Drone Strike Kills Al Qaeda Commander Hussein al-Yemeni
Tweet
Barack Obama appears to be really bad news for Al Qaeda.
A strike by an unmanned drone last week killed a senior Qaeda commander who had played a significant role in planning the killing of Central Intelligence Agency operatives in late December at a base in Afghanistan, according to American officials.
…
The official described Mr. Yemeni as an “al Qaeda planner and facilitator” in his late 20s or early 30s, who had established ties with the Haqqani network, which has planned many Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, and with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. His role was described by one American official as a “conduit in Pakistan for funds, messages, and recruits, but his real specialty was bombs and suicide operations.”
26 Responses to “Drone Strike Kills Al Qaeda Commander Hussein al-Yemeni”
Jennifer Aniston Reportedly Pregnant With Twins
PHOTOS: Tamara Ecclestone At The Langham Hotel
Red Front? “Center For American Freedom” Logo Echoes Communist Style
Romney Calls For Defunding Planned Parenthood, Wife Was A Donor
GOP Fundraising Email Asks Supporters To “Knock Out” Obama
Romney Comes Up Limp In Nevada
Obama Opens Lead On Romney In New Poll
What Time Is Super Bowl 2012 (Super Bowl XLVI)?
Latest Entries
Why Do Liberals Support Drone Strikes?
Weekly Standard Rolls Out The Iraq Argument For Iran
Equal Polarization, My Ass
Some Crazy Stuff That Happened In World War II
Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
The Obama Jobs Record In One Graph
Martin O’Malley All In For Marriage Equality
Newt Gingrich, Filled With More Excrement Than Your Average Politician
New Year, Powerline Still Stupid
Thanks Again
Meta
Blogroll
Disclaimer
The views on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect the views of my employer, Media Matters for America
© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Well shit, now the Republicans are going to try to cuts drones out of the military budget.
Like the saying goes “Don’t f*ck with the CIA”
This is how it’s done, George.
John McCain must be jumping for joy.
Obama’s getting almost as good at capturing the Al Qaida #2 as Bush was.
Unless and until he gets Osama, by Obama’s own rhetoric, he’s a failure.
Shorter SaveFerris: GWB didn’t keep his promise about OBL, so if Obama succeeds where Chimpy failed……………….
Even shorter SaveFarris: I got nothing.
Folks will keep applauding these drone attacks until someone on the other side figures out how to equip radio controlled model airplanes and boats with plastic explosives and launch them into public facilities and crowds in our country. This is the nature of asymmetric warfare.
umm…the republicans build military strength i dont know where you have been but the democrates are the ones who will cut the preditor if they do.
Why, did the plane crash?
Why do you hate America?
So your point is…? That we shouldn’t be using them because someday the other side will come up with something similar?
Wha?
@Sean D. Martin -
I could be mistaken but I believe I expressed my point above. Please tell me what it is that you did not understand about what I wrote.
Were you a kid that ate a lot of paste in kindergarten, Kyle?
Do you watch a lot of Fox News, kyle?
Um, wouldn’t that be symmetric warfare?
Do you like gladiator movies, Kyle?
HAH! XD
Hey al Qaeda! PT Cruiser’s got a hot tip for ya!
Nope.
See, for example, Asymmetric Warfare by Jonathan B. Tucker
http://forum.ra.utk.edu/1999summer/asymmetric.htm
Do you realize that insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan are able to buy electronic equipment off the shelf that allows them to tap into video feeds from these drones? We are dealing with a highly resilient, adaptable and resourceful adversary. We may be ahead in the body count (especially if the killings of non-combatant civilians is included) but we shouldn’t forget that the Vietnamese loss nearly three million people and still sent us packing.
PT, you’re saying people will stop supporting drone attacks once the other side starts using something similar. You’re making an observation that any military advantage is temporary.
That’s what I get from what you’re saying. I projected (ok, bad me) from this that you think drone attacks are not a good thing since some day they’ll be used against us.
First, I don’t many who currently applaud drones would stop doing so when similar tactics are used by the other side. They’ll complain about being on the receiving end, but not want to stop being on the delivering end. “Damn, we lost that football game to a field goal. Let’s stop cheering when our team uses one.” No, don’t see it happening.
That military advantage is temporary is something known to every soldier, sailor, airman and warrior since the second person picked up a rock.
I’m trying to say the following: (1) there is something quite ghoulish about the applauding going on here of drone attacks given the deaths of so many non-combatants especially children; (2) killing real, alleged or imagined leaders of the Taliban or Al Qaeda doesn’t constitute a military advantage in asymmetric warfare; (3) our adversaries will use their equivalent or facsimile of drone attacks against us sooner or later and the effect will be more devastating to us psychologically than our physical attacks on them; (4) what American soldiers in the field know, understand and accept is vastly different than what American civilians will know, understand and accept when this long war comes to our doorsteps; and, (5) our adversaries tolerance for the loss of life is probably a great deal higher than what we will tolerate.
I’m with PT on this.
The reporting on drone attacks leaves the impression that it’s all very neat and precise, putting no Americans at risk, and targeting and killing only Very Bad People. Even if that were the case, I can’t say I’d enjoy living any place where instant death rains from the sky with regularity, even if could be sure I wasn’t in the crosshairs. Quite the opposite, I’m fairly sure I’d find it distinctly less than applauseworthy.
OK, you said it much more clearly there. You hadn’t mentioned civilian deaths in your first post in this sub-thread.