The Federalist: Obama wages war in Yemen

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Obama wages war in Yemen - Constitution be Damned

Obama's Unconstitutional War in Yemen

Obama has launched 13 strikes in Yemen so far this year. In addition to the current strike, one strike took place in May, and there were four April, four in March, and three in January.
Caesar Obama wages war on the Arabian peninsula without a vote of Congress. But then again, Congress hides under their desks quivering in fear that someone might ask them to do their job.

Caesar Obama claims he killed three al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters, including a local commander, in the first recorded drone strike in more than three weeks.

The strike, which took place last evening in the Maghifar area of the Wadi Abida district in Yemen's central province of Marib, targeted a pickup truck, according to local reports. Yemeni tribal leaders said that Jafar al Shabwani, a local AQAP commander from the Al Shabwan tribe of Wadi Abida, and two of his fighters were killed in the airstrike.

AQAP has not released an official statement on the strike or a martyrdom statement for al Shabwani.
Wadi Abida has long been considered an AQAP stronghold and recruiting base in Marib, and local tribes regularly provide AQAP militants with protection and cover reports the Long War Journal.

The US has conducted six other drone strikes in Wadi Abida since October 2012. Three of those strikes took place this year, two occurred in 2012, and one was conducted in 2012. Thirty-one AQAP fighters and two civilians are reported to have been killed in the six strikes, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal.

The Wadi Abida district was also the location of the last recorded drone strike in Yemen. On May 12, the remotely piloted Reapers or Predators targeted a vehicle as it was driving in the village of Husoun al-Jalal. Six AQAP fighters are thought to have been killed in the attack.

Last night's strike highlights a continuing trend of the US targeting local AQAP commanders and fighters who are waging a local insurgency against the Yemeni government. This trend was first identified by The Long War Journal in the spring of 2012 [see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 8 AQAP fighters, from May 10, 2012].

This contradicts a US Department of Justice white paper that claimed the drone program will target only those AQAP operatives who "present an 'imminent' threat of violent attack against the United States."

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