They're blaming Trump for this? My God! This is Obama's doing. Note just who
that 8 year old girl was, who her father and brother were. The difference
is, Obama would have covered it up more neatly. But the article says that he
left it for the next administration. These drone killings are Obama's
policy.
Miriam
'Without Sufficient Intelligence,' Trump Raid Kills Yemeni Children, US
Service Member
Published on
Thursday, February 02, 2017
by
Common Dreams
'Without Sufficient Intelligence,' Trump Raid Kills Yemeni Children, US
Service Member
Signalling aggressive military stance, Pentagon drafting plans to make for
easier approval of dangerous operations
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
President Donald Trump and first daughter Ivanka on Wednesday met the
remains of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, who was killed during an
operation in Yemen approved by the president with insufficient intelligence,
according to officials. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
Fears over what the United States' expansive War on Terror looks like with
President Donald Trump at the helm were confirmed this week after a
hastily-approved, dangerous ground assault resulted in the deaths of one U.S
soldier and dozens of Yemeni civilians, including women and children.
Quoting unnamed U.S. military officials, Reuters reported Wednesday that the
covert operation was approved by the president "without sufficient
intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations."
Indeed, the New York Times observed that "almost everything that could go
wrong did."
Trump, who has notably shunned many of his national security and
intelligence briefings and who has also been loathe to fill many crucial
positions at departments of State and Defense, approved the invasion "over
dinner" with his tight-knit circle of advisers including son-in-law Jared
Kushner, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, Vice President Mike Pence,
national security advisor Michael Flynn, as well as Defense Secretary James
Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, according to the Times.
Though Trump dubbed the raid a "success," concerns were immediately raised
over the number of Yemenis, including women and children, killed in the
firefight.
The U.K.-based humanitarian group Reprieve issued a statement Thursday
saying it had "evidence that many as 23 civilians were killed in the US
raid, including a newborn baby boy, and ten children." This included the
8-year-old sister of Abdulrahman Awlaki, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen killed
in a 2011 drone strike, as well as an 80-year-old man.
On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command announced that it had begun an
investigation into the civilian deaths, stating:
The known possible civilian casualties appear to have been potentially
caught up in aerial gunfire that was called in to assist U.S. forces in
contact against a determined enemy that included armed women firing from
prepared fighting positions, and U.S. special operations members receiving
fire from all sides to include houses and other buildings.
This complex situation included small arms fire, hand grenades and close air
support fire. Analysts are carefully assessing whether additional
non-combatant civilians that were not visible to the assault force at the
time were mixed in with combatants.
New reporting on the raid noted that the operation had been conceived under
former President Barack Obama, but was delayed due to timing and
insufficient intelligence.
According to Reuters, "One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground
surveillance of the compound was 'minimal, at best.'" The official said that
the Obama administration decided "to leave it to the incoming
administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could
be collected."
As for "what went wrong," the Times reports that al Qaeda fighters were
somehow "tipped off to the stealthy advance" of the U.S. Navy SEALs who then
"found themselves in a gun battle with Qaeda fighters who took up positions
in other houses, a clinic, a school and a mosque, often using women and
children as cover, American military officials said in interviews this
week."
"The Americans called in airstrikes from helicopter gunships and fighter
aircraft that helped kill some 14 Qaeda fighters, but not before an MV-22
Osprey aircraft involved in the operation experienced a 'hard landing,'
injuring three more American personnel on board," the reporting continued.
"The Osprey, which the Marine Corps said cost $75 million, was badly damaged
and had to be destroyed by an airstrike."
Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens succumbed to injuries
sustained in the firefight, prompting Trump and daughter Ivanka to schedule
a last-minute visit to the Owens family at Delaware's Dover Air Base on
Wednesday.
Despite the significant loss of life, it appears that Trump's circle is
taking steps to make it easier to approve such raids.
Flynn, according to the Times, "wants to speed the decision-making when it
comes to such strikes, delegating more power to lower-level officials so
that the military may respond more quickly. Indeed, the Pentagon is drafting
such plans to accelerate activities against the Qaeda branch in Yemen."
"We expect an easier approval cycle [for operations] under this
administration," an unnamed defense official told the Washington Post.
"Americans should be appalled that President Trump'' excesses now include
the death of a baby, and attacks on pregnant women and elderly people, in a
country where the U.S. is not at war," said Jennifer Gibson, head of
Reprieve's Drones and Kill List Project. "Make no mistake-secret raids that
kill small children will do nothing to make Americans safer. Trump's
allies-both in the U.S., and in countries like the U.K.-must urgently
persuade him to scale back on this disastrous use of his executive powers."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Skip to main content
//
. DONATE
. SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER
Thursday, February 2, 2017
. Home
. World
. War & Peace
. Economy
. Climate
. Rights
. Solutions
. U.S.
. Canada
'Without Sufficient Intelligence,' Trump Raid Kills Yemeni Children, US
Service Member
Published on
Thursday, February 02, 2017
by
Common Dreams
'Without Sufficient Intelligence,' Trump Raid Kills Yemeni Children, US
Service Member
Signalling aggressive military stance, Pentagon drafting plans to make for
easier approval of dangerous operations
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
. 21 Comments
.
. President Donald Trump and first daughter Ivanka on Wednesday met
the remains of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, who was killed during an
operation in Yemen approved by the president with insufficient intelligence,
according to officials. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
. Fears over what the United States' expansive War on Terror looks
like with President Donald Trump at the helm were confirmed this week after
a hastily-approved, dangerous ground assault resulted in the deaths of one
U.S soldier and dozens of Yemeni civilians, including women and children.
. Quoting unnamed U.S. military officials, Reuters reported Wednesday
that the covert operation was approved by the president "without sufficient
intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations."
. Indeed, the New York Times observed that "almost everything that
could go wrong did."
. Trump, who has notably shunned many of his national security and
intelligence briefings and who has also been loathe to fill many crucial
positions at departments of State and Defense, approved the invasion "over
dinner" with his tight-knit circle of advisers including son-in-law Jared
Kushner, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, Vice President Mike Pence,
national security advisor Michael Flynn, as well as Defense Secretary James
Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, according to the Times.
Though Trump dubbed the raid a "success," concerns were immediately raised
over the number of Yemenis, including women and children, killed in the
firefight.
The U.K.-based humanitarian group Reprieve issued a statement Thursday
saying it had "evidence that many as 23 civilians were killed in the US
raid, including a newborn baby boy, and ten children." This included the
8-year-old sister of Abdulrahman Awlaki, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen killed
in a 2011 drone strike, as well as an 80-year-old man.
On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command announced that it had begun an
investigation into the civilian deaths, stating:
The known possible civilian casualties appear to have been potentially
caught up in aerial gunfire that was called in to assist U.S. forces in
contact against a determined enemy that included armed women firing from
prepared fighting positions, and U.S. special operations members receiving
fire from all sides to include houses and other buildings.
This complex situation included small arms fire, hand grenades and close air
support fire. Analysts are carefully assessing whether additional
non-combatant civilians that were not visible to the assault force at the
time were mixed in with combatants.
New reporting on the raid noted that the operation had been conceived under
former President Barack Obama, but was delayed due to timing and
insufficient intelligence.
According to Reuters, "One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground
surveillance of the compound was 'minimal, at best.'" The official said that
the Obama administration decided "to leave it to the incoming
administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could
be collected."
As for "what went wrong," the Times reports that al Qaeda fighters were
somehow "tipped off to the stealthy advance" of the U.S. Navy SEALs who then
"found themselves in a gun battle with Qaeda fighters who took up positions
in other houses, a clinic, a school and a mosque, often using women and
children as cover, American military officials said in interviews this
week."
"The Americans called in airstrikes from helicopter gunships and fighter
aircraft that helped kill some 14 Qaeda fighters, but not before an MV-22
Osprey aircraft involved in the operation experienced a 'hard landing,'
injuring three more American personnel on board," the reporting continued.
"The Osprey, which the Marine Corps said cost $75 million, was badly damaged
and had to be destroyed by an airstrike."
Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens succumbed to injuries
sustained in the firefight, prompting Trump and daughter Ivanka to schedule
a last-minute visit to the Owens family at Delaware's Dover Air Base on
Wednesday.
Despite the significant loss of life, it appears that Trump's circle is
taking steps to make it easier to approve such raids.
Flynn, according to the Times, "wants to speed the decision-making when it
comes to such strikes, delegating more power to lower-level officials so
that the military may respond more quickly. Indeed, the Pentagon is drafting
such plans to accelerate activities against the Qaeda branch in Yemen."
"We expect an easier approval cycle [for operations] under this
administration," an unnamed defense official told the Washington Post.
"Americans should be appalled that President Trump'' excesses now include
the death of a baby, and attacks on pregnant women and elderly people, in a
country where the U.S. is not at war," said Jennifer Gibson, head of
Reprieve's Drones and Kill List Project. "Make no mistake-secret raids that
kill small children will do nothing to make Americans safer. Trump's
allies-both in the U.S., and in countries like the U.K.-must urgently
persuade him to scale back on this disastrous use of his executive powers."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License