© U.S. Navy / Reuters
Washington reserves the right to strike targets in Yemen whenever "necessary and appropriate," President Obama told Congress after the US military carried out its first direct attack in the bloody conflict, using the pretext of self-defense.
This week, for the first time since the 18-month-old conflict began,
USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Yemen in retaliation for
alleged attacks on the US Navy. The initial Pentagon assessment said that the "self-defense" attack resulted in the destruction of three radar sites, with no indications of civilian casualties.
On Friday US President Barack Obama informed Congress about authorizing the strikes "in response to anti-ship cruise missile launches perpetrated by Houthi insurgents." In the "War Powers Resolution"
letter, Obama stated that US armed forces targeted radar facilities which the
US believes had been involved in "the October 9 launches and other recent attacks."
"These limited and proportionate strikes were conducted to protect our personnel and our ships and will preserve our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway," Obama explained.
Comment: The last line seems to say it all and may explain why U.S. forces did nothing to help - especially since control of poppy crops are so important to the black budget fund-raising of Empire. At the same time, the Taliban is traditionally against the production of the poppy and kept the crop in relatively low production prior to the US moving into Afghanistan. So, was this recent attack actually the Taliban, or some US-funded and supported group made to look like the Taliban? Or, were they the real thing and the US just lost some prized poppy-growing fields?
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