After my last comments about Yemen, it was necessary that I offer a clearer viewpoint as to why I believe, the recent announcement by the Pentagon and the White House of the plan to put forward millions of dollars in military aid and assistance to the Yemeni government to fight Al-qaeda. Al-qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could see an increase in the number of their members and/or the number of their sympathizers.

In addition to what we already know about Yemen of being the poorest Arab country in the middle East, the adopted country of Osama Bin laden, and that the would be Christmas bomber was possibly recruited and influenced by Al-qaeda in Yemen.

Yemen is a newly unified country. After almost two decades of fighting between a religious north and Marxist south, the country signed a unification treaty in 1990 ending the armed struggle. In the last six months, however, we witnessed a revival of this struggle, the Sunni government is currently fighting two separatist movements, one in the south, and a Shi’i group in the north, known as Al-Houthis.

The Yemenis have formidable elements working against the development of their country; scarcity of natural resources; over fifty percent illiteracy; over thirty-five percent unemployment; exclusion from the world’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) due to very poor infrastructure; and more importantly, as is the case in most poor countries- scarce resources lead to corruption-Yemen is suffering from a corrupt, unrepresentative government. These were the conditions that led to the creation of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Yemenis are very much aware of their military’s capabilities, precise air strikes that kill the government’s enemies are not one of those capabilities. Any civilian deaths as a result of these air strikes will swiftly be blamed on America, creating more Al -Qaeda members, more insurgents, more nationalists, and the list goes on. If we take seriously, as we should, the announcement by Aarif Sabri, the Yemeni member of parliament “One hundred and fifty religious scholars have signed a document stating that in the event of an armed or political intervention in Yemeni affairs, they will unite in issuing a Fatwa (religious decree) on the necessity to declare Jihad on foreign forces”, we must refrain from a military involvement in Yemen.

Yemen must help itself before it can help us. We cannot afford to exacerbate the infighting within Yemen. Yemen must reach a deal with the warring parties before we get involved politically or otherwise, Yemenis must have a say and choose who speaks on their behalf in fair elections.

What we can and must do is redirect our military aid to the Yemeni government to more intelligence gathering and extra screening of persons linked to terrorism leaving or entering Yemen, we must promote stability and encourage FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the country. Benefiting of hindsight, in Iraq –Democratic participation  in the government (although fragile) and Development –are what actually brought a decrease in terrorism activities, not the falling Bombs.

Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could see the number of their members or brothers in cause jump from few hundred fighters to thousands in the next few months. The likely recruiter is our actions in Yemen.
Sheik Aarif Sabri, a member of the Yemeni parliament announced in a press conference yesterday “One hundred-fifty religious scholars have signed a document stating that in the event of an armed or political intervention in Yemeni affairs, they will unite in issuing a Fatwa (religious decree) on the necessity to declare Jihad on foreign forces”.
Our policy makers cannot afford to ignore this statement. After two failed experiences fighting alqaeda and their sympathizers in Afghanistan and Iraq, we must get it right in Yemen.

OIJ (my acronym, re-use at your own risk) is a part of the al-Qaeda network. Yemen has taken 25 men into custody as suspects.

The US embassy in Yemen today was attacked by car bombers. 16 people were killed, none of them Americans. US officials are blaming al Qaeda.

The editorial board of the Saudi based English-language Arab News takes a stance against families giving away their sexually immature daughters in marriage on both Islamic and human rights grounds. This editorial is no doubt a response to the divorce hearing (upcoming) in a Saudi court on a marriage between an 8 year old girl and a 50 year old man.

Nujood Ali of Yemen, another child bride, brought attention to this issue when she sought - and obtained - a divorce in a Yemeni court this April.

A hideous story from the troubled border of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  I’ll quote a few passages. 

Saudi policemen burned 18 Yemenis while they were trying to cross into Khamis Bani Mushait, a Saudi village bordering Yemen. Alsahwa opposition newspaper reported on Saturday that the police poured diesel onto the men, who were hiding in a hole in the area to escape the police.
…

The 18 burnt men were transferred to a police station. They said police interrogated them while they shouted in pain. “They questioned us quietly and with indifferent temperament," Salloum said.

After nine days in the hospital, the 18 burn victims were taken back to the police station and the officer offered them two choices; either to go back to Yemen and write waivers and confessions that the Saudi police weren't responsible for what happened to them or to stay in Saudi Arabia till they died.

It is difficult to tell what is the greatest horror in the story- the obscene cruelty or the wanton indifference; the lack of any human compassion or the clinical and legalistic way in which punishment and cover-up was inflicted.   This is the kind of story that leaves one with a shudder of terror and a quick desire to forget. 

But this is not a philosophical blog, nor is it a forum to peer into the dark crevasses of man's soul (for which we can all breathe a sigh of relief).  There are reasons why such a scenario happened, and will continue to happen, if hopefully not to the dark extreme as above.

Why were the men there?  As the Yemen Times said, the “illegal immigrants were trying to get jobs in the Saudi bordering cities”. 

Ah! So simple, so obvious, and yet such a depth of history and desire and humanity and the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the region. 

Michael Isikoff, who is really one of the best reporters out there, has a brief article on what is happening in Yemen now.  The meat of it is Robert Mueller's recent visit, about which Isikoff says “did not go well, according to two sources who were briefed on the session but asked not to be identified discussing it. Saleh gave no clear answers about the suspect, Jamal al-Badawi, leaving Mueller “angry and very frustrated,” said one source, who added that he's rarely seen the normally taciturn FBI director so upset.”

Eagle-eyed readers will note the young, blog-centric and- dare we say?- devilishly handsome expert quoted in the last paragraph.

Gregory D Johnsen, despite his snide comment on the marriage post, has an excellent article in the new Sentinel, the journal of the Combating Terrorism Center, out of West Point.   It is on Yemen, and provides an excellent overlook of what is happening in Yemen right now, and why.  This is as good a piece as you will read on that roubled country.

Self-promotion?  No.  An educational opportunity.

Your author has a new article up on Yemen in the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus. 

Want a teaser?  Why not?

Yemen is running out of water. Its economy is one of the weakest in the world. Its second-most powerful and influential political figure, Shaykh Abdullah al-Ahmar, recently died, and Saleh is trying to manage the transition to his own successor. These are fragile and trying times in the country. The attacks were a message to Saleh, and to the global community, that the chaos-producing strategy of al-Qaeda in Iraq, achieved despite being only a small part of the insurgency, is now being exported to the militants' homelands.

Enjoy!

I hate being the guy who only publishes bad stories, and I promise to try and publish some things that are more uplifting, but I came across this story last week and it has bothered me ever since.   I suppose there is a bit of inspiration in the story, but the overall arch is wildly depressing.

 And 8-year-old girl, Nojoud Mohammad Nasser, is challenging Yemeni law by seeking a divorce from her husband, 22 years her elder.  It is not that divorce is illegal in Yemen, but that Nojoud is too young to seek it.  Not too young to be forced into marriage, of course.  

According to Yemeni law, Nojoud cannot prosecute, as she is underage. However, court judge Muhammed Al-Qathi heard her complaint and subsequently ordered the arrests of both her father and husband.

"Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months,” added Nasser. “He was too tough with me, and whenever I asked him for mercy, he beat me and slapped me and then used me. I just want to have a respectful life and divorce him."
One instantly thinks of Lolita, only real and more horrible (”and how she cried- every night, every night- after I had pretended to fall asleep”).   It is a remarkable story, and that she even has the ability and intelligence to seek legal recourse at eight is astonishing.  

This story, and others like it, have caused a bit of an outcry in Yemen.  The Yemen Observer published an bitter editorial about another case,  decrying both the government and the civil society organizations which “only care about organizing conferences and seminars at which they spend the funds they have received from the government and from international organizations and donors.” But  ”on the ground they do nothing at all.”
Now comes news from the Timesthat the Yemeni Parliament has rejected a minimum age for marriage.

The Yemeni Parliament, through its Evaluation and Jurisprudence Committee, rejected a request to amend the personal status law presented by the Women's National Committee (WNC). Women's movements and civil society in Yemen along with 61 Parliament members have advocated a law that legislates a minimum marriage age of 18 for both males and females. However, the Jurisprudence Committee claims there are no legislative grounds to impose such a law based on its understanding of Islam.
I do think that 18 might be extreme for the minimum, but that is a red herring.  Clearly, girls being raped at eight or eleven is an absolute horror, and it is good that this is getting attention.  I sympathize with the Parliament, though.  Yemen has a host of other problems, and might be wary about upsetting older sensibilities. 

However, I have no sympathy for Najoud's husband. 

Although he is currently in custody, Nujood's husband has rejected her demand to be divorced.

"It is not a matter of loving her, I don't, but it's just a challenge to her and her uncle who think that they can put me in jail and also the judge has no right to bring me here. How did she dare to complain about me?" he threatened.
We’ll track this story, and hope that through some archaic and insane law she doesn't have to go back to him.  I am never one to advocate rough justice, but that guy…