1.) The Bureau of Investigative Journalism released an article detailing the Drumpf-approved raid in Yemen which turned into a debacle, killing nine young children among others. Drumpf's press secretary Sean Spicer has declared the operation "successful... by all standards," while former U.S. ambassador to Yemen Stephen Seche has said it "turned out to be as bad as anyone can imagine." The youngest victim was 3 months-old.
“It is true they were targeting al Qaeda but why did they have to kill children and women and elderly people?” said Zabnallah Saif al Ameri, who lost nine members of his extended family, five of whom were children. “If such slaughter happened in their country, there would be a lot of shouting about human rights. When our children are killed, they are quiet.”
The article is really worth reading in whole. It lists the names and ages of the 9 child victims. It is horrific to contemplate, but it is being done in our name. "No one thought that marines would descend on our homes to kill us, kill our children and kill our women."
The article offers so many disturbing details. As I read it I feel overcome. It's horrid. I think about whether or not to share it to Facebook. I want everyone to read it. I am not sure the purpose of sharing. Part of me wants to observe that this was a raid that was initially presented to Obama and he did not approve it because he thought it was too risky. Drumpf, rather famously now, approved it "over dinner." It's speculated that he may have approved it specifically to differentiate himself and his own approach to Obama's. In that respect, the blood is on Drumpf's hands and those of his supporters. I know I saw a Vox article semi-excusing Drumpf, though, and placing the blame at the hands of military planners. Both seem like plausible finger-pointing. At the same time it all feels so small and petty. The deaths of all these people, especially the children, feel reduced if we try to point fingers and blame. I don't know. The report suggests that some of the adults killed were affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. One of the dead is 8-year-old Nawar Anwar Al-Awlaki, a daughter of a killed American who had been a radical Islamic preacher. She had been staying with her uncle. Perhaps the uncle was a "legitimate" target?? I don't know. It all seems so pathetic. Al Qaeda, no Al Qaeda (it seems worth noting that several survivors interviewed for the report maintain that none of the villagers were Al Qaeda-affiliated).
It is a monstrous catastrophe. 9 children are dead. A pregnant woman is dead.
The Pentagon attempted to justify it in a way that would be cartoonish if it weren't so fucking monstrously inhumane:
...the Pentagon released a video showing a man building bombs which it said had been discovered in the raid. Within hours it was removed from the Pentagon’s website’s after people pointed out the same video had been published online in 2007.Also:
The White House, however, continues to insist that the raid was “highly successful.”
“It achieved the purpose it was going to get – save the loss of life that we suffered and the injuries that occurred,” Spicer said in a press briefing on February 7. “The goal of the raid was intelligence-gathering. And that’s what we received, and that’s what we got.”2.) In the broader picture, Yemen is amidst a crushing food crisis. "Almost 3.3 million people, including 2.1 million children, are suffering from acute malnutrition."
3.) Jeff Sessions is confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, by a 52-47 vote in the Senate. The vote was marred by silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell as she was reading a 1986 letter written by Corretta Scott King opposing Sessions's appointment as a federal judge. The silencing of Warren became a powerful story of its own, further elevating Warren's iconic status.
From the New York Times:
Mr. Sessions’s path to confirmation hit another snag that riled Democrats and energized opponents of his nomination: Mr. Trump’s dramatic firing of the acting leader of the Justice Department.
Last week, Mr. Trump abruptly dismissed Sally Q. Yates, the acting attorney general, setting off a fierce backlash from Democrats against Mr. Sessions’s nomination to fill her job permanently. Ms. Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, had refused to defend Mr. Trump’s controversial order barring travel by some foreigners, which is now tied up in litigation in federal courts. Democrats seized on her firing to say that Mr. Sessions is too close to the president to be independent or stand up to him.VICE details 5 things Attorney General Jeff Sessions could do immediately upon his assumption of office. It suggests he could pursue rollbacks of progress in marijuana legalization, LGBTQ rights, immigration, police brutality, and he could launch investigations into the voter-fraud which Drumpf claims occurred in the 2016 election, which could lead to further rollbacks of minority voting rights.
Another VICE article details a case where Sessions, as Alabama Attorney General, tried to prosecute three civil rights activists for voter fraud. The activists were acquitted and NAACP lawyer Deval Patrick (later Massachusetts governor) stated that he felt Sessions did not have the acumen to serve as a federal judge.
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