Officials: U.S., Yemen reviewing targets for possible strike

[Turborama]

Source: CNN

The U.S. and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets in Yemen for a potential retaliation strike, two senior U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday, in the aftermath of the botched Christmas Day attack on an airliner that al Qaeda in Yemen claims it organized.

The officials asked not to be not be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. They both stressed the effort is aimed at being ready with options for the White House if President Obama orders a retaliatory strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airliner incident and its planning.

U.S. special operations forces and intelligence agencies, and their Yemeni counterparts, are working to identify potential al Qaeda targets in Yemen, one of the officials said. This is part of a new classified agreement with the Yemeni government that the two countries will work together and that the U.S. will remain publicly silent on its role in providing intelligence and weapons to conduct strikes.

Officially the U.S. has not said it conducted previous airstrikes in Yemen, but officials are privately saying the Yemeni military could not have carried out the strikes on its own.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/29/us.yemen.strike.targets/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

[tekisui]

1. Fresh targets, yummy!

One moron tries to light his nuts on fire, and everybody starts looking for fresh targets. :puke:

[StarfarerBill]

2. I imagine the Saudis can suggest some tempting targets, if they're willing to share.

[truth2power]

3. Holy Mother of God!!! This is insane. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

4. So they hate us both for "our freedoms" as well as our "targeted air strikes ...

against anyone whom the ruling regimes of Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iraq/Yemen/Somalia deems to be A POLITICAL ENEMY, i.e., automatically labeled al Quaeda

Now why should our meddling (Air Strikes) in these ME countries make anyone unhappy? :eyes:

[seeinfweggos]

5. they floated this out to see who changes their pattern of behavior - part of the targeting

[Hulk]

6. Does this strike anyone else like Israel-Palestine??

You send a rocket....we blow the living shit out of your government building. You bomb a bus...we take out three blocks of your wealthiest neighborhood.

This seems to me a lot like the tit for tat the Israeli's play with Hamas on the Palestinians.

[PSPS]

7. Reads just like a Haaretz story about Israel planning "retaliatory strikes" on Gaza.

I've always thought this was what the bush cabal and their backers (many of whom are still employed by obama) really wanted -- to ensnare the US directly in an Israel/Palestinian type of conflict that, too, will last forever, enrich selected individuals, distract the masses and accomplish nothing but to institutionalize brutality.

[DesertDiamond]

8. Um..... Yemen is in on the planning of an attack against itself????????

[uppityperson]

9. My thought also, sloppy journalism

[daleo]

10. It is natural to want to retaliate

But it doesn't seem to help a whole lot. Each retaliation just seems to create more people with the desire for martyrdom. There must be a better solution.

[CynicalObserver]

12. You might want to reference classical history for numerous

examples of how major cultural conflict has been handled in the past (and this is a religious/cultural conflict, radical wahabism vs. western liberal societies). When you have a world-wide distributed set of volunteers to commit suicide in order to accomplish a mass-murder attach against enemy civilians, winning 'hearts and minds' isn'g going to make them stop.

A quick subset to review might be the roman republic/early empire, for solutions with long-lasting results. Unfortunately, the west is weak, corrupt, oil-dependent and (in the case of the US) bankrupt.

[unhappycamper]

11. Hurray!

More people to bomb.

Perpetual war sucks.

[maddezmom]

13. kick

[StarfarerBill]

14. US plots retaliatory strikes against al-Qaida in Yemen over plane bomber

Source: Guardian UK

The US is planning retaliatory strikes in Yemen against al-Qaida over its attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day.

American officials say intelligence efforts are focused on identifying and tracking down those who plotted to put Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the plane with enough explosive in his underwear to bring down the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam. But they warn that finding those responsible is unlikely to be swift and say that identifying other "high-value" al-Qaida targets for retaliatory attack would also be a priority.

"First we have to find out who put Abdulmutallab on the plane with the bomb," said a US official working alongside intelligence organisations. "He's providing some leads and we're not dealing with an unknown quantity here. We've been watching and listening to what goes on in Yemen and we may have pieces of the puzzle already and just need to fit it together.

"If and when we identify them then we plan how to deal with them. Who they are is one thing, where they are is another.If they're still in Yemen and we can get a lock on them then it won't be too difficult to know what to do. But they know who they are and won't be standing out. After that we can move with the president's authorisation. I don't think there's much doubt that authorisation will be forthcoming, but no one should think all of this is going to happen overnight."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/30/us-plots-retaliatory-strikes-yemen

[No Elephants]

15. Shouldn't we just be trying to get all members of Al Qaida, wherever located?

We made air strikes in Yemen and Al Qaida claimed the attempted attack by Abdulmutallab was in retaliation for that. Now, we're purporting to retaliate for the attempted attack by Abdulmutallab?

You did it first.

No, you did.

Did not.

Did too.

[L0oniX]

16. Hey ...does anyone in the military know how to keep a secret anymore?

Why not shoot off some fireworks and have a band play ...or have a count down to the attack. ...fucking stupid asses. ATTENTION: "Hey we're going to attack you"

[Robb]

17. I'd bet it's already happened. nt

[Don Caballero]

18. Welcome news

This shows terrorists worldwide that our President will kill them wherever they are regardless of borders. So glad the adults are in charge now.

[optimator]

19. LETS ROLL

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: