Killing of innocents
resulting in blow-back
on the Arab street
A house in Yemen destroyed in a U.S. drone strike this week. Click image to enlarge.
IT IS THE LAW of unintended consequences.
The relentless American attacks on innocent Yemenis with unmanned drones this week are creating a flood of new recruits for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula – and other branches of the hydra-like organization.
It is like a replay of 2003, when the Bush Administration’s ill-fated attempt at nation building in Iraq created a hostile backlash that erupted into a near-civil war that continues today, a decade later.
The view from abroad is quite different from what we in the U.S. are hearing from our media.
LINK TO VIDEO BELOW THE FOLD
THE REST OF THE WORLD is up in arms about the killing of innocents – collateral damage? – and destruction of civilian targets (like peoples’ homes and schools) by unmanned aircraft.
The Obama administration says this is inevitable. But, is the solution worse than the problem?
The BBC story with the provocative headline: is the U.S. creating more enemies than it kills? Click image to enlarge.
According to a report Aug. 7 on the BBC titled “Yemen: Do U.S. drones, create more enemies than they kill” both the US and UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen, prompted by intelligence reports of renewed terrorist activity.
“The US is reported to be preparing special operations forces for possible strikes against al-Qaida in Yemen,” Yalda Hakim reports.
“Suspected US drone strikes killed seven alleged al-Qaida militants in Yemen on Wednesday – the fifth such strikes in less than two weeks.”
The Yemenis interviewed for the piece have absolutely no doubt about it. They are furious, and motivated to seek revenge any way they possibly can.
Their only avenue, with their own government siding with the unprovoked American military attacks, is al-Qaida.
One can hear the anguish in the voice of a father who describes how his daughter bled to death in his arms. “She turned yellow,” read the translation in the subtitle.
IN AN IN DEPTH examination published Thursday, Al Jazeera reports that, although a different entity, the evolved Al Qaida organization remains a major threat to the U.S. and world peace.
Al Jazeera has an in-depth examination of the situation. Check out the video. Click image to enlarge.
The report, titled The rise and rise of Al Qaida concludes that the threat from Al Qaida – and the affiliate groups it has spawned – is “still there” 15 years after its first attacks on U.S. targets in Africa.
Presenter Mike Hannah reports:
“It has been 15 years since what was then a little known organization bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people.”
“And while much has changed since those twin bombings, the closure of US and British embassies in recent days indicates that the threat from Al-Qaida and groups inspired by it remains.”
As the revelations about the drone attacks come pouring out of Washington, Americans must try to keep abreast of what the rest of the world is saying about us.
Watching CNN or Fox wont help.
Watch the 25-minute Al Jazeera examination of the issue here.
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