Last Friday, it was reported that what seemed to be a US drone strike hit a wedding convoy in Yemen, killing over a dozen people. It got attention from outlets like the New York Times (FAIR Blog, 12/13/13), which reported that “most of the dead appeared to be people suspected of being militants linked to Al-Qaeda, according to tribal leaders in the area, but there were also reports that several civilians had been killed.” Other accounts (CNN, 12/13/13) suggested that most—and perhaps all—of the dead were civilians.
Writing at the Atlantic (12/16/13), Conor Friedersdorf posed the question:
Can you imagine the wall-to-wall press coverage, the outrage and the empathy for the victims that would follow if an American wedding were attacked in this fashion?
Of course that’s correct. But since that’s not what happened, a different question might be: What kind of coverage did the strike in Yemen get, particularly on US television?
On ABC‘s Good Morning America (12/13/13), anchor Josh Elliott reported:
And some breaking overseas right now. A US missile has struck a convoy headed to a wedding party in Yemen, killing at least 13 people. That region is a well-known Al-Qaeda stronghold.
Translation: We don’t know who died, but it happened in a country full of terrorists.
On NBC Nightly News (12/13/13), anchor Brian Williams said this:
The death toll now appears to be 15, with five more injured, from a US drone strike in Yemen that missed its target this week and struck what witnesses described as a wedding party. It was the 24th reported drone strike in Yemen so for this year.
It’s hard to tell if this is true, since it’s not clear what the target was in the first place; it’s possible that the strike hit the target it intended to hit.
The strikes were mentioned on MSNBC‘s All In With Chris Hayes (12/13/13), where the host explained that some reporting suggested that the drone strike “was targeted at a group of Al-Qaeda associated militants who were in that wedding convoy,” and that “the most I’ve seen from the reporting is five of those were Al-Qaeda militants.” Hayes went on to say, “This seems like madness to me.”
And CNN‘s Around the World (12/13/13) had an actual report about the strike, with correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom reporting that there is “increasing anger in Yemen because of the drone program.”
That was about the extent of the interest shown by US television.
The New York Times, which had that first story that singularly claimed “most of the dead” were Al-Qaeda–linked militants—or, rather, appeared to be suspected of being such—has not published any follow-ups that would either substantiate or correct their initial report. But then, why would it need more coverage? The United States wasn’t the victim—it just killed those people.
Note that US coverage of the bombing of a US wedding party would not be appreciably different if some guests were members of the US Army. If anything, it might increase the outrage expressed. There would certainly be no suggestion that this made the attack a legitimate act of war.
The Times story is functionally correct: anybody who is killed by a U.S. drone appears to be a person suspected of being a militant linked to al-Qaeda by virtue of being killed by a U.S. drone. For the military and compliant media, that’s a dead giveaway.
The US and Israeli forces are very good bombing wedding parties and funerals – because such terrorist actions don’t bring bodgbags back home.
As for al-Qaeda is concerned – Yemen has been target of Israeli al-Qaeda and Mossad for years.
In 2000, USS Cole while refueling in Yemen – was attacked by a boat filled with explosives. The US and Israel immediately blamed Al-Qaeda for the attack.
In October, 2008 – then pro-American Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh said that security forces has arrested a group of so-called “Islamic militants” linked to Israeli intelligence – Mossad.
http://rehmat1.com/2009/03/01/yemen-mossad-and-al-qaeda/
To all of the Americans who, after the next terrorist attack in the U.S., will lament, and wonder out-loud “Why do they hate us?” THIS is why.
Why should a government that doesn’t care for its own citizens, care about those untermenschen half way across the world?
The extrajudicial assassination by drones of innocent people (all people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law) is a cynical ploy used by Democrats to prove they are tough on the crime of terrorism in case there actually is a terrorist attack. Think of it as precrime damage control!
I don’t blame the government. Governments always do what they can get away with. It’s the scardey cat Americans I blame for these immoral murders. No unperson’s life is too high a price for them to pay in order to gain an incremental (false) sense of security. It makes me want to throw up…
Read and educate yourself
If this really is a war, and these are the ground rules – then American servicemen are targets anywhere on the battlefield, including, if I get this straight, weddings and birthday parties in Vermont and Utah? Is that what’s happening? Or, because the target is in Yemen, where war hasn’t (yet, cough) been declared, then that somehow justifies A.Q. attacking birthday parties in, say, places as far-flung as Newfoundland and New South Wales because they’re allied to “America”? Hoo-boy, gettin’ confused by GWOT’s rules of engagement.
There is nothing that, in my mind, qualifies as “terrorist” activity more than the arrogance of a country that disregards importance of human lives is they are not American. That posture is truly terrifying.
The world was on our side after 9/11 and look what we have done since – invasions, torture, murder – just what Bin Laden wanted. He could not have drawn it up better. Violence begets violence. The press is owned by corporations who benefit from the current state of affairs. Unbalanced reporting is the norm – in military affiais, Global Warming, the economy, etc. The world is falling apart but don’t expect to hear about it from the likes of NBC’s Brian Williams, FOX, CBS, NYT, MSNBC, etc. Watch Democracy Now to be informed.
Do the joy-stick pilots of murder even need to leave their bedroom in US suburbia? How do journalists get the real war story when the infintry is at home, moving the lawn and stuff. You need to get clearance and get im-bedded – you should also make sure their partner doesn’t mind you sitting in.
Dropping indiscrimate bombs on civilians from some distance is what happened in 1945 in Heroshima and Nagasaki. I guess since FAIR in the USA and the world’s media haven’t called for war crime trials about that it is reasonable to assume that laptop bombings will escalate into the same mindless norm. I call for revisiting WWII and making accountable universal standards a norm.