Cable Reveals US Behind Airstrike That Killed 21 Children in Yemen

[tekisui]

Source: The Raw Story

A diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks shows that the US military covered up the killing of dozens of civilians during a cruise missile strike in south Yemen in December 2009.

The secret cable from January 2010 corroborated images released earlier this year by Amnesty International, implicating the US in the use of cluster bombs. The cable was sent by Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh to US General David Petraeus, saying his government would "continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours."

According to the cable, this prompted Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Rashad al-Alimi "to joke that he had just 'lied' by telling Parliament that the bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa were American-made but deployed by the ROYG ."

"The cable appears to confirm Amnesty International's finding that the Abyan strike was carried out by the US military, not Yemeni government forces," Philip Luther, a Deputy Director for Amnesty International, said.

On December 17, 2009, an alleged al-Qaeda training camp in Abyan was hit by a cruise missile, killing 41 local residents, including 14 women, 21 children, and 14 alleged al-Qaeda members.

more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/cable-reveals-airstrike-killed-21-children-yemen/

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[Sky Lar]

2. Anybody still wonder why the current administration isn't

pursuing the previous one?

[timo]

4. thick as thieves

when bush did this it was outrage as far as the eye could read, now, no one makes a peep because its all some damned 5th dimensional chess move bullshit.....WHOS GOT BABY BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS NOW???????

[WinkyDink]

15. Told not to?

[ixion]

3. Assange is not the criminal

the US government would be the real threat.

[tekisui]

5. Cluster bombs, 21 dead kids and a cover-up. Does anyone still

think these leaks are mundane and unimportant?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. It is not that they are unimportant

But in the course of diplomatic history...same shit, different decade...google battalion 100

[tekisui]

10. This isn't diplomacy. This is the US using weapons that

have been banned by over 100 countries, for the very reason that they are indiscriminate and kill innocent people and children.

We know have on record that it was done, and then covered up. I agree with Amnesty International that an investigation should be opened up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Google those boys

Serious. They committed serious war crimes and were never prosecuted. They worked for us.

How you commit the war crime is not important just that you do.

And this lack of prosecution goes to at least Iran contra.

Some of the things they were responsible... Silly things like killing women and children.

[WinkyDink]

6. Are we delivering democracy yet?

[tekisui]

7. Yep, through cluster bombing children in a country we aren't even

at war with.

[tekisui]

8. US stored banned cluster bombs on UK soil, leaked cable reveals

The UK was silent about a loophole that allowed the US to store banned cluster bombs on its soil, according to a leaked secret diplomatic cable.

The diplomatic message dated May 2009 and released by WikiLeaks reveals the two powers agreed to keep the deal quiet to avoid "complicating" a debate over the ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in the British parliament.

The United States has refused to sign up to the convention, which was prompted by concerns of the impact of the bombs on civilians. It came into force on August 1 this year.

Britain was one of more than 90 countries that signed the CCM in December 2008. It bans countries from using cluster bombs or storing them for other countries.

The leaked cable published today says ministers urged the United States to move out all their stockpiles by a deadline of 2013.

But it said: "In answer to queries about the case-by-case temporary storage exception for specific missions.... (Foreign Office officials) confirmed that the concept was accepted at highest levels of the government, as that idea has been included in the draft letter from Minister Miliband to Secretary Clinton."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/loophole-allowed-store-cluster-bombs-uk-wikileaks/

[tekisui]

12. k

[Solly Mack]

13. K&R

[WinkyDink]

14. Anybody here still think WikiLeaks is treason? I say it's COURAGE.

[blindpig]

16. More proof of the greater truth.....

there is little effective difference between the two parties, both serve the ruling class.

[Bragi]

17. The MIC solution here -- kill Assange /nt