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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs12312009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs12312009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">December 31,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>War on Terror or
War on Disaffected Yemenis? <br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Interventions R Us
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By RON JACOBS
<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">A</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>s 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.<br><br>
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). <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
<b>Ron Jacobs</b> is author of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga">
The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>, which is
just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured
in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex,
<a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html">
Serpents in the Garden</a>. His first novel,
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977459098/counterpunchmaga">
Short Order Frame Up,</a> is published by Mainstay Press. He can be
reached at:
<a href="mailto:rjacobs3625@charter.net">rjacobs3625@charter.net</a>
<br><br>
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