In other news… how’s that hearts n’ minds thing going? (Update)

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Hmm. Not too well, looking at the coverage from the Middle East:

US Nobel Peace Prize laureate President Barack Obama has signed the order for a recent military strike on Yemen in which scores of civilians, including children, have been killed, a report says.

Upon the orders of Obama, the military warplanes on Thursday blanketed two camps in the North of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, claiming there were “an imminent attack against a US asset was being planned,” ABC News quoted anonymous administration officials as saying on Friday.

The US air raids were then followed by a Yemeni ground forces attack.

The operation led to the death of around 120 people of whom many were civilians, including children, the report quoted Yemeni opposition as saying.

Oh boy.

UPDATE: In regards to the comments below, the point of this diary was to offer a glimpse at perceptions in the Islamic World, rather than being a diary about the still-sketchy incident itself, or my opinion of the quality of the linked journalism/opinion/whatever. It’s to point out – and express concern – that anger towards the US may be ratcheting up.

18 thoughts on “In other news… how’s that hearts n’ minds thing going? (Update)”

  1. “Here we have yet another violent attack by the U.S. which — even under the best-case scenario — has killed more Muslim civilians than it did “Al Qaeda fighters,” and failed to kill the main target of the attack.  When it comes to undermining Al Qaeda — both in Yemen and generally — isn’t it painfully obvious that the images of dead Muslim women and children which we constantly create — and which we again just created in Yemen — will fuel that movement better than anything else we can do?”

    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/12/21/terrorism/index.html

  2. I’ve read the BBC Report and the New York Times Report on this and both describe the tragedy and ascribe blame much differently than the Islami Davet.

    Actually in the article you source, the report goes on to say:

    So far, the US officials have categorically denied any direct involvement in the air strikes on Houthi fighters, alleging they have only targeted growing al-Qaeda training camps, mostly located in southern parts of the Persian Gulf state. Yemen’s Houthi fighters however insist US fighter jets have been bombing their region, claiming the lives of civilians in their air raids.

    It’s strange that the report doesn’t divluge where they get the information that “upon the orders of Obama” this strike took place, they just cite that a “report says”. Pretty weak indictment. By reading the Islami Davet’s account it would appear that “US Nobel Peace Prize laureate President Barack Obama” now has authority over the Saudi Arabia Air force, (which has claimed it bombed the market) the Yemeni Army,(which insisted they are actually responsible for the bombing), or both.

    Although many around the world have a different view of the US since President Obama took office 11 months ago, there are plenty of hearts and minds that have not been won over, both here and abroad. However, it appears a bit premature to ascribe blame for the Yemeni bombing on anything the President has ordered.

  3. I just noticed that the tag line for the newpaper link to Islami Davet is “It is the party of Allah that must certainly triumph (Qur’an 5-56)”. And I thought “Fair and Balanced” was abominable.

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