“Anti-War” Obama Secretly Bombs Yemen

Our anti-war President is at it again, bombing yet another country. This time it’s Yemen, which is arguably worse than the war in Libya. At least in Libya, President Obama was upfront about what he was doing. In Yemen we’ve been dropping bombs for weeks and perhaps years without any comment from the President. Not even the War Powers Act authorizes this sort of military strike without Congressional knowledge or approval. Yet here is the anti-war President dropping bombs on a supposedly sovereign nation.

Some of the targets in Yemen appear to be legitimate American interests, such as attacking high ranking al Qaeda members. However some are at best questionable. For example the Obama administration has been trying to kill a cleric called Anwar al-Awlaki, who is an American citizen, for over a year. This action by the administration ought to make us at least a little bit uncomfortable. Here we have an American born citizen living in a foreign country who the US is trying to kill rather than capture and try as a criminal. No doubt Anwar al-Awlaki is probably a rotten creature and a criminal, but American citizens ought to be entitled to protections under the Constitution no matter how rotten they are.

The overriding problem with these actions is that Yemen is on the brink of revolution. The Islamic socialists, who we have supported in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, seek to overthrow the government currently led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Our actions, while supposedly in support of President Saleh, have the reverse effect on Yemen’s revolution on the ground. Especially so when Saleh has claimed for the last two years that the airstrikes have been conducted not by the US but by his own military. This has only increased tensions in the country, which would no doubt be made worse if Yemeni citizens knew the Obama administration was really responsible.

So here is the question that must be asked and which will not be answered by Obama. Is the administration actively supporting the revolution on the ground by engaging in these military strikes? Considering that the Obama administration supported the Muslim Brotherhood (who are now operating as the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt)  and other Islamic socialists in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, is it out of the question for the Obama administration to support radical Islamic socialists in Yemen? It seems like that would be right up the ally for this administration. So then the question becomes how do these airstrikes play into Obama’s support for radical Islamic socialist revolutionaries?

Obama must know that Yemen has been on the brink of revolution for quite awhile. It’s no secret that President Saleh isn’t well liked and it’s no secret that radical Islam has quite a foothold in Yemen. We also know that President Obama’s foreign policy dictates that Islamic Socialist revolutionaries, supposedly fighting for freedom, democracy and justice, will be supported by the administration. I suspect Obama knows that airstrikes, either coming from the US or supposedly from Yemen’s air force, will undermine Saleh and ultimately support the Islamic socialist revolutionaries that Obama supports. In the meantime, Obama can pick up some foreign policy points if he can kill off members of al Qaeda at the same time.

No matter what Obama’s purposes in Yemen, it is outrageous that the American people do not know about this. This administration, and indeed no administration, has no business conducting secret wars without the knowledge of Congress or the American people. The War on Terror, which Obama denies we are even fighting, may very well take us to places like Yemen. But when the President authorizes air strikes against a nation, even if the attacks are aimed at our enemies in al Qaeda, the Congress and American people must be told. Obama is no anti-war President. He’s very much pro-war. Sadly he’s in favor of secret wars in Yemen and unauthorized wars in Libya.