[youtube]L5bqMDGWXO8[/youtube]
The flurry of drone strikes in Yemen has gotten so difficult to keep up with that I imagine a twisted version of Count Von Count leading counting lessons after each one.
As of last count, he’d be up to the number 8. “You can hold it this way you can hold it that way.”
Three U.S. drone strikes killed a total of 12 suspected al-Qaida militants Thursday, a Yemeni military official said, raising to eight the number of attacks in less than two weeks as the Arab nation is on high alert against terrorism.
The uptick in drone strikes signals that the Obama administration is stepping up its efforts to target Yemen’s al-Qaida offshoot — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — amid fears of attacks after the interception of a message between its leader and the global leader of the terror network.
Since July 27, drone attacks have killed 34 suspected militants, according to an Associated Press count provided by Yemeni security officials.
Happy Eid, Yemen, Count Von Count would sing. Ha ha ha.
I can’t help but wonder whether the US wouldn’t look like it was in such a frenzy if it hadn’t leaked news of the conference call it compromised last week. It’s possible the compromise included location data. But at the very least, intelligence captured from the courier would seem to provide information that will lose value as AQAP figures out the US has it.
And given trickling reports that civilians are among the dead, on Eid? This drone frenzy could backfire if the attacks aren’t very carefully targeted.
Update: Tweaked courier language to reflect possibility he was never captured, just his message was.