A missile strike on December 17 in Yemen last year that killed 41 people including 21 children and 14 women was most likely the result of a US cruise missile strike — an opening shot in a US military campaign that began without notice and has never been officially confirmed.
Amnesty International says it has obtained photographs apparently showing the remnants of missiles known to be held only by U.S. forces at the site of the air strike against al Qaeda suspects.
“The Yemeni authorities have a duty to ensure public safety and to bring to justice those engaged in attacks that deliberately target members of the public, but when doing so they must abide by international law,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme. “Enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and extrajudicial executions are never permissible, and the Yemeni authorities must immediately cease these violations.”
“It is particularly worrying that states such as Saudi Arabia and the USA are directly or indirectly aiding the Yemeni government in a downward spiral away from previously improving human rights record.”
The Washington Post now reports that the CIA is likely to have a larger role in President Obama’s expanding war in Yemen.
Proponents of expanding the CIA’s role argue that years of flying armed drones over Pakistan have given the agency expertise in identifying targets and delivering pinpoint strikes. The agency’s attacks also leave fewer telltale signs.
“You’re not going to find bomb parts with USA markings on them,” the senior U.S. official said.
The Iran press has accused Saudi Arabia of killing many Yemeni cvilians in a series of bombing raids last year.
Were these really CIA attacks?
Wherever the US touches it becomes a place of crimes, lies and death.
We are a rogue nation. We are hostile to democracy, human and civil rights. Israel is our best friend, birds of a feather.
‘Wherever the US touches it becomes a place of crimes, lies and death.’
Just like the US itself.
Regards, Alex
ALSO SEE: UK-supplied planes ‘attacked Yemen’ ~ WalesOnline, 08/24/10
(excerpts) Tornado fighter-bombers supplied by the UK to Saudi Arabia are “extremely likely” to have been used in attacks on civilians in Yemen, human rights campaigners have said.
Amnesty International UK called for the Government to suspend all arms supplies to Saudi Arabia pending a full investigation.
The UK must ensure that any support it has provided for the jet fighters “did not facilitate violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes, by the Saudi Arabian air force,” it said…
…It added that in one attack on December 17, at least 41 people were killed, including 21 children and 14 women, when their settlement in al-Ma’jalah in the Abyan district was hit by missiles.
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2010/08/24/uk-supplied-planes-attacked-yemen-91466-27128662/