Obama's Secretive New War in Yemen

[marshabar1]

Buried deep in the New York Times by the press that protects Obama:

June 8, 2011
U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes
By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.

The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.

On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.

The recent operations come after a nearly year-long pause in American airstrikes, which were halted amid concerns that poor intelligence had led to bungled missions and civilian deaths that were undercutting the goals of the secret campaign.

Officials in Washington said that the American and Saudi spy services had been receiving more information — from electronic eavesdropping and informants — about the possible locations of militants. But, they added, the outbreak of the wider conflict in Yemen created a new risk: that one faction might feed information to the Americans that could trigger air strikes against a rival group.

[Deleted]

But of course.. IMO if we are going after terrorists we have more business in Yemen than Libya, but Libya is the official new war and Yemen is secret. Obama certainly seems to have overcome his distaste for killing. And, remember, drones are our friends....

[Bluerobin]

Hey!!! War is good for the economy. Gotta stimulate things somehow.

[Deleted]

Bomb-en Obama strikes again. I'm still worried that he will run out of other countries to bomb before he gets out of office. I just know that he will switch to states next & me living in a Republican state.....well let's just say it worries me.

[marshabar1]

America may be drawing down its Afghan troops, but John Barry reports that U.S. covert wars rage in places like Yemen, where a new blueprint for military action is being drawn.June 25, 2011 10:30 PM EDT

The morning after President Barack Obama ordered a substantial and money-saving reduction of U.S forces in Afghanistan, his pointman in that conflict was already preparing for his next assignment: fostering a type of warfare that is mostly out of public view, far less costly and promises to reshape the way America fights.

“I wanted this job,” Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at his confirmation hearing to become CIA director last Thursday. “This is something that was not, you know, a month or two or three in the making,” Petraeus went on, explaining how he and soon-to-be-departing Defense Secretary Robert Gates “discussed this all the way back last year.”

As Petraeus sails toward becoming the nation's 22nd CIA chief, his carefully planned transition from four-star general to civilian intelligence boss likely foreshadows a larger transformation of U.S. warfare.

As America draws down its conventional military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is increasingly fighting national security threats in places like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen through covert operations uniting Pentagon special forces, CIA paramilitary troops, and sophisticated drones, some that can launch powerful missiles while others are small enough to eavesdrop unnoticed in the shadows.

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/25/afghanistan-troop-drawdown-america-s-other-covert-wars.html

Yessirreee. . . those Dems love their wars.

[hello fromWarsaw]

It was buried on all the network news too. sthu.... And goodnite, punks

[hello fromWarsaw]

And it's not a war, it's a police action. What dum dum W should've done....moron.... ;D Before 9/11!! Like Clinton- but that was just wagging the dog, and distraction from the important work of punishing BJ's ...gd Pubs...

[ed1066]

As I have stated and Warsaw again proved...secret wars? Bad under Bush, good under Obama...

[txbo]

It’s not much of a secret if you know about it.

[magichat]

Jun 27, 2011 1:16:42 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

As I have stated and Warsaw again proved...secret wars? Bad under Bush, good under Obama...

Or just the opposite in the OP...how ironic.