Drone strike kills ‘Qaeda militants’ in Yemen

[Yzd Khalifa]

Yeah, US armed their closest ally UK with the D5 missiles, so could we as if we don't want to lose our most important ally Pakistan.

A Pakistan with ICBM is much more trusted than North Korea.

It's quite obvious

The support with which China and Pakistan give each other is considered important in global diplomacy, and has been compared to Israel – United States relations.[30] In 2010, when a US delegate confronted a Chinese diplomat about Beijing's uncompromising support for Pakistan, the Chinese reportedly responded with a heavily-loaded sarcastic remark: "Pakistan is our Israel. You got a problem with that?"[31] According to a Pew survey of Pakistan public opinion in 2010, 84 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of China and 16 percent had a favorable view of the United States. These results showed that Pakistan is the most pro-China country in the world.[32] Similarly, the Chinese state-run media has portrayed Pakistan in a favorable light in regional issues. In 2013, this figure increased to 90% of Pakistanis having a favorable view of China.[33]
Pakistan and China have long praised the close ties the two countries have with each other. China has been referred to by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as their "time-tested and all-weather friend", while in return Chinese president Hu Jintao has referred to Pakistan as "a good friend and partner".[34] These statements are noted by some observers as occurring after Pakistani relations with the United States or India have become strained, such as after Osama Bin Laden was killed by American forces without Pakistan's prior permission.[17]
[edit]Issues

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

It's quite obvious

Pakistan has the secret ongoing ICBM and SSBN programs, and i believe these things will come out of water by 2020 when China is ready to fully challenge on USA.

 

[Juice]

I agree. If people here don't start actively trying to find the source of this brainwashing then we can start to see change. But America is not what it used to be, people here are so unlike our forefathers. The government is not what it used to be. America's gone...

Governments basically the same....been here a little while...

 

[Falcon29]

Governments basically the same....been here a little while...

LOL, that's true for the past few decades, but I'm talking back when our government was still established.

 

[al-Hasani]

The Drone strikes are as brutal as you can never imagine. It does take the life of a terrorist ,but 20 innocent civilians die too. Look how scared the Americans are now ,when they're government decided to operate them domestically.

That's because they know that nobody can conquer those areas of Yemen. Nobody ever did that. Whoever tried got their *** kicked severely. It's the Afghanistan of the Middle East/Arab world so no wonder that they are limited to use drones. The geography itself posses a great barrier much like in Afghanistan.

Instead of using those useless drones that always kill many more civilians than "suspects" everywhere they are used, they should help the regional governments with combating unwanted elements such as Al-Qaeda. But obviously they want to have a pretext to still engage in the region so they don't do that as well as they good.

Man, its so heart breaking watching those pictures, especially the kids. Thinking they get killed also in these useless drone attacks

AQ is US's creation in the first place, and now they go on a useless killing spree targeting them, but killing innocents including women and children in the process. They dont care about the losses, because the losses are not theirs.

Im not anti-American per se either, but sometimes I just gotta question their sh*t for brains heartless tactics (which are not even effective to begin with). Obama nobel peace prize? Joke of the century...

Yes, it's really sad to think that all those innocent kids are potential targets and that many of such kids have been murderer (which they have!) already

Yes, the Nobel Prize Award to Obama must be one of the most embarrassing moments of the Nobel Prize. Whoever decided to award him it must have been severely drunk. Also it's tragicomical to think that the world's "best" society first elected a black president in the year 2009. Apparently that "monumental" achievement was worthy of a Nobel Prize.

 

[King Solomon]

I think there are a couple of misconceptions here about the drone strikes:

1. Al-Qaeda is a threat to not only the US, but also the Yemeni government. They tried to assassinate Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of Yemen, before. Al Qaeda is also virulently against the government of Yemen and have assassinated many government officials.

2. Al Qaeda has also made it's intention clear that it wants to overthrow the Saudi government and cause instability because they view the Al-Saud ruling family as "not Islamic enough".

3. The President and other officials in the Yemeni government supports drone strikes. So, its not like the strikes are being done without Yemen's acknowledgement and support. Yemen's government does not have any objection whatsoever to the drone strikes.

4. Yemen has an air force composed of 60s Soviet-era aircrafts, which are not very accurate. If the Yemeni government tried to deal with Al Qaeda, civilian casualties would be even more due to bombing inaccuracy. A counter-insurgency ground operation would also cause a lot of civilian casualties, much more than drone strikes.

5. The drone strikes are pin point as far as accuracy is concerned, every effort is taken to ensure no civilians are hit.

What are the alternative to drone strikes?

1. Yemeni government deals with al qaeda. Not feasible as described in #4 above.

2. US army or NATO deals with Al Qaeda. Not an option.

3. Saudi/GCC force deals with Al Qaeda. Not sure if they will agree to. Also, a ground operation is liable to cause far more civilian casualties as described above.

4. Do nothing, which will cause instability in Yemen. And Saudi Arabia in time too as Al Qaeda spreads it's influence.

So, ultimately, compared with other options, drone strikes are a win-win situation for Yemen, Saudi Arabia and US/NATO.

 

[al-Hasani]

We all know about Al-Qaedas goals after all it was an American creation during the Afghan-Soviet war and initially financed by the US administration!

I already stated that the Yemeni government supports the drone strikes hence why I blame them and other states (Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan etc.) for not speaking out against their use due to the high casualties of civilians.

We, the learned people, know that Al-Qaeda's main goal is to topple the regime in KSA. But somehow the anti-Arabs on this forum have not realized it yet. If not they should visit Jihadist forums if they dare.

Actually that is a lie but I don't blame you since you do not speak Arabic or follow Yemeni politics day to day as I do. Many officials in the Yemeni government have spoken out against the high civilian casualties of using drones and for them targeting "suspects".

Point 4 is correct, hence why the Yemeni government called for drones in the first place.

Regarding your next point. Yes, the Americans were also quick to tell us that they tried to avoid civilian casualties as much as they could in Iraq and Afghanistan but that does not change the fact that TOO many innocent civilians died. Likewise with the drone attacks. Last week 11 civilian Afghans died. We hear monthly about civilian deaths in Pakistan for example.

GCC and Saudi Arabia are already jointly working with the Yemeni government. The problem is that there is a gentleman agreement of not "meddling" in the affairs of neighbors directly by engaging military forces unless in extraordinary cases such as the Houthi rebellion which was crushed severely jointly (KSA and the Yemeni government)

I think you are ignoring the civilian casualties far too much and you seem not to value Arab, in this case Yemeni live, that highly. I know it sounds harsh but you come off as such.

Try imagine drones being used in the US and imagine the reaction for once in the public and in the US administration. Would they allow 1 suspect to be killed at the expense of 10-15 civilians? After all it is not Russia.

Apologies if it's not the case.

Also you completely forget the root of the problem and the greatest sin of the US administration. They offer no help whatsoever to train the Yemeni forces or to combat Al-Qaeda inside Yemen. They have taken the easy approach of some geek using a simulator in the Desert of Arizona to launch drones on targets on a computer scream.

It's the easy way out. Moreover what do you think the reaction is of those innocent people who lose loved ones, their houses, lands etc.? That itself breads potential unwanted elements.

So what's the purpose of killing 1 "suspect" if you kill 20 innocent in the process and create whole anti-American families?

 

[King Solomon]

We all know about Al-Qaedas goals after all it was an American creation during the Afghan-Soviet war and initially financed by the US administration!

I already stated that the Yemeni government supports the drone strikes hence why I blame them and other states (Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan etc.) for not speaking out against their use due to the high casualties of civilians.

We, the learned people, know that Al-Qaeda's main goal is to topple the regime in KSA. But somehow the anti-Arabs on this forum have not realized it yet. If not they should visit Jihadist forums if they dare.

Actually that is a lie but I don't blame you since you do not speak Arabic or follow Yemeni politics day to day as I do. Many officials in the Yemeni government have spoken out against the high civilian casualties of using drones and for them targeting "suspects".

Point 4 is correct, hence why the Yemeni government called for drones in the first place.

Regarding your next point. Yes, the Americans were also quick to tell us that they tried to avoid civilian casualties as much as they could in Iraq and Afghanistan but that does not change the fact that TOO many innocent civilians died. Likewise with the drone attacks. Last week 11 civilian Afghans died. We hear monthly about civilian deaths in Pakistan for example.

GCC and Saudi Arabia are already jointly working with the Yemeni government. The problem is that there is a gentleman agreement of not "meddling" in the affairs of neighbors directly by engaging military forces unless in extraordinary cases such as the Houthi rebellion which was crushed severely jointly (KSA and the Yemeni government)

I think you are ignoring the civilian casualties far too much and you seem not to value Arab, in this case Yemeni live, that highly. I know it sounds harsh but you come off as such.

Try imagine drones being used in the US and imagine the reaction for once in the public and in the US administration. Would they allow 1 suspect to be killed at the expense of 10-15 civilians? After all it is not Russia.

Apologies if it's not the case.

Also you completely forget the root of the problem and the greatest sin of the US administration. They offer no help whatsoever to train the Yemeni forces or to combat Al-Qaeda inside Yemen. They have taken the easy approach of some geek using a simulator in the Desert of Arizona to launch drones on targets on a computer scream.

It's the easy way out. Moreover what do you think the reaction is of those innocent people who lose loved ones, their houses, lands etc.? That itself breads potential unwanted elements.

So what's the purpose of killing 1 "suspect" if you kill 20 innocent in the process and create whole anti-American families?

I will address your points but first of all I would like to say that I value Arab/Yemeni life as much as one of my own. That is why I compared each of the options available to deal with Al Qaeda, including "Do nothing" and estimated that drone strikes, as painful they may seem to an outsider, actually causes the least amount of casualties of available options. Even less than "do nothing" since Al Qaeda would start causing instability and insurgency if they're not contained and this would cost even more lives. Just look at what happened to Pakistan when Taliban was not contained. Tens of thousands pakistanis are dead in terrorism and bombings carried out by Taliban.

Regarding your next point. Yes, the Americans were also quick to tell us that they tried to avoid civilian casualties as much as they could in Iraq and Afghanistan but that does not change the fact that TOO many innocent civilians died. Likewise with the drone attacks. Last week 11 civilian Afghans died. We hear monthly about civilian deaths in Pakistan for example.

Yes, that's true. That is why a majority acknowledge now that Iraq and Afghanistan invasion was a mistake. Personally I support the initial Iraq invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein because he was a cruel dictator, but IMO, US should've installed a democratic government and withdrawn after Saddam was overthrown. For Afghanistan, a short invasion to topple Taliban government and a good beating to Al Qaeda would suffice instead of the 10+ year long occupation. But we must remember that it is easy to judge in hindsight.

Drone strikes are a result of the lessons learned from Iraq and Afghan wars. With drones, civilian casualties are far less compared to ground invasion. In Yemen, for example, the government could conduct a military ground operation against Al Qaeda, but that would undoubtedly cause many times more civilian casualties than drone strikes. So, you see, drone strikes are "lesser of the evil", if you want to put it that way. I always value human life and at the same time recognise that terrorist outfits need to be taken out. That is why I support the option with the least collateral damage.

Also you completely forget the root of the problem and the greatest sin of the US administration. They offer no help whatsoever to train the Yemeni forces or to combat Al-Qaeda inside Yemen. They have taken the easy approach of some geek using a simulator in the Desert of Arizona to launch drones on targets on a computer scream.

If it's true I would blame US. But it appears that US is training Yemeni forces to deal with Al Qaeda inside Yemen. Please see this link (from 2009) and this link (recently after the new government)

 

[al-Hasani]

I will address your points but first of all I would like to say that I value Arab/Yemeni life as much as one of my own. That is why I compared each of the options available to deal with Al Qaeda, including "Do nothing" and estimated that drone strikes, as painful they may seem to an outsider, actually causes the least amount of casualties of available options. Even less than "do nothing" since Al Qaeda would start causing instability and insurgency if they're not contained and this would cost even more lives. Just look at what happened to Pakistan when Taliban was not contained. Tens of thousands pakistanis are dead in terrorism and bombings carried out by Taliban.



Yes, that's true. That is why a majority acknowledge now that Iraq and Afghanistan invasion was a mistake. Personally I support the initial Iraq invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein because he was a cruel dictator, but IMO, US should've installed a democratic government and withdrawn after Saddam was overthrown. For Afghanistan, a short invasion to topple Taliban government and a good beating to Al Qaeda would suffice instead of the 10+ year long occupation. But we must remember that it is easy to judge in hindsight.

Drone strikes are a result of the lessons learned from Iraq and Afghan wars. With drones, civilian casualties are far less compared to ground invasion. In Yemen, for example, the government could conduct a military ground operation against Al Qaeda, but that would undoubtedly cause many times more civilian casualties than drone strikes. So, you see, drone strikes are "lesser of the evil", if you want to put it that way. I always value human life and at the same time recognise that terrorist outfits need to be taken out. That is why I support the option with the least collateral damage.



If it's true I would blame US. But it appears that US is training Yemeni forces to deal with Al Qaeda inside Yemen. Please see this link (from 2009) and this link (recently after the new government)

Well you raise some rational points here and I agree mostly, however you forget the most important thing. Is it worth it on the long run? In my opinion it should not be permissible to kill 1 "suspect" at such a high prize. No matter if other methods would have been less deadly.

The American help to train and combat Al-Qaeda inside Yemen is very vague to say the least.

They, do to their former involvement in Yemen, should do much more to combat the root of the problem and help keep Yemen stable. The responsibility also lies among the GCC and particularly KSA as a brotherly neighbor.

But the problem is not only limited to Yemen. From what I am aware of Pakistan and Afghanistan are much more affected by those drones.

Also try to imagine drones being used in the US by a foreign power and imagine the reaction for once in the public and in the US administration. Would they allow 1 suspect to be killed at the expense of 10-15 civilians? Even if the American administration allowed it.

I am not so sure.

 

[RangerPK]

It's true, thanks to the media, Muslim life means nothing. Of course only when that life can be used for criticism against America's enemies. Like the poor girl shot by the Taliban, they loved her. She was a great Muslim. And of course, I do too. But my point is they will use those Muslims for their interests. If they find a Muslim killed by Hamas for example they will use it and make it seem as if they are victims of Palestinians while the thousands killed by Israel mean nothing. No value in those lives. This media is playing a dangerous game with brainwashing people. And the people feed in. They are not sheep. They are an insult to sheep even.

Even though that girl is a Muslim Pakistani, I read the comments of Americans posted on the Internet, they were blaming Islam and Muslims for her condition, forgetting that, she is a Muslim her self, her school was made by Muslims, her teachers were Muslims. It was the Muslims who were encouraging education against difficult odds.

This just shows the true mentality of Americans I guess.

 

[Syrian Lion]

is GCC going to call for an army to help their Muslim brothers? are they going to send weapons? money? Jihadist? call for OIC meeting? UN security council resolutions?