[News] War on Terror or War on Disaffected Yemenis?
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Dec 31 12:30:06 EST 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs12312009.html
December 31, 2009
War on Terror or War on Disaffected Yemenis?
Interventions R Us
By RON JACOBS
As if the US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan were not enough to
satiate the Empire's bloodlust, the calls are increasing for an
all-out war on the nation of Yemen. The reason given for this
intervention is that the man who apparently wanted to blow up an
airliner on Christmas Day 2009 spent some time there and may have
received his instructions while he was visiting. Like the
increasingly bloody occupation of Afghanistan, Washington wants the
world to believe that attacking a nation that hosts organizations
intent on resisting US domination will somehow end those
organizations existence and make everyone safer. Left unsaid in this
rather simplistic equation are the obvious facts. Over eight years
of war and occupation of Afghanistan has neither stopped the desire
of politically nor religiously motivated individuals to blow up
airliners and other structures in their war against US cultural and
economic imperialism. Nor has it broken the back of the groups in
Afghanistan that also oppose the US intervention in their
country. In fact, if we are to believe intelligence reports from
various US agencies, these groups are not only still in existence,
they have mutated politically and are at least as strong as they were
before the US invasion in 2001.
In recent months, parts of Yemen have come under attack by Saudi
Arabian forces backing the government there. In recent weeks, the
Saudis have been supported by the US military. It seems quite likely
that there is more to the growing likelihood of deeper US military
involvement in Yemen than the visit of Mr. Abdulmutallab. Although
Saudi Arabia and North Yemen fought a war in 1934 when a prince
formerly aligned with Ibn Saud switched allegiance to the Yemeni
Prince King Yahya, Although Riyadh supported the Zaydi monarchist
predecessors (Zaydi Imams) to the Houthi rebels in the 1962
republican revolution in North Yemen, it now supports the successors
to those it opposed in 1962. This support is religious and
geopolitically based, with the Saleh government being primarily Sunni
(with Wahabbist leanings) and the opposition being Shia. The fact
that the conflict is primarily occurring in a province on Saudi
Arabia's borders explains Riyadh's concerns with regard to
geography. he victory of the north Yemeni forces began a period that
saw increasing repression of forces opposed to Saleh, with human
rights groups documenting torture, displacement and extrajudicial
killings. Since the defeat of the Zaydi Imams in 1962 by the
forerunners of the current Yemeni government, the northwestern
province of Sa'adah has been ignored by the Yemeni regime, leaving it
to founder economically. Over the years this has naturally caused
resentment. By 2004, a full-blown insurgency in Sa'adah shifted the
Yemeni military's interest to this historically ignored region. This
rebellion is known as the Houthi insurgency because of its leadership
by dissident cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (rumored to have been
killed in US and Saudi air strikes in November 2009).
South Yemen was a colony of Britain until it achieved independence in
1967 after a struggle led by socialist revolutionaries. After North
and South Yemen reunited in 1990, Saleh refused to grant the former
members of the Democratic Republic of South Yemen power commensurate
with their support. This fact and a desire by the Marxist former
leaders of South Yemen for more progressive social policies led to
civil war in 1994. Saleh's government was backed militarily by Saudi
Arabia. The victory of the north Yemeni forces began a period that
saw increasing repression of forces opposed to Saleh, with human
rights groups documenting torture, displacement and extrajudicial
killings. In 2009, renewed resistance against the Yemeni regime
began in southern Yemen led by leftist-leaning forces. Yemeni
military forces have met this popular uprising with overt and often
violent repression.
On to all this, one must add the group that calls itself Al Qaida of
Yemen (AQY). While it seems unlikely that this group (if it is truly
a terrorist group and not some kind of black op) is carrying out
specific orders of Bin Laden or one of the dozens of supposed Al
Qaida leaders, it is reasonable to say that its members are inspired
by the philosophy and actions of groups nominally known as Al
Qaida. However, as far as the Yemeni regime is concerned, its
existence in Yemen in the minds of Washington and the rest of the
west is quite useful. After all, if the Pentagon is willing to
escalate its low-scale conflict to a full fledged war in the name of
fighting terrorism, than Saleh and his military can gain an advantage
against the two insurgencies currently being waged against his
regime. By claiming that the terrorists are either aligned with one
or both of the insurgencies or are at least located in territories
controlled by them, Saleh's regime can direct US air strikes at those
areas of the country. This will most likely disrupt not only the
supposed terror cells, but will also interrupt the insurgencies. If
it is the Yemeni air force that conducts the raids, it will be with
US weaponry that will soon be on its way. In addition, the
likelihood of attacks against the insurgencies increases should the
Yemen government convince the US to let them run the show (with US
supervision). Naturally, military action on this scale will also kill
and wound civilians, thereby increasing the likelihood of alliances
between the insurgents and AQY, neatly sewing the three elements
together and continuing Saleh's continued rule. I am simultaneously
reminded of Israel's use of US weaponry and funds to subdue the
Palestinians and Washington's deal with Pakistan's Musharraf after 9-11.
Like Afghanistan, Yemen is a very poor country. It is also somewhat
unstable politically, as the above paragraphs describe. Its
proximity to Saudi Arabia raises some concerns for Washington
primarily because of its fear that the ideas informing the
insurgencies might inspire Saudi Arabia's disenfranchised masses and
upset the oil teat America depends on. Also, like Afghanistan, it
can be argued that its best promise for stability and a decent life
for its citizens was when it had a socialist oriented government--a
regime subverted with considerable help from the United States.
Ron Jacobs is author of
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga>The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground, which is
just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is
featured in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex,
<http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html>Serpents
in the Garden. His first novel,
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977459098/counterpunchmaga>Short
Order Frame Up, is published by Mainstay Press. He can be reached at:
<mailto:rjacobs3625 at charter.net>rjacobs3625 at charter.net
Freedom Archives
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415 863-9977
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