Ex-diplomat: US accelerating drone attacks in Yemen
Iran Press TV
Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:32PM GMT
A former US diplomat in Yemen has said that Washington's recent drone strikes in Yemen show the US is set to accelerate airstrikes in the country.
The unnamed US official has told the Los Angeles Times that a surge in US drone strikes in Yemen over the past three weeks is an indication that the White House is to increase the number of its drone assaults there.
"The tendency had been 'less is more' in terms of these strikes, and I think we'll go back to that," said the unnamed former US diplomat. "But at the moment, when you have guys on the move and a plot in the works, there is a bias toward taking as many whacks at them as you can and seeing if you can't knock them on their heels."
The former diplomat's remarks were in reference to Washington's claims that the US intelligence community had intercepted "chatter" between senior al-Qaeda leaders indicating a major attack this month.
President Barack Obama has authorized at least 12 drone strikes in Yemen since those claims were made.
According to some accounts, at least 49 people have been killed in US drone strikes in Yemen since late July.
US officials have recently acknowledged that no senior al-Qaeda leader has been killed in the attacks.
Yemeni officials say only a few of the dead since July 27 appear to be on a list of 25 "most-wanted terrorists". The list was published by the Yemeni government earlier this month.
In a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday, political analyst and writer Linh Dinh said US drone strikes only feed Washington's so-called 'War on Terror' which it never wants to end.
"As for the 'War on Terror', each innocent Muslim killed only creates more enemies for the US, feeding the so-called 'War on Terror', but this is also fine with the US, since the US doesn't want the War on Terror to end, for there's a lot of money to be made in this 'War on Terror'," Dinh said.
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