A little background on Yemen

[IndianaGreen]

Dictator of the Month: January 2006

Politics

Saleh has been accused for much nepotism in his regime, appointing personal friends and family members to important roles in the government. His leadership style is described as autocratic, and some have labeled him a tyrant and there is much opposition to his government in what was South Yemen, yet he does still enjoy widespread popularity in the North. He is extremely repressive of his opposition, and tightly controls the media in the country.

Criminal Activity in the Government?

Saleh has been sharply accused of allowing and/ or fostering numerous criminal activities, including the smuggling of drugs to Saudi Arabia, trafficking of arms into various countries in Eastern Europe. In fact, during Saleh’s regime a large scale militarisation has occurred, with the defense budget tripling between 1998 and 2003, despite that the country is the poorest Arab country in the world. Weapon sales from Yemen have been traced to al Qaeda, various other terrorist groups, as well as countries like Somalia, contrary to UN arms embargoes. It is alleged that the Yemeni government is aware of widespread support of al Qaeda members in top levels of the government, but does nothing against it. There are also reports of the Yemeni military using poison gas on rebel groups on more than one occasion.

The Under Secretary in the Finance Ministry of the government, Abduljabar Saad, who resigned in the Summer of 2005, cited widespread corruption in the Finance Ministry in his resignation letter, and noted that large amounts of publicly subsidized diesel is being illegally smuggled to other countries- other sources specify diesel smuggling to Africa.

The Yemeni Central Bank has also been caught circulating counterfeit Yemeni and Saudi currency, and other government agencies have been accused of money laundering via real estate transactions in Dubai, ultimately funneling the money into German bank accounts. The Central Bank has also been used by high ranking officials to move assets offshore.

http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Saleh/Jan2006SalehEN.htm

The supreme irony is how the US flipped Saleh in his support for Al-Qaeda:

December 31, 2009

US Believes al Qaeda Supporting Lunatic Yemeni Dictator "Turned Around"

US officials say Yemeni President Saleh saw the light in July when presented with evidence the Al Qaeda fanatics were planning assassinations against top officials. Do we really have to do this over and over and over again? The US dream of a reformed Saleh has been alive since 2000, but President Saleh has never been sincere. He just comes up with better BS, more interesting theater and catch phrases that seem reassuringly familiar. To go forward on the premise that Saleh achieved any level of rehabilitation after a good talking to is ludicrous.

It's a mistake to trust President Ali Abdullah Saleh on any level, at any time. It is a threat to US security to under-estimate the level of enmeshment between the Yemeni state and al Qaeda- from al Qaeda local to al Qaeda central, from low level security officials up to the President of Yemen.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200219.php

[stray cat]

1. Yemen and terrorism background

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9369/

Yemen, located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a poor Muslim country with a weak central government, armed tribal groups in outlying areas, and porous borders, which makes it fertile ground for terrorists (ie No Oil or Oil pipeline)

Yemen-based corporations are thought to help fund Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network; and Yemenis affiliated with al-Qaeda have targeted U.S. interests in Yemen, including the October 2000 bombing of the navy destroyer U.S.S. Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden .

In June 2001, local authorities in Yemen arrested eight Yemeni veterans of the 1979-89 Afghan war against the Soviets in connection with a plot to blow up the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen ’s capital. In July 2002, an accidental explosion that killed two al-Qaeda operatives led to the seizure of 650 pounds of plastic explosives from a Sanaa warehouse. A Kuwaiti citizen suspected of ties to al-Qaeda was arrested in Kuwait and admitted to plotting the October 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker off the Yemeni coast. Three American missionaries were killed in December 2002 in a southern Yemeni village, but it is unclear if the alleged killer, a local Islamist militant, had any links to al-Qaeda.

[YOY]

2. Well shit...I guess Yemen has a problem that Yemeni people have to fix.

n.t.

[BunkerHill24]

3. K&R

[classysassy]

4. Sound awful familiar

Well it seem we have influenced another ugly american type country.

[Mrdie]

5. I posted this in another topic but it bears repeating

Iran's too strong a target.

That's why Yemen (which is a country not reported often in the news until lately) is great!

It's sorta like the Cold War. "Invade the Soviet Union? You're crazy. Invade Grenada? Sure!" The Iraqi Army collapsed in a week when the US invaded, after all.

You know what else is great? The Saudis hated the prospect of Yemeni unification so much (since there was a "North" and "South" Yemen until 1990) that two North Yemen leaders in the 70's got assassinated! (These being Ibrahim al-Hamdi and Ahmad al-Ghashmi) And then in 1994 when a civil war broke out between those who wanted to reestablish a Southern state and those who didn't, the South was financially supported by Saudi Arabia!

So by invading we can potentially please Saudi Arabia by installing a comprador regime!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO