Droning On: More US Bombs On Yemen

[bunklocoempire]

President Trump ordered a second US attack on Yemen in his still-short presidency. Over the weekend a commando-style raid was said to have killed 14 al-Qaeda operatives. Also killed were at least ten civilians including children. Is this just a continuation of Obama's disastrous Yemen policy...?

 

[phill4paul]

Is this just a continuation of Obama's disastrous Yemen policy...?

I'm sure both Code Pink and Trump supporters will be here to tell us that this is different, but for different reasons.

 

[CPUd]

I'm sure both Code Pink and Trump supporters will be here to tell us that this is different, but for different reasons.

Obama did it, there is legal precedence. This is why you aren't president.

 

[CaptUSA]

I really need to call my Rep and scold him for authorizing this.

oh wait.

 

[dannno]

Obama did it, there is legal precedence. This is why you aren't president.

Immigration is a huge government program, I'm all for halting disastrous government programs.

These actions I can't agree with, although they are very much preferable to the military actions Hillary Clinton would be taking.

 

[Ender]

Immigration is a huge government program, I'm all for halting disastrous government programs.

These actions I can't agree with, although they are very much preferable to the military actions Hillary Clinton would be taking.

Really?

Killing people is better than killing people?

 

[bunklocoempire]

Can you have a "safe zone" without some sort of "no fly zone"?

I"m sure the difference between a SZ and NFZ is yuuuuuuge.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

welp, it looks like every president will continue to be middle east dictators. what are the chances that our troops will leave,and the drones will leave? Probably like 1 percent chance now?

 

[Ender]

welp, it looks like every president will continue to be middle east dictators. what are the chances that our troops will leave,and the drones will leave? Probably like 1 percent chance now?

I think you're too optimistic.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think you're too optimistic.

well at least we've averted ww3 so far.

 

[Ender]

well at least we've averted ww3 so far.

I think we're already in it.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think we're already in it.

no. John Mccain is in it, hes a nutcase.

 

[Ender]

no. John Mccain is in it, hes a nutcase.

The whole invasion of the ME was the start of WWIII.

 

[dannno]

Really?

Killing people is better than killing people?

Do you think that one person dying is as bad as 1 million dying?

Do you think the downfall of Al Qaeda would be worse than the downfall of Syria?

There is this thing called relativity.

 

[dannno]

Can you have a "safe zone" without some sort of "no fly zone"?

I"m sure the difference between a SZ and NFZ is yuuuuuuge.

In a safe zone with Donald Trump as President we won't be shooting down Russian jets because they will be on our side. It will create a place for refugees to go. We can help 12 refugees in the Middle East at the same cost as we can help one refugee in western Europe or the US.

In a no fly zone with Hillary as President, we could potentially shoot down a Russian jet because we would still be supporting ISIS and Russia would still be trying to bomb ISIS. It would be a total disaster.

 

[AZJoe]

SEAL Team 6’s weekend raid in Yemen killed a lot of people, with local officials putting the toll at 57 slain. ... the Pentagon is now claiming that there “were a lot of female combatants” involved in the fighting ... The Pentagon refused to comment on the images of several slain children, including the eight-year-old of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki ... [Pentagon] stuck to the 14 terrorists killed figure from yesterday despite credible reports of a lot more dead bodies than that being left in the wake of the US attack, leaving totally open who all the rest of the slain were.
http://news.antiwar.com/2017/01/30/pentagon-defends-yemen-killings-insists-slain-were-female-combatants/

"at least eight women and seven children, ages 3 to 13, had been killed in the raid,” and that the attack also “severely damaged a school, a health facility and a mosque. ... al Qaeda had very little presence in Yemen before the Obama administration began bombing and droning it and killing civilians, thus driving people into the arms of the militant group. ... Drone strikes are causing more and more Yemenis to hate America and join radical militants. … Unfortunately, liberal voices in the United States are largely ignoring, if not condoning, civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings in Yemen."
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/

Can't have Yemenis defending themselves against Saudi Wahhabist, bombs [courtesy of Washington], starvation, genocide.

 

[RJ Liberty]

welp, it looks like every president will continue to be middle east dictators.

Seriously. No matter who we elect, we stay in the Middle East. Doesn't matter if they say they want "hope and change", to "make America great again", or "a pet goat", all we get are endless wars.

 

[Ender]

Do you think that one person dying is as bad as 1 million dying?

Do you think the downfall of Al Qaeda would be worse than the downfall of Syria?

There is this thing called relativity.

There will be no "downfall" of Al Qaeda- they are a creation of the US.

And, yes, I think thinking one life is OK for collateral damage is just as bad as Madeline Albright's thinking that the death of a half million children is "worth it."

 

[dannno]

There will be no "downfall" of Al Qaeda- they are a creation of the US.

No, they are a creation of the neocons. I didn't create them. Trump didn't create them. US politicians created and funded them, specifically the neocons. Trump doesn't like the neocons, so he is taking out ISIS/Al Qaeda alongside Russia. Get with the times.

And, yes, I think thinking one life is OK for collateral damage is just as bad as Madeline Albright's thinking that the death of a half million children is "worth it."

Can we actually throw some logic in with this argument? I mean, come on, worth what!???

I never said that one murder is ok - I said that one murder is preferable to a million murders. Do you agree with that or not? This is a simple question.

 

[Influenza]

So far Trump on foreign policy has just been a continuation of Obombya, with some added unconstitutionality regarding the suspending of travel rights of many US citizens/green card holders. Hillary would have been awful because she would continue all of the same drone strikes AND enact her no fly zone in Syria. We already know that Trump's version of "safe zones" in Syria has already been discussed with the saudi arabian king. It remains to be seen whether or not this will be as bad as what Hillary would have proposed, but it doesn't look very promising.