The Bureau of Investigative Journalism just announced a new project, “Naming the Dead,” which “will seek to identify as many as possible of those killed in US covert drone strikes in Pakistan, whether civilian or militant.”
‘In the face of official secrecy, having the full facts about who is killed is essential for an informed debate about the effectiveness and ethics of the drone campaign,’ said Christopher Hird, managing editor of the Bureau.
They’re going to start with Pakistan and then move on to Yemen and Somalia. This is an important project.
The administration’s use of, and tact on drone strikes is undoubtedly one of the most controversial parts President Obama’s record. But from a journalistic standpoint, so little basic information is known about the people who’ve been killed. This seems like a good start.
If you go to Yemen where I was, and you see the unexploded cluster bombs, and you have the list and photographic evidence, as I do, of women and children that represented the vast majority of deaths in the first strike that Obama authorized on Yemen, those people were murdered by President Obama, on his orders, because there was believed to be someone from Al Qaeda in that area.Jeremy Scahill, national security reporter for The Nation • Leveling a dire condemnation against President Obama, on the topic of U.S. drone strikes. Scahill was speaking on MSNBC’s “Up With Chris Hayes” (clearly a show accustomed to recent controversy), and as one could expect his remarks have drawn wide criticism. This is an issue Scahill is very close to — he’s reported from Yemen before, and claims one strike he investigated killed some 35 people, 14 of them children. Redstate.com founder Joshua Treviño pushed back, suggesting he was saying something ‘no reasonable person’ would. We think there’s a very worthy conversation to be had about the moral ramifications of this new sort of warfare, we just hope it doesn’t become too intense at expense of the dialogue. source (via • follow)
» Military leaders targeted: The rehearsal for Tuesday’s National Day parade, in Sanaa, was not interrupted until an explosion during final salutes. Several army commanders and a defense minister were beleived to be the target of the attack. Officials say that the parade will take place as scheduled. The bombing is the most serious attack orchestrated by the al-Qaeda affiliated group, who also warned of further violence should the U.S. not withdraw its military from the region.
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Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, working closely with the CIA, used an informant to pose as a would-be suicide bomber. His job was to convince the Al Qaeda franchise in Yemen to give him a new kind of non-metallic bomb that the militants were designing to easily pass through airport security.
But the double agent instead arranged to deliver the explosive device to U.S. and other intelligence authorities waiting in another country, officials said Tuesday. The agent is now safely outside Yemen and is being debriefed.
To be clear, though: The guy helped intercept an underwear bomb, which is a fairly positive development.
Making bombs is not that difficult. It’s the creative touch he adds, how they’re concealed, how they’re conceived. The printer bomb, for instance, was considered by bomb technicians around the world to be a brilliant stroke. So it boils down to one person, but one very dangerous person.CBS correspondent and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence John Miller • Discussing the alleged creator of the latest “underwear bomb,“ Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri, who is considered supremely skilled at creating — and more importantly, cleverly hiding — dangerous weapons. The bomb was uncovered before it could get on a plane and acquired via a covert CIA operation in Yemen. FBI bomb experts are currently investigating the weapon in Virginia, which they note does not contain metal. (via • follow)
They killed him because he was a secret Christian missionary: That’s according to the spokesman for an al-Qaeda-linked organization that has claimed credit for the murder. The victim, who has not been identified at this time, was the deputy director of the Swedish language center in Taez, Yemen. (photo by Anees Mahyoub/AP) source
In the end, we felt there was enough good to be gained that it was worth managing the criticism that we’d get, including any comparisons to past episodes.A U.S. official • Speaking about the decision to let Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh into the U.S. for medical reasons — which runs counter to what Saleh himself said a couple of days ago. The Yemeni leader claimed over the weekend that he would head to the U.S. just to get away from the region to let electoral officials do their work, but considering the fact that Saleh got burned so severely in his assassination attempt, the alternate story is by no means a surprise. By the way, when the official refers to “past episodes,” he means a 1979 episode where Jimmy Carter let an ailing Iranian shah into the U.S. — which angered officials in Iran. Already, similar concerns are coming up amongst Yemeni activists who worry the U.S. may give Saleh a safe harbor. source (via • follow)
I will go to the United States. Not for treatment, because I’m fine, but to get away from attention, cameras, and allow the unity government to prepare properly for elections. I’ll be there for several days, but I’ll return because I won’t leave my people and comrades who have been steadfast for 11 months. I’ll withdraw from political work and go into the street as part of the opposition.Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh • Discussing his plans to leave Yemen soon, in an effort to give the government space so they can start the electoral process. This appears to be a major concession on the part of Saleh, as he’s gotten in the way of transition efforts in the past — especially prior to an assassination attempt earlier this year. Being halfway around the world, playing tourist in the U.S. (he’d get a kick out of Disney World), will probably go a long way towards encouraging peaceful elections in the country. source (via • follow)
Three examples of strong female peace-fighters: On Saturday in Oslo, the three winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Price — from left, Yemeni Tawakkol Karman, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf — accepted their honors. The three women were chosen together as a reflection of women’s rights at large. Karman’s case is particularly of note — at 32 she is not only the youngest winner of an award, but also the first Arab woman, one reflective of this year’s Arab Spring movement. Gbowee, meanwhile, led an anti-rape campaign in her country; and Johnson-Sirleaf went a long way in easing tensions by leading the country past a long civil war. Congrats to all three. (Photo via AP) source
So long, Saleh: As we mentioned last night, reports had been swirling that Ali Abdullah Saleh, the embattled (and battling, judging from the violence his government wrought against citizen protests) leader of Yemen, had arrived in Saudi Arabia to strike an agreement with the opposition to end his rule. Today, the New York Times has reported that exactly that took place: Saleh signed on to an end to his 33-year tenure, but he will officially retain the title of “President” until new elections are held three months from now. Whether this is truly the end of Saleh’s influence in Yemeni politics is unclear, however — his family still holds many powerful positions in Yemen’s military and intelligence agencies. source
Will Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh sign a deal for his exit? He’s supposedly going to sign the GCC-backed plan very soon, but he’s known for backing out of agreements, so excuse us for possibly being cynical. He’s also known, however, for getting significant burns all over his body, so that might play a factor in what he’ll do.
Downfall of the despots. A Lebanese activist carries a caricature as Lebanese policemen stand guard during a protest in solidarity with anti-government protesters in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, in front of the Arab league headquarters in Beirut. The caricature depicts (from right to left) Tunisia’s former President Ben Ali, Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. [Photo: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]
Fascinating illo. Nice twist on the Time theme.
In a recent newsletter called HuffPost Hill, The Huffington Post attacked U.S. government officials for their killing of radical Islamic terrorists Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, despite the fact that these to so-called Americans have tried and in some cases succeeded in killing countless… [more]
We’ve covered this story before and have made clear that there’s a balance here. But the problem that we see here is one of due process. HuffPo’s report is slanted in a way that sharply pins the story on an angle that frustrates many among the left. But it’s another thing entirely to paint HuffPo as anti-American because they disagree with something the U.S. government did. Here’s the issue, as many on the left see it: There’s this thing called due process for U.S. citizens, and they feel that Obama basically ignored it in hopes of stopping someone who was seen as greatly influential in al-Qaeda, a man who despite that had American parents who didn’t want the U.S. government to simply drop a bunch of bombs on him. “The question then is, why The Huffington Post is so eager to support a terrorist and murderer?” That’s just as slanted as HuffPo’s take. They’re not “eager to support a terrorist and murderer,” but they think that due process has a place in the war on terror, even for perceived enemies of the state. And they’re not alone. Glenn Greenwald’s been heavily against this, too.