While You Were Debating Obama’s ‘Selfie,’ U.S. Drones Killed 13+ Yemen Wedding Guests

I’d like to interrupt your current cable news broadcast about [insert Selfie-Gate, Santa Claus’ skin color, Handshake-Gate, or the War on Christmas™] to throw some cold water on everything: The Associated Press reports that missiles fired by a U.S. drone obliterated a convoy of vehicles heading to a wedding in Yemen, killing at least 13 people.

As with most reports of these military strikes in Yemen, there are conflicting reports: The Associated Press reports 13 deaths and cites an unnamed Yemeni official who said there were suspected al Qaeda militants among the convoy; but Reuters, on the other hand, says 15 dead and cites other officials claiming the drone mistakenly thought the wedding convoy was a terrorist one.

Either way, we’ll likely never know the truth since U.S. officials never comment on individual drone strikes.

Maybe this will start another fascinating discussion about our military actions abroad, Obama’s widespread use of targeted drone strikes, etc.? Oh, what’s that, a shopping mall wrote “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” on its billboard and now someone on cable news is outraged? Okay then.

Happy Friday.

— —
>> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!