Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Obama, War

The U.S. has two separate drone campaigns underway in Yemen — one run by the CIA, the other by the military’s Joint Special Operations Command. Together, they’ve conducted 43 strikes since the start of 2011, according to a Long War Journal tally, killing 274 people in the process. Exactly how many of the 274 were militants is tough to tell; the U.S. “counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants,” the New York Times recently reported.

As its government teeters, the impoverished and chaotic Gulf nation is the focus of a U.S. bombing campaign.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Narrative, War

Senior U.S. officials say the White House has approved expanded CIA and U.S. military drone strikes against Al Qaeda targets in Yemen. Officials say the U.S. will now be allowed to target individuals found to be plotting to attack the U.S. or American territory overseas, even if U.S. intelligence cannot identify the people by name. Prior practice required that militants be identified by name before strikes.

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Obama, War

When Obama came into office, he cottoned to the organization immediately. (It didn’t hurt that his CIA director, Leon E. Panetta, has a son who, as a naval reservist, had deployed with JSOC.) Soon Obama was using JSOC even more than his predecessor. In 2010, for example, he secretly directed JSOC troops to Yemen to kill the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Obama, War

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.