Yemen’s Theater of the Absurd

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CIA chief David Petraeus warns:

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has emerged as the most dangerous regional node in the global jihad.

But despite increased U.S. access, air strikes, and praise of Yemeni government cooperation, AQAP has continued to grow stronger.

What U.S. government statements fail to mention is that the Yemeni government has been paying, training, directing, providing safe haven to, and exporting al-Qaeda terrorists for two decades. For example, it freed 70 al-Qaeda operatives in March — not to mention other escapes, early releases, and pardons.

U.S. officials also rarely mention that since nationwide protests erupted in February, the Sana’a regime has slaughtered hundreds of Yemeni protesters and bombed dozens of villages. In order to restore stability, the United States and Saudi Arabia endorsed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan that offers the rulers prosecutorial immunity if they accepts a unity government and early elections. In effect, this backs the regime remaining in power despite demonstrations calling for its immediate ouster.

Despite the golden parachute he’s been offered, President Ali Abdullah Saleh repeatedly reneged on signing such a deal. In May, regime supporters besieged diplomats gathering for the alleged signing ceremony. Freed hours later, the U.S. ambassador downplayed the incident. On September 19, international interlocutors arrived in Sana’a to try again to finalize the agreement. That day, security forces opened fire, killing 93 protesters and injuring 700. Snipers and tanks also attacked in Taiz, Yemen’s second largest city.

The State Department urged “all parties” to “refrain from actions that provoke further violence” — as if the unarmed protesters were somehow responsible.

In a stunningly audacious move, President Saleh returned to Yemen days later, following a three-month exile in Saudi Arabia where he was recovering from injuries sustained in an attack on the presidential palace. Saleh said he came with “a dove of peace” — but regime forces began shelling the protesters at midnight, as snipers fired from roofs.

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UPDATE

A France 24 interview with Sadiq al Ahmar is here on Youtube. Sheik AlAhmar on the vid says, “Ali Abdullah Saleh inserted AlQeada, to ’suck milk from the American cow.’ The biggest evidence of this relationship is that of those who escaped from prison in Hadramout, 16 of them have been at villas belong to the presidential palace in Alsafiyah for more than two weeks.” (A google search says Alsafiyah is a district in Sanaa.)

Gee, it sounds a lot less crazy when Sadiq al Ahmar and Hamoud al Hittar say it, doesn’t it?

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Well before the fruit vendor’s suicide started the so-called ”Arab Spring,” the Saudi’s saw that Yemen was such a failed state and filled with such a violent jihadist population that they started to build a ”separation wall.”
Had they built their wall it would have put to shame the Israeli wall (twin sister to the Belfast Peace Wall, BTW) at the West Bank.
The Saudi wall would have involved a several meters deep anti-tunnel part, barbed wire on top of a 10 METER wall, electricity running in wires atop the wall, gun turrets manned with soldiers at regular intervals.
So, it isn’t like the Saudi’s haven’t known for years what was festering on their southern flank.

President Saleh is nothing but a brutal dictator who has been supported by our government for years now. Clinton, Bush and now Obama all thought that they could change Saleh. They could not. He freed the Cole bombers, pardons, refused to let suspects in his family and government be questioned by the FBI, his courts ruled that it was legal for terrorists to go and fight our troops in Iraq, and Afghanistan. One Cole bomber was among them. Freed terrorists from Gitmo returned back to terrorism after taking a pledge not too on Bush and Obama’s watch, the University which preaches hate and violence against westerners. Some of the Cole bombers attended it, and it still open for business, the head of the university is wanted by America and other agencies for supporting and aiding terrorism, he was Saleh’s spiritual advisor and he is still free. I could go on and on but our government has a ton of money tied up in Saleh, his family, and croonies not to mention the spanking new CIA Center built in Yemen. If you really want to know just how screwed up Yemen is and how we have helped Saleh as he helped Al-Qaeda visit Jane Novaks site for starters, read Soufans new book, or just research all the times Saleh has poked Bush and Obamas eyes. And our press? Nary a negative word for over 10 years now.

thanks Curt!

@Gary G. Swenchonis:

read Soufans new book

The Chapters that deal with the Cole investigation are absolutely infuriating. I’ve been meaning to ask you how that part of the book came across to you. Anything new that you hadn’t heard or known about before the detailing of Soufan’s personal account?