U.S. drone kills four al Qaeda members in Yemen: sources

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Source: Reuters

SANAA - A U.S. drone killed four suspected al Qaeda militants on Tuesday in a strike on their car in northern Yemen as they drove away from a militant training ground, according to tribal sources and local officials, the fourth such attack in four days.

The United States never comments on strikes by its pilotless aircraft, which it has used to track down militants in Yemen for years. The Yemeni government tolerates such strikes but usually does not comment on the U.S. role in specific incidents.

Washington has scaled up action against al Qaeda in Yemen, where the group exploited widespread anti-government unrest in 2011 to seize swathes of territory in the south. It was subsequently driven out by a military offensive in June last year.

The four men were travelling in a vehicle through the desert in the Yemeni province of al-Jawf, near the border with Saudi Arabia, a tribal source told Reuters, declining to be named.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-yemen-qaeda-idUSBRE90L0VJ20130122

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. How do we know they were Al Qaeda members?

'Cuz we killed 'em, that's how.

[Strelnikov_]

2. If they run, they are al Qaeda

If they just stand there, they are well disiplined al Qaeda.

[zellie]

3. If its true.....

Good !!

[lib2DaBone]

4. The key word is "suspected"...

If you happen to be in a Market Place standing next to a "suspected" Al Queida.. too bad.

You still die and are then classified as a terrorist.

[onwardsand upwards]

5. The language marks this as propaganda

To be neutral, the piece would say "A U.S. drone killed four people ..."

But that would make it obvious that these people were assassinated: premeditated, cold-blooded, murder.

By calling them "suspected al Qaeda militants", instead of "people", this strips them of their humanity, and implies that they were some sort of criminals -- without any kind of trial or due process.

Who did the "suspecting"? "A tribal source" who "declined to be named". This isn't journalism.