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Astounishing, see video of discussion with citizens of Yemen. Apparently these people appreciate the U.S. giving them support. Clearly they have worse enemies of their state: Iran foremost and Saudi Arabia waging war on their homeland. Yemen is the poorest nation on the peninsula and are fighting multiple battles with secessionists and foreign meddling. They don’t need Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
More below the fold …
VIDEO – Yemen conflict worries Middle East region
More tomorrow but as usual with our so called leaders we are a day late and a dollar short. We have ignored activities in Yemen for years. I have written about it numerous times and sometimes been criticized for it. That said it is too late to make Yemen a priority. Let me reiterate in part something I wrote last week first! Yemen the first open battleground for new Middle East order
First, we hear we have quietly stepped up air attacks in Yemen hunting down and killing Al Qaeda. It is no secret we have been discussing it and the fact that Iran’s revolutionary guard is also there supporting Houthi rebels in an effort to get Shiite dominance. The attack on a packed air bus on Christmas day came from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; a terrorist cell led by a former personal secretary to Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden and was in retaliation for recent attacks in Yemen by the US. There are promises that this was the first of many. I’m the first of many, warns airline ‘bomber’
While getting ready to say this I have to wonder why Cheney crawled back into his hole right now at this time? Is it because the airport security system that just failed was theirs? Is it because two of the leaders responsible for the attack were released from Gitmo by Cheney and Bush? They have failed the country from beginning to end. Anyway!
Another source of many headaches is piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Somalian refugees. Of course, the neocon of Israeli loyalty has a single remedy: “Bombs, bombs, bombs away.” The world of 2010 would take a different shape with McCain as POTUS and Lieberman running affairs of State. Democrats must count their blessings and fight for human rights, starting at home. Never again a Dick Cheney as VP, an ugly warcriminal who needs to be brought to Justice.
Gains for the United States and the citizens of Iraq in 2009: far less US soldiers died and the number of civilian deaths were cut in half. Thank you Democrats for voting Obama/Biden into the White House, the world is going to be a better place because of it.
(THE nATION) – Lieberman, the neoconservative solon who wanted to be the Secretary of Defense in the administration of John McCain (his 2008 candidate for president) and who would gladly play the same role in the administration of a Sarah Palin or any other saber-rattling Republican, is proposing the launch of a new preemptive war on Yemen.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian accused of attempting to explode a plastic device aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Friday, has told authorities that he traveled to Yemen to link up with al-Qaida operatives.
Lieberman admitted that in a Fox New interview that he was “not sure” whether the Nigerian succeeded in making contact with the individuals he “reached out to” in Yemen.
But “not sure” is good enough for Lieberman.
So, he says, it is time to start lobbing bombs — lots of them. (Presumably, Lieberman is talking about more attacks than have already been taking place as part of a U.S./Yemen partnership that has seen Washington spend $66 million this year on security and military assistance to Yemeni counter-terrorist forces — a project that most observers believe has included the use of U.S. warplanes, drones and/or cruise missiles in recent strikes against al Qaeda targets.)
Referencing his own travels to Yemen, and meetings with unnamed U.S. officials, the senator chirped: “Iraq was yesterday’s war, Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”
Lieberman, whose refusal to serve in the military when he could have during the Vietnam era has never prevented him from spouting hawkish views so over-the-top that his wiser colleagues to keep him off committees that deal with issues of war and peace, seems to be unaware that “acting preemptively” in the manner he suggests, is an act of war.
See my previous diaries …
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We do know a couple of things. Dad, back in Nigeria, ran the national arms industry (DICON) in partnership with Israel, in particular, the Mossad. He was in daily contact with them. They run everything in Nigeria, from arms production to counter-terrorism. Though Islamic, Muttalab was a close associate of Israel. He has been misrepresented. His “banking” is a cover. Next, what do we know about the two Al Qaeda leaders Bush had released, the ones who planned this?
According to ABC news, the Al Qaeda leaders running the insurgency in Yemen were released from Guantanamo, although two of the highest ranking known terrorist there, without trial.
Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody.
Both of the former Guantanamo detainees are described as military commanders and appear on a January, 2009 video along with the man described as the top leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Basir Naser al-Wahishi, formerly Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary.
With all the hoopla about trials in New York, not a word is said when top level terrorists are released to Saudi friends of the Bush family who let them go. We are now fighting these two Bush friends in Yemen. They are running a major insurgency there. We have been using Cruise missiles and our jets to attack their bases in the last weeks.
En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. — Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Dec 30th, 2009 at 03:52:02 PM PDT
h/t to Migeru @Eurotrib
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
How, exactly, is Iran waging war on Yemen?
PS Lieberman is a sick, warmongering bastard. Unfortunately, he is only one among many.
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Jim Baker’s Quick Trip to Yemen
(Op-Ed NY Times) – The sudden discovery that the United States has a major problem in Yemen reminded me of the brief trip to Sanaa that then-Secretary of State James Baker made on Thanksgiving Day in 1990.
Yemen at that time held a seat on the U.N. Security Council and Baker was trying to mobilize a majority for a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq — which four months earlier had invaded Kuwait.
We flew in from Saudi Arabia and the day began with a walking tour of the old city. Many of the merchants in the market had posters of Saddam Hussein prominently displayed but the atmosphere was unthreatening. Still, Baker’s security detail was on high alert. Many of the men milling around in the souk wore curved daggers stuck through their belts with richly decorated hilts made from rhinoceros horns or ivory.
In their meeting, Baker warned Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh he was risking $70 million in annual U.S. aid by refusing to cooperate with the United States in the Security Council. But in a press conference after the meeting, Saleh delivered a resounding no to the resolution. By late afternoon, we were on the plane heading back to Jeddah.
Later that month, when the resolution came up for a vote in New York, the Yemeni ambassador spoke first in the debate and vigorously attacked the United States and its allies. In his memoir, “From Political to Diplomacy” Baker wrote the following: “I scribbled a quick note to Bob Kimmitt (a senior aide). ‘Yemen’s permanent rep. just enjoyed about $200 to $250 million worth of applause for that speech’.”
… it seems fair to say that its worldview at that time looked at international relations as something to be carried on primarily between leaders rather than between nations.
If Yemen’s leaders offended the United States by voting the wrong way in the Security Council, Washington could react by cutting off aid to its people. After all, those people could not possibly ever be a threat to us.
Lack of Insight or Just Hindsight:
U.S. Forces established military bases in Saudi Arabia which led to provocation of Muslim World and Osama Bin Laden becoming a renegade. Later he joined Ayman al-Zawahiri of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to form Al Qaeda (The Base).
During the Clinton years, the first bombing of the World Trade Center, followed by embassy bombings in Kenya, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia. All had the hallmark of Al Qaeda. Clinton had the failure of Mogadishu in Somalia, going in head first without sufficient reconnaissance, intelligence, planning and logistics. Meanwhile, with Saudi support, Bin Laden traveled to Sudan to set up shop. After an ill-fated assassination attempt on President Mubarak, OBL moved out and found refuge with the Taliban in Afghanistan, a creation of Pakistan’s ISI. Further bombings in the region followed and in Yemen the suicide attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
Of course, due to multiple security failures, the attacks of 9/11 on U.S. soil succeeded with great impact. The eight revenge years of Bush/Cheney will guarantee decades of blowback. US Forces are bogged down in multiple wars in the Middle East, making no headway towards a result. Recall Bush’s “Mission accomplished” banner in 2003. Military power evolves into military weakness and an international political status-quo as can be seen in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It requires a great president with courage and determination to set new goals.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."