Saudi's used US imagery when bombing northern Yemen

[rainbow4321]

Well, isn't this pot calling kettle black.

The US expressed concern because they said Saudi Arabia bombed a civilian medical building while using US imageries of the S.A/Yemeni border that were given to Saudi Arabia

Cuz **we** have never bombed/shot up any civilians or their buildings, of course.

But all was forgiven after the Saudi Prince said "yeah, we may have, our equipment doesn't have adequate precision and maybe we were given bad information"..and they were again given permission to use our imageries for targeting

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10RIYADH159.html


(S/NF) Ambassador met with Assistant Minister of Defense
and Aviation Prince Khaled bin Sultan to relay U.S. concerns
about sharing USG imagery with Saudi Arabia in light of
evidence that Saudi aircraft may have struck civilian targets
during its fighting with the Houthis in northern Yemen.
Prince Khaled described the targeting decision-making process
and while not denying that civilian targets might have been
hit, gave unequivocal assurances that Saudi Arabia considered
it a priority to avoid strikes against civilian targets.
Based on the assurances received from Prince Khaled, the
Ambassador has approved, as authorized in reftel, the
provision of USG imagery of the Yemeni border area to the
Saudi Government. End summary.



USG CONCERNS ABOUT POSSIBLE STRIKES ON CIVILIAN TARGETS
--------------------------------------------- ----------

¶2. (S/NF) Ambassador Smith delivered points in reftel to
Prince Khaled on February 6, 2010. The Ambassador
highlighted USG concerns about providing Saudi Arabia with
satellite imagery of the Yemen border area absent greater
certainty that Saudi Arabia was and would remain fully in
compliance with the laws of armed conflict during the conduct
of military operations, particularly regarding attacks on
civilian targets. The Ambassador noted the USG's specific
concern about an apparent Saudi air strike on a building that
the U.S. believed to be a Yemeni medical clinic. The
Ambassador showed Prince Khaled a satellite image of the
bomb-damaged building in question.

IF WE HAD THE PREDATOR, THIS MIGHT NOT HAVE HAPPENED
--------------------------------------------- -------

¶3. (S/NF) Upon seeing the photograph, Prince Khalid remarked,
"This looks familiar," and added, "if we had the Predator,
maybe we would not have this problem." He noted that Saudi
Air Force operations were necessarily being conducted without
the desired degree of precision, and recalled that a clinic
had been struck, based on information received from Yemen
that it was being used as an operational base by the Houthis.
Prince Khalid explained the Saudi approach to its fight with
the Houthis, emphasizing that the Saudis had to hit the
Houthis very hard in order to "bring them to their knees" and
compel them to come to terms with the Yemeni government.
"However," he said, "we tried very hard not to hit civilian
targets." The Saudis had 130 deaths and the Yemenis lost as
many as one thousand. "Obviously," Prince Khaled observed,
"some civilians died, though we wish that this did not
happen."

(snip)

Prince Khaled, in addressing the Ambassador's
concerns about possible targeting of civilian sites appeared
neither defensive nor evasive. He was unequivocal in his
assurance that Saudi military operations had been and would
continue to be conducted with priority to avoiding civilian
casualties. The Ambassador found this assurance credible,
all the more so in light of Prince Khaled's acknowledgment
that mistakes likely happened during the strikes against
Houthi targets, of the inability of the Saudi Air Force to
operate with adequate precision, and the unreliability of
Yemeni targeting recommendations. Based on these assurances,
the Ambassador has approved, as authorized in reftel, the
provision of USG imagery of the Yemeni border area to the
Saudi Government