On May 23, Navy SEALs attacked the hamlet of al Adhlan, in the Yemeni province of Mareb. US commandos, attack helicopters, and an AC-130 gunship converged on the village and killed seven people, described by The New York Times as members of al-Qaeda in Yemen.
According to Reprieve, a London-based human rights organization, five civilians were killed in what the Times and the Pentagon describe as an al-Qaeda “compound” located deep within the Yemeni countryside.
Iona Craig, writing for The Intercept, says that village residents gave a list of 10 names of civilians killed and wounded during the raid. “Fifteen-year-old Abdullah Saeed Salem al Adhal was shot dead as he fled from his home with women and children. Another child, 12-year-old Othman Mohammed Saleh al Adhal, was injured but survived.”
The Pentagon described the raid as a success. “Operations such as this provide insight into AQAP's disposition, capabilities and intentions, which allows the U.S. to continue to pursue, disrupt and degrade AQAP,” the Defense Department reported on May 23, citing a Central Command news release.
“AQAP has taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Yemen to plot, direct, and inspire terror attacks against America, its citizens and allies around the world, the release said.”
The Times echoed the Pentagon narrative. “Even after the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, American counterterrorism officials have said the Qaeda franchise in Yemen poses the most direct threat to the United States, largely because of its proven ability to develop plots to smuggle hard-to-detect bombs aboard passenger airliners bound for the United States. So far, three such plots have been thwarted.”
Read the Whole Article
2 comments:
Aged Parent: Tell me that Catholics are not still falling for this line of - "we kill kids to keep you safe." Because I'm afraid many are still buying it.
Sadly true.
Post a Comment