The Nation: Washington's War in Yemen Backfires

An article by Jeremy Scahill exposes how the U.S. backed Saleh regime uses aid from the U.S. government in order to suppress opposition to his regime. He also exposes how the many drone strikes and killing of civilians has caused thousands of new recruits for Al Qaeda who are angered by the actions of the U.S. government. Scahill writes,

The October drone strike that killed Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a US citizen, and his teenage cousin shocked and enraged Yemenis of all political stripes. “I firmly believe that the [military] operations implemented by the US performed a great service for Al Qaeda, because those operations gave Al Qaeda unprecedented local sympathy,” says Jamal, the Yemeni journalist. The strikes “have recruited thousands.” Yemeni tribesmen, he says, share one common goal with Al Qaeda, “which is revenge against the Americans, because those who were killed are the sons of the tribesmen, and the tribesmen never, ever give up on revenge.” Even senior officials of the Saleh regime recognize the damage the strikes have caused. “People certainly resent these [US] interventions,” Qirbi, the foreign minister and a close Saleh ally, concedes.

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