting things this world has ever seen.

[AWSOM]

shit happens

[oxxymoronn]

shit happens

You consider the murder of innocent people "shit" ? As if bombing people from unmanned aircraft and "accidentally" killing innocent people is acceptable in any way?

[cryptasm]

Obama has a lot to answer for with regards to his foreign policy, it's more right-wing than Dubya's in some respects.

All of these illegal drone strikes against civilians are a great propaganda gift for Al Qaeda and Co, I'd be pretty pissed off if a foreign nation invaded my country and blew up my entire family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Drone_Strikes_in_Pakistan

[Kenshin]

That is why I am so lucky not to be an American. Because I would feel so shame.

[Mike Christ]

This is why I'm a libertarian: these horror stories will only stop once people take responsibility for their actions.  A part of this responsibility is not allowing other men to commit immoral atrocities in your name.  We're all responsible for these deaths.

[Kenshin]

shit happens

How will you feel if that is your family? 

[oxxymoronn]

shit happens

How will you feel if that is your family? 

+1

[Carlton Banks]

This is why I'm a libertarian: these horror stories will only stop once people take responsibility for their actions.  A part of this responsibility is not allowing other men to commit immoral atrocities in your name.  We're all responsible for these deaths.

Indeed. Did you pay tax in America this year? Any tax at all? Welcome to the company of the partially guilty, along with everyone else basically.

People need to understand, until we change the social contract, completely, we have no power to stop this disgusting culture. The world and it's inhabitants are being subjected to one massive and complexified version of the good cop/bad cop routine. Those in westernised developed countries have the good cop (the one that gives you nice things and tells you what to do and say to get out of the situation you're in without the bad cop getting a piece of you). And the third world is getting the bad cop (that makes no attempt to disguise the depraved and ruthless contempt for those that don't comply with their own degradation or the murder of their families)

[Wilikon]

http://news.yahoo.com/new-book--obama-told-aides-that-drones-make-him--really-good-at-killing-people--144734667.html

President Barack Obama is criticized every day for the problems and difficulties associated with the Affordable Care Act. But in the long term, it's likely history will scrutinize the CIA’s use of drone strikes during his administration with a far more critical eye.

A quote from a new book on the 2012 presidential campaign, “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” will surely stoke that interest. As first reported in a book review by the Washington Post’s Peter Hamby, Obama told aides in connection with the CIA's drone program that he is “really good at killing people.”

It’s the kind of quote likely to make Obama supporters cringe or scramble for justifying explanations, perhaps by rationalizing the quote as either false or out of context, or critiquing the information-gathering methods of authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. The writers spent two years interviewing dozens of people connected with both the Obama and Romney campaigns.

Whether uttered in jest or in resignation, the Obama quote will only add to the concerns of those wondering whether the president has embraced the Godlike, life-and-death power of the Oval Office. After campaigning against the intense interrogation procedures pursued under President George W. Bush, Obama has vastly expanded the drone program. Despite its intense unpopularity overseas, in part because of civilian casualties and in part because of its unclear, secretive mandates, the Pakistan drone program continues as it has since 2004.

According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the CIA has conducted 378 strikes in the program’s 10-year history. Of those, 326 are classified as “Obama strikes.” The total number of people killed by drones is estimated at 2,528 to 3,648. Civilian casualties are estimated at 416 to 948, with 168 to 200 of those being children. As many as another 1,545 are estimated to have been injured in those strikes.

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-pakistan/

[oxxymoronn]

I can only imagine the fear associated with seeing these flying death machines appearing in the skies.
Drones truly are the definition of terror inducing. It really makes one question who is actually responsible for todays "terrorism".

[ajax3592]

That is why I am so lucky not to be an American. Because I would feel so shame.

That's what USA always does, kill innocent kids, families just for the greed of oil to get more and more $$$
Damn! when are we going to see US citizens revolting...

[hilariousandco]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/12/us-yemen-strike-idUSBRE9BB10O20131212

(Reuters) - Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.

Yet when a Muslim "terrorist" blows up a few Americans the entire country has a shitfit.

This isn't the first wedding party they've obliterated either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wech_Baghtu_wedding_party_airstrike

[Wilikon]

I can only imagine the fear associated with seeing these flying death machines appearing in the skies.
Drones truly are the definition of terror inducing. It really makes one question who is actually responsible for todays "terrorism".

Drones are too high up. You cannot tell they are flying above your head until it is too late for your family.


But I wouldn't want to beat up too hard on pres. Obama. He defines what "dignity" is while giving the order for the strike.

[Wilikon]

That is why I am so lucky not to be an American. Because I would feel so shame.

That's what USA always does, kill innocent kids, families just for the greed of oil to get more and more $$$
Damn! when are we going to see US citizens revolting...

The revolts only make sense when the US president is republican. That is why you will not see this news in any of your regular news outlet, no matter where you live. Democrats LOVE the drones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_UJg1s-qi8

[Wilikon]

[oxxymoronn]

That's not necessarily true, there are some reports stating that drones are able to be seen with the naked eye by Pakistani citizens.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Report-On-Drones-Average-Pakistani-1426336.html

[Wilikon]

That's not necessarily true, there are some reports stating that drones are able to be seen with the naked eye by Pakistani citizens.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Report-On-Drones-Average-Pakistani-1426336.html

I am sure if you keep your eyes scanning the sky all time you will see the drones. If you are on your way to a wedding not so much as you won't have to worry about being hit.

What amazes me more is all those billions into those gigantic super servers scanning for terrorists, 24/7. They need to monitor every single electronic devices on the planet, every websites to track for bad guys. I want bad guys to die. Yet somehow the drones are still killing babies. Do they need updates on their software Intel or they simply do not care because it is simply someone's else 4 year olds?

[Carlton Banks]

That's not necessarily true, there are some reports stating that drones are able to be seen with the naked eye by Pakistani citizens.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Report-On-Drones-Average-Pakistani-1426336.html

I am sure if you keep your eyes scanning the sky all time you will see the drones. If you are on your way to a wedding not so much as you won't have to worry about being hit.

What amazes me more is all those billions into those gigantic super servers scanning for terrorists, 24/7. They need to monitor every single electronic devices on the planet, every websites to track for bad guys. I want bad guys to die. Yet somehow the drones are still killing babies. Do they need updates on their software Intel or they simply do not care because it is simply someone's else 4 year olds?

It's like I said, good cop/bad cop.

I'm not sure the power elite are racist, they just have contempt for the serfs. Murdering 4 year old children in one part of the world, but not in another is just a means of dividing us into placated worker drone societies and resentful destitute societies. If the right kind of propaganda is carefully nurtured in both separate societies, the people of each will blame the other for their problems.

Middle East/North Africa/South America/Central + South East Asia "you guys send your sons and daughters to kill and torture us, and to steal our resources, encourage militias/gangs to grow drug crops and fight over them, and cripple our economies with unpayable national debts, all to help maintain your way of life! bastards!"

North America/Europe "you guys are jealous of our advanced society, and all because you idiots keep electing corrupt leaders who steal from you, or listen to religious fanatics who turn you into terrorists! bastards!"


The truth is that the rich, powerful corporate/political class are stealing the resources, are fomenting the wars, are enabling corrupt political leaderships, are encouraging the psychopathic to torture in war, are capturing natural resources for corporate gain, are supporting drug production and trafficking networks, are resourcing religious terrorist organisations, and are encouraging circumstances where countries end up with huge, unpayable debts. They're also using the media in each side to convince the people that it's the other sides fault.


It's all just a game to keep everyone pointing the finger of responsibility in the wrong direction, and projecting blame and resentment at that wrongly identified group. I know this is the same thing that Alex Jones or David Icke would say, but they also say that "Aliens are going to kill us in giant Nazi death camps by feeding us toxic waste that looks like food etc etc". Strange how those two mix the feasible stuff together with the blatantly ridiculous stuff... don't know whats going on there