Salon.com > Shadow War

Yemen’s human rights minister criticizes U.S. drone strikes

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:56:00 +0000

Last August, counterterrorism adviser and nominee for CIA chief John Brennan publicly denied that U.S. drone strikes in Yemen were provoking anti-American sentiment. The attacks, Brennan said, had aided the Yemeni government in freeing its citizens from the "hellish grip" of al-Qaida in the country's south.

But on Tuesday Yemen's human rights minister criticized drone strikes as a counterterror tactic. "I am in favor of changing the anti-terrorism strategy. I think there are more effective strategies," said cabinet minister and former anti-Saleh activist Hooria Mashhour. "We're committed to fighting terrorism but we're calling for changing the means and strategies ... These means and strategies can be applied on the ground without harming civilians and without leading to human rights violations," she told Reuters.

Obama misleads over end to war

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:47:00 +0000

In his inauguration address Monday, President Obama proclaimed that a “decade of war is now ending.” Mere hours earlier, a U.S. drone dropped missiles over Yemen, killing two al-Qaida militants as part of an intensified airstrike campaign which began last month.

It has been well-established in reports (like those from the Washington Post's Greg Miller) that the Obama administration has set up a national security apparatus ensuring, contra the president's words Monday, a perpetual war. Obama's speech may have been referring to the withdrawal of troops form Iraq or the winding down of U.S. military leadership in Afghanistan, but an increasingly militarized CIA and the perpetuation of shadow wars in Yemen and Somalia, to name just two, let alone the U.S. funds and arms sent around the world to bolster or undermine regimes as U.S. interests dictate, make talk of ending war a semantic gamble at best.

Brennan asked to show legal opinions behind drone killings

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:32:00 +0000

This month a federal judge defended the Obama administration's right to keep secret the legal justifications for targeted drone killings. But a cadre of senators is pushing the issue again. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote a letter to John Brennan -- nominee for CIA director, Obama's counterterrorism adviser, and central architect of U.S. drone warfare -- asking to see the legal opinions and rules behind the targeted killing of U.S. citizens in counterterrorism efforts and demanding a list of countries where America is conducting shadow wars. Wyden wrote:

Senior intelligence officials have said publicly that they have to authority to knowingly use lethal force against Americans in the course of counterterrorism operations, and have indicated that there are secret legal opinions issued by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and explain the basis of this authority. I have asked repeatedly to see these opinions, and I have been provided some relevant information on the topic, but I have yet to see the opinions themselves.

... Second, as you may be aware, my staff and I have been asking for over a year for the complete list of countries in which the intelligence community has used its lethal counterterrorism authorities. To my surprise and dismay, the intelligence community has declined to provide me with the complete list.

U.S. buys Yemen a fleet of spy planes

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:20:00 +0000

U.S. drones will soon be joined in Yemeni skies by spy planes operated by Yemen's forces. Wired's Spencer Ackerman reported that "the Pentagon wants to buy its Yemeni ally small, piloted spy planes."

According to Ackerman, "It’s a sign that the U.S. is upgrading the hardware it gives the Yemeni military, and digging in for a long shadow war." The few dozen Light Observation Aircraft will be flown by Yemenis trained by U.S. forces. "The planes have to be configured so the U.S. can teach Yemenis how to be their own eyes in the sky, and they need to be in Yemen in under 24 months," reported Ackerman, noting that the aircraft will be used in Yemen alongside, not instead of, remotely operated U.S. drones to fly over areas where al-Qaida is believed to be operating.

Ackerman added: