The CIA also killed Al Qaeda members and U.S. It killed three Americans - one of them innocent and by accident. didn’t kill one American citizen in the January attacks. “What it may do, is that may limit its use in some instances that it may not have in others, and it may come under more scrutiny if it does not - because it has now set a precedent that in instances like this, it may declassify information on a strike.”īut remember, the U.S. “No, it’s not going to stop doing that,” she said. isn’t likely to stop using drones to target Al Qaeda members. The CIA will always keep secrets, for understandable reasons. “What might change is that if there are any other future strikes that may involve hostages or clearly non-combatant people in the area, then the United States may get into a position where it has to publicly atone or open up its documents about why it still undertook that particular strike.” “This is a precedent-type moment,” she added. “But it still doesn’t get around the fact that the United States is carrying out its war in a very questionable way.”īut does the Obama disclosing the strike signal a shift toward more transparency in how America wages war? Roff thinks it could, but notes that it’s only a possibility. has to account for it and atone for it,” Roff said. “This is case that just comes to the surface because of two high-profile people getting killed a drone strike, and the U.S. The strike in Pakistan - and its mistaken deaths - is another example. has effectively off-loaded some of its risk onto civilians, and it’s done so largely in secret. There’s simply less risk inherent in bombing targets in Yemen with machines. would have never bombed the wedding party had it not had drones in the first place.
It’s impossible to know what would’ve happened had a manned aircraft - not a drone - been in the air.īut it’s quite possible the U.S.
Regional Yemeni authorities paid the families of the victims $800,000 in cash and rifles. The White House never acknowledged its involvement in the attack. To this day, it’s unclear whether any militants died that day. The dead and wounded were, in fact, part of a wedding party. At the time, the Yemeni government claimed the dead were Al Qaeda militants. The strike killed 12 people and wounded 15 more. 13, 2013, an American drone launched Hellfire missiles at a convoy of cars on the move in Yemen. to carry out a strike, and makes strikes more likely. On the other hand, drone strikes are arguably safer for civilians than if America sent in the Army or conventional manned bombers.īut the counter-argument is that drones - by removing a human pilot - ratchets down the threshold for the U.S. does so with limited - if any - human intelligence on the ground. to attack Al Qaeda where it’d be far too risky - or politically problematic - to send ground troops or manned aircraft.īut the U.S.
It reduces risk to American service members and allows the U.S. To be sure, there’s a logic behind the strikes. Farouq and Gadahn were both American citizens. Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn died in what was likely a separate attack in January. The CIA didn’t discover what really occurred until weeks later, according to the New York Times.Īl Qaeda deputy Ahmed Farouq - who heads up the group’s organization in India - died in the strike. Had they, it’s a safe bet to assume the strike wouldn’t have happened. military and intelligence officials didn’t believe the compound - which comprised several buildings - contained hostages.
ACHMED THE DEAD TERRORIST WALLPAPER FULL
“As president and as commander in chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,” Obama said.Īt the time of the strike, U.S. American contractor Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto died in the strike in Pakistan. Barack Obama told the world that an American drone strike against an Al Qaeda compound in January killed two innocent hostages.