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From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Dec 01 2010 - 23:03:06 EST
*Wikileaks Bolsters Claim of Deadly U.S. Attack in Yemen **
**William Fisher*
*NEW YORK, Dec 1 (IPS) - A diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks
corroborates images released earlier by Amnesty International (AI) showing
that the U.S. military carried out a missile strike in south Yemen in
December 2009 that killed dozens of local residents, including women and
children, the rights group says.*
In the secret cable, written in January 2010, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah
Saleh is reported to have assured U.S. General David Petraeus that his
government would "continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours".
According to the cable, this prompted Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Rashad
al-'Alimi "to joke that he had just 'lied' by telling Parliament that the
bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa were American-made but deployed by the
ROYG [Republic of Yemen Government]".
Amnesty International is calling on the U.S. government to investigate the
serious allegations of the use of drones by U.S. forces for targeted
killings of individuals in Yemen and clarify the chain of command and rules
governing the use of such drones.
Tom Parker, Amnesty's policy director for terrorism, counter-terrorism and
human rights, says that AI wrote to the Defence Department last May
regarding the drone strike in Yemen. He said Amnesty raised a range of
questions regarding that action, but never received a response.
"What we know, and what the Wikileaks cable confirms, is that Yemen clearly
lied to its people and to the world, and the United States thereby avoided a
response," he told IPS.
An alleged al Qaeda training camp at al-Ma'jalah, Abyan, was hit by a cruise
missile on Dec. 17, 2009. A Yemeni parliamentary inquiry found that 41 local
residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 alleged al Qaeda
members were killed in the attack.
In the Jan. 4 cable, Petraeus is recorded as saying that the attack had
caused the deaths of "only" three "civilians".
Amnesty International provided the media with photographs of the aftermath
of the Abyan strike in June this year, including remnants of U.S.-sourced
cluster munitions and the Tomahawk cruise missiles used to deliver them.
The organisation had requested information from the Pentagon about the
involvement of U.S. forces in the al-Ma'jalah attack, and what precautions
may have been taken to minimise deaths and injuries.
The U.S. government did not respond to Amnesty International, but a press
report the day after the images were released quoted a Pentagon spokesman as
saying that the U.S. declined to comment on the strike and that questions on
operations against al Qaeda should be posed to the Yemeni government.
"There must be an immediate investigation into the dozens of deaths of local
residents in the Abyan air strike, including into the extent of U.S.
involvement," said Philip Luther, AI's deputy director for the Middle East
and North Africa. "Those responsible for unlawful killings must be brought
to justice."
The "Arhab" strike referred to in the secret cable was carried out on Dec.
17, 2009 and the "Shebwa" strike on Dec. 24, 2009. The Yemeni government
insisted at the time that their forces had carried out all three attacks,
which were meant to target al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the leaked cable, President Saleh is said to have suggested that targeted
aerial attacks were preferable to those by cruise missiles, which were "not
very accurate", and to have expressed anxiety about the level of civilian
casualties caused.
President Saleh agreed to have U.S. fixed-wing bombers circle outside Yemeni
territory ready to engage targets "should actionable intelligence become
available", according to the cable, and also requested that Washington
provide 12 armed helicopters and train and equip three new Republican Guard
brigades, totaling 9,000 soldiers.
He complained that Yemeni forces had not yet received the necessary training
to operate 17 "Iraqi" light armored vehicles provided by the U.S. government
in 2008.
The leaked cable says that U.S. security assistance to Yemen would
substantially increase from $67 million in 2009 to $150 million in 2010,
including $45 million to equip and train an aviation regiment under the
Yemeni Special Operations Forces.
U.S. officials told President Saleh that two fully equipped 87-foot patrol
boats destined for the Yemeni coastguard were under construction and would
arrive in Yemen within a year.
U.S. forces are also alleged to have used unmanned aerial drones in Yemen in
efforts to kill suspected leading al Qaeda members. An attack in May 2010
which apparently killed in error a key mediator between the Yemeni
government and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was said by some sources to
have been carried out from an unmanned drone.
Yemen's Foreign Affairs Minister later said the government would investigate
whether drones were used in the attack and, if so, whether they were used by
Yemeni security forces or others, such as the U.S.
Amnesty International is not aware that any outcome to the investigation has
been disclosed.
(END/2010)
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