Writing Portfolio

Death in Al Ghayil: Women and Children in Yemeni Village Recall Horror of Trump’s “Highly Successful” SEAL Raid

Believing

The raid of January 29 in Al Ghayil, Yemen is portrayed by the author (Craig) of the article as a shift in policy of Trump White House from that of Obama’s administration. The author is of the view that the military missions to capture or kill are expected to happen more frequently in the Trump led administration which will subsequently result in more civilian casualties. The central argument of the article emphasizes the lack of coordination and planning between different actors to the conflict and simultaneously switch in policy which is more aggressive. This incident violated the basic human rights of children, women, and elderly who are not at all party to any crime or terrorist activity. Additionally, the failure of the raid in itself is evident to justify the authors logical and emotional argument which highlighted upon the weaknesses and loopholes in the Trump administration policy shift.

The U.S. Navy SEAL attacked al Ghayil early in the morning and the residents of Ghayil, who are already renowned for their fighting skills, determination, and pride, presumed the attack to be from Houthi. The logos presented in the article supplements pathos because that’s logically and emotionally correct to understand that the civilian casualties may have avoided if the U.S. and Saudi Alliance would have done their groundwork. The People of Ghayil have been traditional allies of U.S. in the cold war era and faced a lot of internal displacement of people. The claim of two U.S. SEALs that the operation was probably compromised by the time they reached the target location and it is not clear to how that has happened. The logical reasoning that followed after the appeal to emotion within the article was well balanced and the doubt was later the possible tip by any tip was somehow resolved by the input of native citizens who believes that the presence of helicopters night before the raid raised a lot of concerns for the masses.

The raid escalated into a military tussle because the neighborhood of al Ghayil reached to help their fellow tribesmen. The tribesmen were holding the upper ground while the U.S. SEAL was at disadvantage and the shootout concentrated around M. Al Ameri’s house which was later obliterated by the airstrike and killing three children’s. The possibility of retrieving any intelligence was lost and the operations is a fourth attempt of U.S. in Yemen which faced total defeat. The killing of civilians in the operations and the lack of coordination between the political forces of the region resulted in massive failure. The military operation is not the final solution to the problem and the author’s stance has mentioned a rational argument whereby the operation failed due to failure to understand the ground realities. The ethical and other cultural factors which played a vital role, for example, the marriages between radical extremist of Al-Qaida family members and the region’s influential family, should not be the victims of the acts of terrorists. It is difficult to argue that the article presents any positive aspect of the raid because the author tried to present logically, emotionally, and culturally that the failure took place at all levels.

Doubting

Iona Craig wrote this article for ‘The Intercept’ about January 29th raid of U.S. Seals raid at Ghayil, Yemen which caused casualties of children and women. The raid was a failed attempt because as per some of the SEALs that someone gave the tip to the target who managed to secure themselves. Despite the logical reasoning. emotional presentation of the facts and cultural interpretation of the local population, the author failed to present the correct portrayal of the U.S. and its allies stance. The facts presented by Craig have tried to manipulate the understanding of the reader by countering emotional arguments with logical one so that the reader does not have the much emotional strength to reason for justification of women and children’s death.

The story-telling of the author at the beginning of the article presented much of a picture that represents the point of you of the people are subjugated, suppressed and marginalized. As at an instance the author presented a cultural argument which explained the inter-marriages between the tribesmen families and the families of the Al-Qaida members can be nullified because it is the same room available for the U.S. and its allies to target the terrorists and push them through their weaknesses. Each time a member of the society attempts to opt for the terrorists’ side, he or she has to pay a heavy price in the form of family, culture, attachments, and other socioeconomic indicators. It is correct that the raid was not completely successful, but that does not create solid ground for the argument that raid shouldn’t have happened at first place. The lack of coordination is perceived as the primary reason and claiming that the U.S. is not aware of the ground realities can be an illogical argument which is presented after the emotional arguments so that its loopholes cannot be observed so easily by the reader.

Additionally, the loss of innocent lives, especially the mother and kids’ relationship in this context is felt by many soft-hearted people and hence paves way for the biased opinion making. The narration style is aimed at increasing the readership and sustain the retention level of the reader by story-telling and supplementing it by sauces which cannot be verified and are equally contested because any other source can nullify it for one and for all. It can also be argued that the logical reasoning is biased because the input from the U.S. and its allies is mostly missing or might be tempered. The author wrote the article from the point of view of the victims and the reader hardly has the room to make any ground for criticizing when the lives of innocent people are discussed and propagated as the core argument. The arguments presented in the article are subject to scrutiny from the western world and especially the policy makers of the war against terror due to its depiction of the raid as an attempt to merely take innocent lives.

Works Cited

Craig, Iona. "Death In Al Ghayil." The Intercept. N.p., 2017. Web. 4 Sept. 2018.