Top U.S. military commander meets with Yemeni president

Top U.S. military commander meets with Yemeni president

www.cnn.com

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, met with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday in Yemen, according to a senior U.S. government source.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, the war in the middle east has just been expanded, very quietly I may add. Unlike Bush, it seems Obama likes things low key - no speeches, no declerations or demands - he just does it without saying anything about it.

On Tuesday, Yemen's parliament ratified the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, the official SABA state news agency reported. The move aligned Yemen with the United States in expanding the fight against terrorism to sources of funding.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

According to Sky News, Britian is getting involved as well. I would have thought they would have stopped following the U.S. into war by now. Old habits die hard?

Gordon Brown has called for a high-level international summit to look at ways of tackling Islamic extremism in Yemen.

Mr Brown called for the establishment of a new "Friends of Yemen" group to pool international effort, resources and expertise to support the country.

Sky News

It's not ending, it's just beginning. From here I suspect we will be making bigger inroads into Africa.

According to the Yemen Times, if we send troops into Yemen - the people will side with Al-Qaeda. Granted, this is coming from just one individual who is in the opposition party.

A Member of the Yemeni parliament Shawqi Al-Qadhi warned the U.S. on Tuesday against sending its troops to Yemen to fight Al-Qaeda, describing such action as “a disaster by all means.”

The warning comes while some senators argue that “Yemen will be tomorrow’s war” for the US.

“If the U.S insists on sending its troops to Yemen, the whole Yemeni people will turn to the Al-Qaeda,” said Al-Qadhi, who represents the opposition party, the JMP.

Yemen Times

This is old news. The usa and Yemen have been collaborating since 9/11. It was this collaboration that essentially expelled Alquada from Yemen in the first place, but at the same time gave rise to the Houthi rebellion.

Yemen is a prime example of why you must implement some sort of ifrastructure in a country once groups like alquada have been driven out. Which is of course what allies are doing in afghanistan and Iraq, which is of course why people hate the allies. It seems like a no win situation.

During a November 2005 trip to the U.S., Saleh was told that the Yemeni government was being suspended from the USAID program. The suspension shocked President Saleh, who was under the impression that he was actually coming to Washington to be rewarded for Yemen’s help in the war against al-Qaeda.

source

So basically what happened was the US used Yemen then tossed them when they were no longer useful. This left Saleh to deal with a population that had lost confidence in him.




[edit on 2-1-2010 by heyo]

White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique

blog.newsweek.com...

White House officials say President Obama has been keenly focused on the Qaeda threat from Yemen for months.

Exclusive: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to 'Homeland'

blog.newsweek.com... d.aspx

[edit on 043131p://bSaturday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by heyo
This is old news. The usa and Yemen have been collaborating since 9/11. It was this collaboration that essentially expelled Alquada from Yemen in the first place, but at the same time gave rise to the Houthi rebellion.

Yemen is a prime example of why you must implement some sort of ifrastructure in a country once groups like alquada have been driven out. Which is of course what allies are doing in afghanistan and Iraq, which is of course why people hate the allies. It seems like a no win situation.

It is old news, to a certain degree. No leader wanted to be put in the crosshairs of the U.S. at the time, Libya is an example of that (giving up nukes). However, it is one thing to share intelligence and it is another to set up working groups and start conducting air strikes on a country.

However, I do not think this is about AQ at all. It is about the Houthi rebellion that you speak of, and it has shaken the Saudi Royal family. It wouldn't take much for that to spread to SA, which is why the SA Air Force has been conducting strikes in Yemen.

I don't know if you have ever been to Saudi Arabia, but I have. The people there are very poor and most are not happy with the family. However, much like Iran, there are layers of security in place to keep the family in power.

All the fancy weaponry the family buys from the U.S., it is mostly used to keep the population down. No, I suspect this is a move to prevent a popular uprising in Saudi Arabia, much like the one happening in Iran right now.

That's my take.

It seems that Saleh has enough on his plate to worry about. How can he possibly be worried about SA when his country is falling apart around him? You've got the Yemeni gov't forces, Huthi's, cessationists and now Alquada all infiltrating his nation.
As I understand it, Alquada was either squashed entirely in SA or was kicked out. The security of Yemen would indidrectly help the USA by keeping the oilfields safer, I suppose, but dealing with Saleh seems akin to involving an unnecessary middleman.
SA is already in a position to quash rebellions, due to the "layers" and the funding you noted, so what does this have to do with Saleh if it's not a strategy for dealing with alquada?