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A U.S. drone's missiles had just slammed into a convoy of vehicles in a remote part of Yemen, killing three alleged militants.
The attack – like all other U.S. drone strikes outside warzones – was supposed to be clandestine. Yet within minutes Sanaa-based lawyer Haykal Bafana was reporting the strike in almost-realtime. Just after 1am on May 17 he posted the following on Twitter:
"#Yemen NOW | Missile strike on car in Wadi Hadhramaut. Near city of Shibam. Suspected US drone attack."
As Bafana later explained to the Bureau, his relatives live in Shibam, a town of 30,000. "When the drone struck, the town – which was then experiencing a power cut – had completely lit up. My relatives got straight on the phone to tell me about the attack."
The day prior to the strike Bafana had already tweeted that drones were behaving suspiciously in the area. Hadhramaut province, a sparsely-populated former sultanate, is far from Yemen’s troubled south, where most of the fighting and U.S. drone strikes are currently taking place.
More stories from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
There has been militant activity there for some years, report locals, and surveillance drones have been active at night since 2010. But until now there had never been a drone strike. "But suddenly four or five days ago, my relatives were reporting drones over them in daylight, all the time, which was rare. Militants were also being seen moving about in the area, maybe preparing the way for an evacuation from the fighting in the south. Everyone was expecting something to happen," Bafana recalls. He tweeted the news to his followers.
"#Yemen | Hearing multiple claims of drone sightings in Hadhramaut, especially in Shibam/Qatn directorates (KSA route). No attacks so far."
When the deadly attack finally came in the early hours of Thursday morning, the target itself was hardly a secret.
Earlier, Arabic-language online media in the provincial capital of al-Mukalla had reported that a convoy of alleged al Qaeda rebels was heading north. That news was also swiftly tweeted.
Precision strike
Others were clearly also charting the convoy’s progress. As the vehicles approached Shibam at around 1am local time, at least one car, a Toyota Hilax, was destroyed by missiles from above. Yemen’s own air force has neither the know-how nor the equipment to launch a precision strike on moving vehicles in the dark.
News agencies would later report the attack as a drone strike, naming two of the dead as Zeid bin Taleb and Mutii Bilalafi, both described as local al Qaeda leaders. Like the dozens of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen that preceded it, Thursday’s attack was supposed to be secret. Yet Twitter and other social media were tracking in near-real time the events surrounding the operation.
US official acknowledges drone strikes, civilian deaths
"It is incredible how the same type of technology used by the CIA to kill people with drones in the Yemen, is empowering the Yemenis to tweet the attacks as they are happening," Noel Sharkey, professor of robotics at the University of Sheffield told the Bureau.
"They can send us all pictures and bring us closer to the horror they are experiencing. Technology in the small may eventually bring down the over-use of military technology in the large."
They may not have Q in their corners, but real spies do have gadgets that would fit right into a James Bond movie. Msnbc.com's Rosa Golijan tours an exhibition of spy tools.
Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter – which played an important role in Yemen’s Arab Spring uprising – are now being used by activists to draw attention to a large increase in U.S. drone strikes in recent weeks.
'Twitter is increasingly important'
As Haykal Bafana notes, within minutes of his tweeting Monday’s attack the news was also posted on Facebook and on local Arabic micro-news sites. "Web use is as low as 2 percent here in Yemen. But it still makes a big difference. Many people get their news from the small local media sites rather than from foreign or state agencies. And Twitter is increasingly important."
When President Obama’s chief counter terrorism adviser John Brennan visited Sanaa on Sunday, Twitter witnessed an online protest with the hashtag NoDrones.
"Brennan do you hear us?!!! We say #NoDrones #NoDrones #NoDrones. You are killing innocent people and creating more enemies in #Yemen."
'Stooge': Al-Qaida chief al-Zawahiri issues message on Yemen
Yemen-based youth activist Sadam al-Adwar (@sadamtweety), for example, said: "I’m against #terrorism & #extremism, i’m also against #drones. It’s counter-productive & fuels more extremism."
And @WomanFromYemen, otherwise known as NGO consultant Atiaf al-Wazir, told her more than 8,000 followers: "For every headline you read regarding 'militants' killed by drones in #Yemen, think of the civilians killed that are not reported. #NoDrones."
Yesterday’s Yemen drone strike appears to be the first in which events were reported on in real time.
"I’ve never heard of an example of people tweeting while drones were actually in the area," said Dr Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Policy, an expert on Yemen security issues.
"It really gets to the myth that you can keep these strikes covert, and if you do not have an information campaign that supports their use, you leave yourself flat-footed by people reporting what is being done in real time."
Army working on hovering, non-lethal drone-bazooka
There is a precedent. Last year a Pakistani man unknowingly tweeted the presence of U.S. Special Forces attack helicopters on the way to kill Osama bin Laden. On May 1 last year Pakistani IT consultant Sohaib Athar tweeted the following.
"Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)."
Stephanie Gosk spoke to Sohaib Athar, the man who told the world about the Osama bin Laden attack as it was in progress, before he knew what it was he was witnessing.
After a "huge window shaking bang" he debated the significance of the night’s events on Twitter, even as U.S. Special Forces carried out their controversial raid. He quipped to a follower that "moving to Abbottabad was part of the 'being safe' strategy."
But as the news of bin Laden’s death broke Athar lamented: "Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."
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Well, the air strikes themselves don't cause more extremists. Quite the opposite, more people are afraid to join such groups when their leaders get wiped out from the face of the earth as soon as they are announced as a successor.
What does cause more extremists is when the drone strikes hit civilians. The loved ones or even strangers will swear vengeance and are willing to do anything to make sure it happens. This include joining those extremist groups and crushing anything that is pro-west.
So, I really hope that the intelligence community uses more than drones to first locate their target, make sure they are affiliated, prove to the people they are a danger, and then pull the trigger. Because often a terrorist leader may be an innocent in the eyes of the people around him, and many will want to avenge him without knowing the real story/plans.
Drone strikes cause more extremism. Period.
We should stop these surgical drone attacks. Instead let's bring back the old B52 carpet bombings. Then there will not be anyone left alive to complain.
If these turd-brains did not drive in the same cars as terrorists, then they would not end up dead. These strikes are taking out ONE car - not a city block. And there are no innocents in a car with a known terrorist - only fellow terrorists. And it doesn't matter the sex - as women are also terrorists. And if they are so stupid that they endanger their children (or neighbor children as 'protection'), then they are the cause of the death of children.
Sorry - using hostages to protect one's life is not an acceptable defense. The only applicable phrase for terrorists is: Time for you to cross the river styx.
Bilal- You are quite right. In fact, it was a drone strike in 1970's which created the current popularity of extremism today, and drone strikes in the mideval ages that sent the Muslims throughout the Middle East committing genocide on hundreds of different cultures, right? Damn you drones!!! Damn you to hell!!!!
Seriously though, here's the proof that Muslim civilians aren't civilians. They state: "They can send us all pictures and bring us closer to the horror they are experiencing." Now, if you were opposed to terrorism, and as already stated in the article, Twitter lit up that Al-Qaida was on the move and these are Al-Qaida, therefore, this shouldn't be a "horror", this should be a "victory"- yet they don't describe it that way. They should be "Hot dog!! I just saw that a-bag get nailed! He won't be sending his militants to my house to rape pillage and plunder anymore!!". But no- they are saying how bad this is. Really? Serial killers getting killed is a bad thing? Since when??? I agree with Interested Observer. Let's go back to carpet bombing for a while- let folks see what a real war is about. Then we can go back to the surgical strikes with only a couple civilian casualties (or so they claim- really, if your hanging out with a known terrorist, are you really so innocent?)
To further my point, the IT consultant who twittered the OBL raid felt bad about it:
"But as the news of bin Laden’s death broke Athar lamented: "Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."
He didn't say "Oh, how horrible! They are killing OBL! They are such bad people!" He wasn't angry afterwards "How dare they?".
Doesn't matter. If they want you they'll get you. If they can't get you they'll just ruin you. Either way you lose. Evidence means nothing once you've been labeled an enemy of the State
I'm puzzled by the fact that in spite of our lengthy involvement with the English language we still don't seem to grasp the definition of the word COVERT.
Well at least I am not the only one to be puzzling about this. Did they really think that once those missiles had slammed into something that it was still a secret to the local population?
Next Generation warfare: explosions that have no sound...
The people of Yemen know the bombs are exploding around them. The only people from whom the US government is trying to withhold the information are Americans.
Twitter = Terrorism
my favorite quote "Bafana had already tweeted that drones were behaving suspiciously in the area"... as apposed to behaving normally other days? did the definition of covert get changed?
The drones were seen wearing those glasses with the big nose and moustache.
"Alleged militants..."
Sounds like ghosts from the past: "If it's running, it's VC; if it's dead, it's VC"
Lies, ineptitude, and waste.
Terrorist (n) (tear-uh-rist): The guy standing in between us and the oil.
For everyone wanting to see muslims denouncing terrorism... Its just rarely reported in US press is all. Seek and you will find.
And yet, no links, nothing from Al-Jazeera, no conferences, nothing in the AP or non-US publications... Why? Because it doesn't exist. Even the families of the 9/11 hijackers said (after the public "Oh how terrible") that they were actually just being good, holy Muslims. And since the Koran allows Muslims to lie to further the Islamic cause, we couldn't believe you if you did. After all, the evidence is strongly against it- weapon caches in mosques, terrorist HQs in childrens' schools. Maybe we'd have an easier time believing you if at the very least you didn't treat your women like slaves?
Drones are starting to be used in "the land of the free"?
Can you imagine us worrying about a few civilians to take out major terrorists. MOVE! Good thing they weren't in Dresden in 1945. They would have had a bad couple of days. We aren't fighting any wars. We're engaged in policing actions. We have forgotten long ago how to fight a war.
Well.. Obviously these despicable fellows could not have possibly been captured and interrogated for any useful information.. or could they have been arrested for crimes within their own country and tried in court... or simply stopped by the Yemeni military and dealt with..
These summary executions are not justified.. now .. I suppose someone will say.. what about 9-11? What about it? Haven't we exacted our pound of flesh? Have we not destroyed enough of the middle east? Have we not killed ten times over the number of civilians that we lost?
When did we become terrorists ourselves?
I don't harbor any good will towards those who would plot to murder others who simply believe in their own prophet.. including our out of control government. We have the ability to use non lethal weapons to capture those who would do us harm.. and then after an appropriate trial administer whatever punishment may seem fit for the crime committed. According to the laws and customs of THEIR country. Just as we would treat citizens in OUR country.
These drones have become much too easy to deploy.. they are a despicable weapon of terror.. without even the dignity of a suicide vest.. at least the vest has a HUMAN commitment.. no matter how shameful it may seem to our western world.
Exodus, you, in your good hearted nature, don't understand Muslims. Read the Koran. According to their holy book, everyone not Muslim is to be converted, enslaved, or killed, much like the Christian beliefs of the dark ages (though the Bible doesn't say this specifically, they just took postulating to the extreme. The Koran specifically states this) . If they had better believes, or rewrote their "Good Book", it'd be another story. But then again, once they have eliminated Muslim opposition, they are just going to do what they've done to date- start killing each other again (My great grand-pappy was the son of the prophet! No, mine was! DIE!).
And yes, the drones are easy to deploy. Why shouldn't we use them? After all, when we sent troops to give a human face and show compassion, they captured them, humiliated them, forced them to make statements against our country, then beheaded them. Now, they die, and they have no hope of capturing any of our children. I'm ALL for that!! If these folks aren't going to use non-lethal weapons, why should we offer them the same courtesy? After all, when we try to be nice about things, they say its a sign of weakness and take advantage of it. These folks have gone on public media outlets and stated they are at war with the United States and her allies. Therefore, we are at WAR. Enemy troops are not CAPTURED unless it is of benefit to US. They shoot at us, we shoot back. If we see an opportunity to shoot them BEFORE they can shoot at us, we take the shot, unless it benefits US to do otherwise. They declared this war, not us. They started it, we'll finish it. Remember we're not fighting just for us, we're fighting for all non-Muslims. Unless you wish to go the way of the Persians and all other Middle-Easterners before Islam showed up and took hold?
Moreover, how can you really respect any culture that says its OK to rape a women- its the women's fault and her choices are to marry her rapist or sit in jail for tempting him? That' its OK to kill women who have "dishonored" your family, but when a female (even one as young as 9) kills her father for sleeping with another women, the CHILD gets thrown in jail for 15 years. A father boils his 3 daughters because he SUSPECTS they are having sex (which medical examination proves they didn't) and he only gets 2 years. This is the culture you wish to preserve? Considering the OUTRAGE of the American public when it finds out that its celebrities and politicians just have an extramarital affair (hell, I remember the big whoop-de-do created when a football coach took pictures of his wife's feet- HIS OWN WIFE!!) I would personally think that this should be a FAR WORSE offense! But hey, in America, its OK to be hypocrites (its OK in Islam too, but only if your a male)
And last, but CERTAINLY not least, your comment:
without even the dignity of a suicide vest.. at least the vest has a HUMAN commitment.. no matter how shameful it may seem to our western world.
Yes, forcing women, children, and mentally retarded folks, as well as impressionable young men into suicide vests to kill and maim as many people- civilian mostly- as possible IS a much better solution than trying to limit human casualties to ONLY those who take others' lives with no hint of guilt at all. At least Obama gets upset when there are civilian casualties and has PERSONALLY taken it upon HIMSELF ALONE to say when they are used.
If they are so honorable, and their ideals mean so much to them, why don't they themselves wear the vest?
Specials ops are hackable just like anything else.
Get over it people; this is how the new wars are fought. If you don't want to get kill, don't hitch a ride with militants.
How much longer do you run this stupid and outdated article? Yeez.
O the comort of being out of range , never having to see the collateral damage , just like the high fives spread around when the Vinncents took out the Iranian airline , no real regreats just Americans blaming the innocents for getting on the plane .
same thing here , saying you deserve what you got because you drove a car that look like a terrorist , sounds like something a NY cop would say on stop and frisk moment . your guilty just because your alive