Sigh. And cry. (Compensation for Yemeni victims of US drone strikes)

[marmar]

A little more than a week after a U.S. drone strike killed innocent civilians from a wedding convoy in Yemen, more eyebrow-raising details have emerged surrounding the compensation practices for the victims' relatives.

The New York Times reported Friday that Kalashnikov rifles are part of the traditional compensation process in Yemen, and 101 were given out to relatives of those lost in the Dec. 12 strike. According to the AP, the blast killed at least 13 people, with the Times citing six innocent victims.

From the newspaper's Dec. 20 report:

At first, the Yemeni government, a close partner with the Obama administration on counterterrorism matters, said that all the dead were militants. But Yemeni officials conceded soon afterward that some civilians had been killed, and they gave 101 Kalashnikov rifles and about 24 million Yemeni riyals (about $110,000) to relatives of the victims as part of a traditional compensation process, a local tribal leader said.

The fallout from the Dec. 12 strike comes less than two months after human rights investigators called for greater U.S. transparency with its drone program. Human Rights Watch alleged that 82 people, at least 57 of them civilians, were killed by drone strikes in Yemen between September 2012 and June 2013. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/21/drone-victims_n_4486412.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Blood money. And, the murderers walk free.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. give them AK-47s

what could possibly go wrong?

[Warren Stupidity]

4. I give up, what?

[Demo_Chris]

5. Under what authority are we bombing civilians in Yemen? nt

[Warren Stupidity]

6. apparently we declared endless war on the whole fucking planet.

[Demo_Chris]

7. So it seems. I recall Bush having to lie in order to attack Iraq...

I could have sworn that Congress was supposed to vote before we begin blowing the hell out of other Countries. But now it seems all that is out the window, and no one is even talking about it.