Obama, Nobel peace prize in hand, bombs Yemen with cruise missiles

Just one day after a very public denial that American forces were attacking sites in Northern Yemen, President Barack Obama ordered multiple cruise missile attacks on sites across the tiny, coastal nation, just days after picking up his Nobel Peace Prize.

The air strikes were coordinated with the government of President Ali Abdallah Saleh and the attacks left 120 killed, many of them civilians according to witnesses. President Obama called Saleh after the attack to “congratulate” him on the killings.

Al-Jazeera and other regional news outlets reported last week that U.S. military jets launched cruise missile strikes in Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Al-Houthi reports said Tuesday marked the third day of U.S. military strikes in the region, blaming American forces for striking two mosques in their air raids. Additional statements from al-Houthi groups point to U.S. involvement in the deaths of more than 120 people in recent attacks.

Last Wednesday, P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, rejected the allegations outright. "We do not have a military role in this conflict," he told UPI. The following day, administration sources admitted that American cruise missiles, on Obama’s orders, hit a “suspected Al Qaeda training camp” north of Sanaa, the capital, and another site, where terrorists were thought to be plotting an attack on the U.S., ABC News reported, citing unnamed administration officials.

The politically sensitive strikes Thursday supplement efforts already under way by the government of Yemen to go after Al Qaeda in the country, military officials told Fox News, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation. Such an operation is particularly sensitive in Yemen. “It’s very difficult for Yemen to ask the U.S. for help given the nature of their population and its views about the West,” one official said. “And the U.S. doesn’t want to compromise their ability to ask for help.”
Examiner

The O man isn't pulling his punches, thank god.