He was a boy who hadn't seen his father in two years

[Honeycombe8]

111. 16 is almost grown, esp in tribes. He was no "young child." US says he wasn't the target,

anyway. That strike killed an AQ operative, who the strike was aiming for. This guy and his friends were collateral damage. Sad, but Yemen, that area, is a stronghold of AQ, and additionally, there were civil war activities going on. Yet the dad moved his family to live in the AQ region, knowing how dangerous it would be. It was foreseeable that the family would get harmed or killed, and the dad, too.

The dad may have been American born, but his ties with America were tenuous, at best. He was raised for years from a young age in Yemen..then returned to the U S for a college education, sticking to involvement with muslim groups, and not interacting with non-muslim Americans. He moved around a lot, becoming a Muslim leader, with ties to the 9/11 terrorists, the underwear bomber, the Fort Hood terrorist, and others.

It seems reasonable to assume the dad was raising his kids to think like him, as he had been raised in Yemem to think. The tribe provides the "education." The dad did not need to be present for that. Notwithstanding, the U S says this kid wasn't the target. That seems logical...how likely would it be that they would have intelligence on this non AQ kid and his friends in an eatery? It seems more likely that they were following the AQ operative that was killed.

The drone attacks were approved by the Yemen govt, which had been trying for years to oust from their country.