(Photo: globalnewsdaily.com)
Just one day after a very public denial that American forces were attacking sites in Northern Yemen, President Barack Obama ordered multiple cruise missile attacks on sites across the tiny, coastal nation, just days after picking up his Nobel Peace Prize.
The air strikes were coordinated with the government of President Ali Abdallah Saleh and the attacks left 120 killed, many of them civilians according to witnesses. President Obama called Saleh after the attack to “congratulate” him on the killings.
Al-Jazeera and other regional news outlets reported last week that U.S. military jets launched cruise missile strikes in Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Al-Houthi reports said Tuesday marked the third day of U.S. military strikes in the region, blaming American forces for striking two mosques in their air raids. Additional statements from al-Houthi groups point to U.S. involvement in the deaths of more than 120 people in recent attacks.
(Map of Yemen: United Nations)
Last Wednesday, P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, rejected the allegations outright. "We do not have a military role in this conflict," he told UPI. The following day, administration sources admitted that American cruise missiles, on Obama’s orders, hit a “suspected Al Qaeda training camp” north of Sanaa, the capital, and another site, where terrorists were thought to be plotting an attack on the U.S., ABC News reported, citing unnamed administration officials.
The politically sensitive strikes Thursday supplement efforts already under way by the government of Yemen to go after Al Qaeda in the country, military officials told Fox News, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation. Such an operation is particularly sensitive in Yemen. “It’s very difficult for Yemen to ask the U.S. for help given the nature of their population and its views about the West,” one official said. “And the U.S. doesn’t want to compromise their ability to ask for help.”
American Tomahawk cruise missle (Photo: aerospaceweb.com)
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Comments (4)
Nice reporting on the Yemen incident.
Muslims terrorists only understand overwhelming force applied to their skulls. Peace comes from strength. Way to go President Obama!
Way to give the Yemen people a reason to want to bomb an airplane on Christmas Day. Think, people.
When Terrorists quit hiding in residential areas and churches then those places will cease to be targeted. The sooner the residents in those areas learn this then the sooner the civilian casualties will stop. But the fact is that these "civilians" are just as scared of the terrorists as they are getting caught in the crossfire. Which is more of a reason to stop the terrorists. The terrorists need to learn that there is no safe haven, no place to hide. They have no problems killing our civilians.... just saying. Wake up America, you hide in your homes and believe that since it hasnt happened to you then it wont happen. Thats what all people think before they become a victim.
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