When U.S. drones kill civilians, Yemen's government tries to conceal it
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Published: December 25, 2012
Dhamar, Yemen
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/when-us-drones-kill-civilians-yemens-government-tries-to-conceal-it/2012/12/24/bd4d7ac2-486d-11e2-8af9-9b50cb4605a7_print.html>
--0--
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33443.htm
Villagers Join al-Qaeda After Deadly US Strike
By Sudarsan Raghavan
December 26, 2012 " WA Today" -- DHAMAR, Yemen: A rickety truck
packed with 14 people rumbled down a desert road from the town of
Radda, which al-Qaeda militants once controlled. Suddenly a missile
struck flipping the vehicle over. Then a second missile hit the truck.
Within seconds, 11 of the passengers were dead, including a woman and
her seven-year-old daughter. A 12-year-old boy also died that day,
and another man later died from his wounds.
The Yemeni government initially said that those killed were al-Qaeda
militants and that its own Soviet-era jets carried out the September
2 attack. But last week US officials acknowledged for the first time
that it was an American strike and that the victims were civilians.
Furious tribesmen tried to take the bodies to the gates of the
presidential residence, forcing the government into the rare position
of withdrawing its claim that militants had been killed. The apparent
target was the senior regional al-Qaeda leader Abdelrauf al-Dahab,
thought to be travelling on the same road.
The two survivors and relatives of six victims, interviewed
separately and speaking to a Western journalist, said they would be
willing to support or even fight alongside al-Qaeda in the Arabian
peninsula.
''If we are ignored and neglected, I would try to take my revenge,''
said Nasser Mabkhoot al-Sabooly, the truck's driver who suffered
burns and bruises. ''I would even hijack an army pickup, drive it
back to my village and hold the soldiers in it hostages.''
''The people are against the indiscriminate use of the drones,'' the
Yemeni Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, said. ''And more
important, they want to have some transparency as far as what's going
on - from everybody.''
In January, militants linked to al-Qaeda briefly seized Radda, about
160 kilometres south of the capital, Sanaa. They left after the
government agreed to their demands and released several extremists
from prison. By the northern summer, al-Qaeda had also been pushed
from towns in southern Yemen after a US-backed offensive initiated by
the President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who took office this year
after a popular uprising.
Recently villagers in Sabul, about 15 kilometres from Radda, reported
hearing US drones fly over the area, often up to four times a day.
''It burns my blood every time I see or hear the airplanes,'' said
Ali Ahmed Mukhbil, a 40-year-old farmer.
Nasser Rubaih, a 26-year-old farmer, was working in the valley on the
day the truck was hit. He heard the explosions and ran to the site
and, like others, threw sand into the burning vehicle to douse the
flames. As he sifted through the charred bodies lying on the road, he
recognised his brother Abdullah from his clothes. Mr Mukhbil's
brother Masood was also dead.
The Yemeni government publicly apologised for the attack and sent 101
guns to tribal leaders in the area, which in Yemeni culture is an
admission of guilt. But a government inquiry into the strike appears
to be stalled. After a December 2009 air strike killed dozens of
civilians in the southern town of al-Majala, the government also took
responsibility.
''We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,'' the then
dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh told General David Petraeus, then the
head of US Central Command, according to a US embassy email leaked by
WikiLeaks.
Three weeks after the Radda attack, Mr Hadi visited Washington and
praised the accuracy of US drone strikes. ''They pinpoint the target
and have zero margin of error, if you know what target you're aiming
at,'' he told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre
for Scholars.
Al-Qaeda sent emissaries to Sabul to offer compensation to victims'
relatives, in comparison to the government that provided nothing.
Some relatives have already joined the terrorist group since the
attack, Radda's security chief, Hamoud Mohamed al-Ammari, said.
Others may follow. ''If I am sure the Americans are the ones who
killed my brother, I will join al-Qaeda and fight against America,''
Mr Rubaih said.
_______________________________________________
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel