US expands military intervention into Yemen
By Will Morrow
4 July 2012
Under the guise of the "war on terror," the Obama administration is
expanding US military operations in Yemen through stepped-up drone attacks
and special operations forces on the ground.
What is being presented as a US offensive against the local Al Qaeda
affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is in reality a direct
military intervention to prop up the widely despised regime of President
Mansour al-Hadi, which confronts a developing civil war throughout the
country. The Yemeni military is fighting armed tribal and Islamist forces,
particularly in the south and, reportedly, southern separatist armed groups
and protesters.
In its coverage of US military operations, the Western media has,
predictably, repeated as good coin US and Yemeni government claims-without
any evidence-that those killed by Yemeni forces and US drone strikes are
AQAP "militants."
In the latest display of the US military's reckless indifference toward
civilians, Yemeni officials told Xinhua news agency that a drone pursued a
pick-up truck into the southern port city of Aden on June 25, before firing
two missiles and killing all three passengers. It is reportedly the first
strike inside Aden, which has a civilian population of more than 800,000
people. No evidence has been provided to support claims that the three men
were AQAP members. Referring to an article in the Arabic-language Mareb
Press, UPI noted: "Residents in Aden worry the drones will bring only
destruction to the province."
The Obama administration has escalated US drone strikes in recent months to
coincide with the government's offensive in the south. These strikes are
carried out with no oversight or requirement to provide information about
the targets. In April, Obama approved the use of "signature strikes," which
allow the CIA to destroy buildings, cars and people without even identifying
who is being targeted, based solely on activity patterns determined by
satellites and agents in the country. This makes it virtually impossible to
calculate the true number of civilian casualties. It was recently revealed
that Obama personally authorises and oversees his targets for assassination.
According to the Long War Journal, a web site that tracks US drone attacks,
there have been at least 33 strikes since May 2011, 24 of which have
occurred this year, including 6 in March, 6 in April and 9 in May. This
number is very likely a significant underestimation, since the Yemen
government claims that its ageing air force is behind many bombings believed
to be drone attacks. On June 13, a drone killed nine people in Shabwa
province.
As part of the escalating US intervention, an unknown number of special
operations forces are on the ground, training and providing direct
logistical support to the Yemeni military, as well as directing drone
attacks.
AP reported on May 15: "[Yemeni military] officials said that an air base
called al-Annad in the southern province of Lahj is serving as a command
center for nearly 60 U.S. troops who were providing advice, information and
logistical support to Yemeni troops."
An article in the Los Angeles Times on May 16 the following day commented:
"The Obama administration's direct military role in Yemen is more extensive
than previously reported and represents a deepening involvement in the
nation's growing conflict."
Referring to unnamed US and Yemeni sources, it added that the troops "have
used satellite imagery, drone video, eavesdropping systems and other
technical means to help pinpoint targets." It continued: "Teams of CIA
officers and U.S. contractors have operated in Yemen for some time.. They
have recruited tribal militants to provide security." A military official
told the newspaper that the contingent was expected to grow.
In a further indication of expanding US operations, on June 21, the Los
Angeles Times quoted unnamed US military officials, who revealed plans to
use aircraft to provide Yemeni troops with "vehicles and other supplies."
In February, President Hadi, formerly vice president under President Ali
Abdullah Saleh, became president under a deal orchestrated by Washington to
maintain the country's security apparatus and government, which have
developed close ties with the US over the past decade, and end mass
anti-government protests. Hadi has since given his open support to US
operations in the country, while Saleh maintains control over the ruling GPC
party.
In early May, the US announced it would redeploy "small numbers of trainers"
to Yemen. The Obama administration claimed in 2011 that it had withdrawn its
troops from the country following the fierce repression by Yemeni security
forces-many of which were trained by US soldiers-of protests and opposition
fighters.
The announcement was made just one day after the widely publicised and still
unexplained "foiling" of a Yemeni terrorist plot to bomb a US-bound
airliner. The "terrorist" was revealed the following day to be an agent of
the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence. Underscoring the political
calculations involved, the Washington Post published an editorial utilising
the arrest to praise the sharp rise of US drone attacks in Yemen (see "
<
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m10.shtml> The political
uses of the latest 'terror plot'").
This month, the Yemeni military recaptured three towns in Abyan-Zinjibar,
Shaqra and Jaar-which were taken under the control of anti-government tribal
and Islamist groups in 2011. Reports of the towns indicate that the
protracted fighting and military offensives have destroyed much of what
little infrastructure exists, including water and electricity, and caused
tens of thousands to flee.
According to a report by France24 on June 27, the Yemeni military has
occupied the al-Mansoura district of Aden with tanks and snipers and
repressed southern separatist protests, although it is unclear how many
people have been involved in the demonstrations. Yemen was formally unified
in 1990, and sections of the southern Yemeni elite promote the reactionary
perspective of separatism to gain a greater share of the country's wealth,
utilising the poverty of wide sections of the population.
The protracted fighting has led to a humanitarian disaster across the
country. The United Nations estimates that in 2011 alone, 170,000 people
fled from Abyan province. Thousands of people are now living in schools and
makeshift housing in Aden and other towns. A report released by seven aid
agencies on May 23 revealed that 44 percent of the population does not have
enough food to eat. Even before the latest crisis, the Yemeni population was
the poorest in the region, with more than 40 percent living below the
official poverty line of US$2 a day.
As part of its efforts to justify and cover up for the criminal role of the
Obama administration in Yemen, the media has passed over in silence a recent
interview in May with Jeremy Scarhill, the national security correspondent
for the Nation, on National Public Radio. Scarhill said that there were "a
tremendous number of innocent people.now living under an increasing
bombardment."
He added, "And what I was hearing as I travelled around the south of Yemen
were reports from tribal leaders, from civilians, even from sort of pro-U.S.
government officials within the Yemeni government that American bombs were
not hitting the right targets, that there were cluster munitions, these sort
of flying land mines, if you will, that were laying unexploded in various
villages around the south in Yemen."
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Received on Wed Jul 04 2012 - 08:28:46 EDT
