[Peace-discuss] [ufpj-activist] CNN: Saudi Arabia calls deadly strike on Yemeni civilians a 'mistake'

Sun Aug 27 14:17:48 UTC 2017

We begin, as you do here, by pointing out that the mistakes are not mistakes but quite rational actions - in Weber’s sense of ‘rational,’ i.e.. fitting means to ends.

The ends are vicious, and not what the political establishment claims. US policy does not seek peace, freedom, and democracy but rather the profits of the US economic elite.

But the world’s greatest propaganda system prevents most Americans from knowing that. That’s what we’re up against, and it won’t help to align with one faction of the political establishment.

The two (partial) political victories in our lifetime - civil rights and Vietnam - came not from liberal politicians but from popular demand. —CGE

> On Aug 27, 2017, at 8:57 AM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> Yes of course, everything we do is a mistake, by “we” I include our allies with whom we collude. 
> 
> Our intervention in Iraq was a mistake, just as our war in Vietnam was a mistake, every time we get caught killing civilians they are labeled “collateral damage” and a mistake. You know, “oops I missed my target, oops I accidentally slaughtered a few thousand more people.”
> 
> It begs the question, when are “we” the American people going to put a stop to USG “mistakes? Mistakes that are killing millions of people, over there, and impoverishing and killing people here?”
> 
>> On Aug 27, 2017, at 06:17, Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Property of: Mark Warner, Claire McCaskill, Joe Donnelly, Bill Nelson, Joe Manchin. 
>> 
>> http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-sanaa/index.html
>> 
>> Saudi Arabia calls deadly strike on Yemeni civilians a 'mistake'
>> By Hakim Almasmari, Hamdi Alkhshali, and Eliza Mackintosh
>> Updated 2:29 PM ET, Sat August 26, 2017
>> 
>> Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) A deadly airstrike on residential buildings in Sanaa was the result of a "technical mistake," the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Saturday in a statement to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
>> 
>> The strike killed 16 people, including seven children, Yemen's rebel-controlled health ministry said Friday.
>> The attack, which flattened two buildings in Sanaa's southern district of Faj Attan, comes amid escalating violence in the war-torn country.
>> A Saudi-led coalition spokesman expressed "deep sorrow for this unintentional accident and for the collateral damage among civilians."
>> The intended target of the strike was a command-and-control center for Houthi rebels, spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said, calling it "a legitimate military target."
>> The facility, al-Maliki said, was intentionally set up in a residential area to turn civilians into human shields.
>> Saudi Arabia, backed by a coalition of Arab states, launched a military operation in March 2015 against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who toppled the internationally recognized leadership in Yemen.
>> In the last week alone, the United Nations estimates that 58 civilians have been killed in airstrikes, including 42 in Saudi-led coalition bombings. That death toll is higher than in the entire month of June, when 52 civilians were killed, and in July, which saw 57 civilian deaths.
>> Since fighting began, the UN Human Rights Office has documented 13,829 civilian casualties, including 5,110 people killed. The numbers, based on casualties individually verified by the UN's Yemen Office, are believed to be a fraction of the overall death toll.
>> Hotel attack
>> Friday's attack came two days after an airstrike hit a hotel on the outskirts of Sanaa, leaving dozens dead. The United Nations has launched an investigation into that attack.
>> Two airstrikes hit the area in close succession at around 3:30 a.m., a witness told the United Nations. The first struck a security checkpoint purportedly manned by Houthi rebels, and, several minutes later, a second strike hit the Istirahat Al Shahab hotel.
>> Most of those killed at the hotel died in their sleep and were buried under rubble, Mohammed al-Sarhi, a farmer, told CNN.
>> At least 33 civilians were killed and another 25 injured in the attack, the United Nations confirmed. Yemen's health ministry, which is controlled by Houthi rebels, says 51 people died. The health ministry is based in Sanaa and is not part of the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government based in the southern city of Aden.
>> [...]
>> 
>> ===
>> 
>> Robert Naiman
>> Policy Director
>> Just Foreign Policy
>> www.justforeignpolicy.org
>> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>> (202) 448-2898 x1
>> 
>> @clairecmc, @SenDonnelly, @Sen_JoeManchin, @MarkWarner, @SenBillNelson: #StopArmingSaudi War Crimes in Yemen
>> https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/senate-stop-arming-saudi?r_by=1135580
>> 
>> House: Use War Powers to Save A Million Yemeni Kids from Cholera & Famine
>> https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/force-vote-on-saudi-war?r_by=1135580
>> 
>> 
>> 
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