Don't drone on

摘要

"people are afraid to go to weddings because, whenever large groups of men gather, they are afraid a drone will hit them," says a sheikh from Bayhan district in Shabwa, a haven for al-Qaeda to the south-east of Yemen's capital, Sana'a. He says he sees or hears about one drone a week flying over his home. After a big lunch, reclining on cushions as he and his friends chew the Yemenis' beloved qat, a leaf that is a mild stimulant, they all grumble about drones. If these tribesmen are anything to go by, the Americans' increasingly active deployment of drones is far from winning Yemeni hearts and minds in the battle against jihadism.