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| Middle East |
| U.S. Woos Yemen to Fight Terror Without War |
| 2003-10-24 |
| EFL from Rueters Worldview SANAA, Yemen - The United States used the full might of its armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to rout its enemies. But when it came to Yemen, Washington chose diplomacy over conflict. I thought we were aggresive unilateralists. The country known to the Romans as Arabia Felix -- Happy Arabia -- is today an impoverished hotbed of Muslim militancy and lawlessness. I would provide the Latin phase for outhouse, but I only remeber the phrase: semper ubi sububi - always wear underwear. It is also the ancestral home of Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom many Yemenis admire. The United States, burdened with costly conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, is trying to win over the support of Yemenis with tactics less bloody and cheaper than war. I thought war was good for the multinational corporations that we are beholden to. It is equipping and training Yemeni security forces in anti-terror tactics and giving the coast guard patrol boats, while building roads and clinics and fighting illiteracy. Wait a minute - this clinic and road building stuff is Bin Laden’s job. This has cost Washington up to some $100 million a year in military and other financial aid to Yemen, in stark contrast to the $87 billion earmarked for Iraq and Afghanistan. "You can’t have stability without development and you can’t have development without stability," the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Edmund Hull, told Reuters. A decade ago I would never have suspected that the US would be providing nation-building type aid to Yemen. Analysts say Washington’s approach to the situation is wise, given the difficulties Yemen’s government is facing because of its cooperation with the United States. They say authorities in Yemen, where nearly half the 20 million population live on $2 a day, are torn between U.S. aid and the rising anti-American sentiment among tribal and Islamic chiefs and ordinary Yemenis over perceived pro-Israeli U.S. bias. In Iraq and Afghanistan, analysts say, the United States kicked in the back door, but in Yemen it went for a diplomatic solution. I beg to differ. In Iraq we came through the front door after knocking for a six month period. We also sent Spec-ops through the windows and JDAM’d down the chimney. The Big Bad Wolf wishes he could of had our skills. "Busting in the door in Yemen would be like knocking down a wasp hive," Evan Kohlman, senior terrorism analyst at the Investigative Project, a Washington think tank which runs one of the biggest databases on Islamic militancy, told Reuters. Could be right - hope we don’t have to find out. "It would certainly shake the trees but we might be a bit surprised at what we shook out. It could be very bloody." Shortly after the U.S. war in Afghanistan to hunt down al Qaeda, media speculation was rife that Yemen, Somalia and Sudan would be next in a second phase of the war on terror. But trying to improve its reputation as a haven for Muslim militants, Yemen began a massive security crackdown in the first military operation against al Qaeda outside Afghanistan. In the areas that the government actually controls. "It seems Yemen remains the back door to the Saudi militants on the Arabian peninsula and it is how al Qaeda members sneak in and out," said Jeremy Binnie of London-based Jane’s Sentinel. A transit route for the incense trade 3,000 years ago, Yemen is now a favorite spot for drugs and arms smugglers due to its strategic position on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, its porous 1,100-mile border with Saudi Arabia and its long, poorly controlled coastline. If they begin to behave, trade will return. Location, location, location. The United States views this part of the region as one of the most combustible in the world and patrols its seas from a military base in Djibouti on the Red Sea coast opposite Yemen. The FBI plans to set up an office in the capital Sanaa this year. A U.S.-backed computerized border control system has been installed, though it is often hampered by power cuts. In return for U.S. support, Yemen has arrested dozens of al Qaeda suspects, allowed American warships free use of its waters and opened its air space to U.S. warplanes. This is quite surprising. The government has also banned the carrying of weapons in cities and towns. But it has had little success in its campaign to seize millions of unlicensed arms in Yemen. "This is a significant political move in a country...where a man wearing a Kalashnikov is like a businessman wearing a tie," said Philip McCrumm of the Economist Intelligence Unit. To stamp out Islamic extremism, Sanaa has tried to put religious schools under its control. But critics say the government has little power outside the main cities and that the most radical schools remain untouched. Despite the crackdown, two suspects in the Cole bombing are still at large. But analysts express cautious optimism over the security efforts. Sanaa has complained that the U.S. aid does not cover the costs of the war on terror. But the U.S. approach is winning approval from some Yemenis. "There is an old saying: You have to touch the hearts and minds of the Yemenis to win them over. If you oppress them they are willing to sacrifice everything (to fight) for their dignity," said Faris Sanabani, editor of the Yemen Observer. This is a very hopeful and positive message and it came from Reuters. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #1 The country known to the Romans as Arabia Felix -- Happy Arabia -- is today an impoverished hotbed of Muslim militancy and lawlessness. I seem to remember that the Romans occasionally named things with a STRONG sense of irony. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-10-24 7:19:28 PM |