Up-Date: AMERICA’S Secret WAR in Yemen

 

Up-Date: AMERICA’S Secret WAR in Yemen

Oh you didn’t know we are fighting a war in Yemen?  Not many Americans know this, they are waiting for the new NFL season to start and have no time to read the newspapers.

This new war is an evil and maybe transforming war for America.  It is a part of the new Obama war on terrorism that includes death squads, assassination, support for cruel dictators and the killing of innocent civilians by Hell Fire missiles fired from un-manned drones.

Most Americans have never heard of Yemen, couldn’t locate it on a map and don’t know of care anything about Yemen.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world with a poverty rate of 46%.  It also has an illiteracy rate of 63%.  The population is about 24 million.  Most are living in severe poverty and are illiterate.  They have no army, navy, missiles. Air planes and represent ZERO threat to the USA. 

Yemen is ruled by Ali Abdullah Saleh, known for corruption and deceit and he has ruled since 1976.  He stays in power through an alliance between America and our most loved dictator in the area – Saudi Arabia.

Forces in the south, Yemen Socialist Party, are fighting a war against the American sponsored corruption.  Once again America is on the wrong side, but oil drives 90% of the revenues in Yemen, so this is par for the course.  The Saudis fear any social movements near their Kingdom.

In fact the Saudis claim any attempts to establish democracy and freedom are terrorism because it undermines their dictatorial rule In Saudi Arabia.

To stay in power for decades Saleh worked all sides of all issues and wars.  His state run intelligence agency is killing for all sides too.  The Washington Post reported the head of the Yemen Intelligence Service ordered key Al Qaeda prisoners released in 2006.  Was this because he loves Al Qaeda?  No in this part of the world you can buy almost anything including freedom from prison.                  

Once again America is involved in supporting a dictator – Saleh.  We are working with the Saleh forces and we have special operation teams going in and out of Yemen killing people daily based on little real intelligence.

Here is American policy in Yemen in a nutshell.

Poor, illiterate people living in remote areas of poverty stricken countries, without running water, electricity, no paved roads and no way for them to get out of the area or to hurt Americans are being killed by US taxpayer funded CIA, special forces assassination teams and paid mercenaries.  We are also using military drones to kill from the air people we can’t see and are not sure are any threat to us.  Our killers are working with a corrupt dictatorship that suppresses freedom.   

The real problem is we rely on these corrupt people for our intelligence and our policy.  These very suspect Yemenis identify who the jihadist are and we kill them.  Unfortunately as in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan we never really know if we are killing the right people.  

In Yemen as elsewhere many who are fighting the corrupt government in Yemen aren’t Al Qaeda.  These so called jihadists are competing tribes and others who want power in their tribal areas and don’t want to be ruled by cruel dictators.  None of these local tribes, let me repeat NONE, represent any threat to America.

There is an old saying in this part of the world, “the friend of my enemy is my enemy.”  The enemy of freedom in Yemen is the current government and we are their friend and supporter.

Our new commander in the area, General Mattis, known for telling Marines, “It is fun to shoot these guys” (Moslems) is all for these wars, but we are running out of forces to fight 6 wars.

In fact no one knows for sure how many US forces, CIA assassination teams and paid US mercenaries are actually fighting inside Yemen.  Only 12 elected representatives (6 senators and 6 US representatives) and the president know any of the details.

The New York Times reported August 14, 2010:

“The attack offered a glimpse of the Obama administration's shadow war against Al Qaeda and its allies (Who do the CIA define as ALLIES??). In roughly a dozen countries -- from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife -- the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase (KILL) terrorists.”

The administration's demands have accelerated a transformation of the C.I.A. into a paramilitary organization as much as a spying agency, which some critics worry could lower the threshold for future quasi-military operations. In Pakistan's mountains, the agency had broadened its drone campaign beyond selective strikes against Qaeda leaders and now regularly obliterates suspected enemy compounds and logistics convoys, just as the military would grind down an enemy force.

For its part, the Pentagon is becoming more like the C.I.A. Across the Middle East and elsewhere, Special Operations troops under secret "Execute Orders" have conducted spying missions that were once the preserve of civilian intelligence agencies. With code names like Eager Pawn and Indigo Spade, such programs typically operate with even less transparency and Congressional oversight than traditional covert actions by the C.I.A.”

Is any of this LEGAL?  Forget the moral and Christian issues this raises.

Is this legal?  The answer is no, but no one cares.  America has lost its soul and its conscience.

The real question is does this make us safer?  The people living in Yemen are being told the murders are the Americans.  Even in this under developed, poverty stricken and out of the way place they know who we are and what we are doing.

Matthew 22:37-40 

 

37And He said to him, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

 38"This is the great and foremost commandment.

 39"The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'

 40" On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 7:12 GOLDEN RULE -

12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Mark 10:19 

19"You know the commandments, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"

John 14:15 “If ye love me keep my commandments.”