Lockheed Martin Deletes Tweet After One Of Their Bombs Was Linked To Attack On Yemen School Bus
Lockheed Martin, the American defense contracting company, has come under fire this week after they tweeted in honor of World Photo Day. According to the Huffington Post, the company, who’s also the world’s largest weapons manufacturer, tweeted and asked its followers to share a photo of one of their favorite Lockheed Martin products.
“Do you have an amazing photo of one of our products? Tag us in your pic and we may feature it during our upcoming #WorldPhotoDay celebration on Aug. 19!” read the since-deleted tweet. The company got more than they bargained for after they started receiving photos of “filled with blood and violence reportedly caused by its products in Yemen.”
The responses come after it was announced on CNN on Friday that the most recent bombing in Yemen was carried out by a Saudi-led group, who used a Lockheed Martin 500-pound laser-guided MK 82 bomb. The attack led to the death of 51 people, 40 of whom were children.
Dear @LockheedMartin , you asked people to tweet "amazing photos of one of our products" (https://t.co/ni5dTEzG6N). Here it is : This is a fragment of YOUR bomb, a laser-guided MK 82, which #SaudiArabia used to kill 40 #Children in #Yemen last week https://t.co/8kmhPCyava pic.twitter.com/uFj3oxsO44
— Donatella Rovera (@DRovera) August 18, 2018
Local journalists noted that the bomb is similar to the one used in an attack in October, 2016, where 155 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. In that attack, a Saudi coalition accepted the blame for it, saying that it was a mistake due to “incorrect information.” Because of the attack, President Obama blocked the sale of military weapons to Saudi Arabia. In 2017, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reversed Obama’s order.
In these latest attacks, many are questioning whether the United States and companies like Lockheed Martin are culpable in the violence. When asked about the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the following.
“I will tell you that we do help them plan what we call, kind of targeting. We do not do dynamic targeting for them.”
Eyewitnesses at the scene recall the bomb being a direct hit, devastating the area.
“I saw the bomb hit the bus. It blew it into those shops and threw the bodies clear to the other side of those buildings. We found bodies scattered everywhere, there was a severed head inside the bomb crater. When we found that, that was when I started running. I was so afraid,” said one eyewitness.
As CNN reports, many of the bodies were so ravaged that they were impossible to identify. Though CNN revealed the origin of the bomb, Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich denied its provenance. Now, the United Nations is pushing for an investigation into the attack.
