Foreign Affairs

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts) Thu Mar 10, 2016, 07:58 AM Mar 2016

Why Isn’t this News? US-Saudi War Helping al-Qaida Flourish in Yemen

http://www.juancole.com/2016/03/why-isnt-this-news-us-saudi-war-helping-al-qaida-flourish-in-yemen.html

Why Isn’t this News? US-Saudi War Helping al-Qaida Flourish in Yemen
By contributors | Mar. 10, 2016
By William J. Hess | (Informed Comment)

The just-announced negotiations between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia may or may not lead to a subsiding of hostilities in Yemen, though early signs are that fierce fighting continues. The United States has been helping a Saudi Arabia-led coalition drop bombs on Yemen for nearly a year now. The campaign has been catastrophically destructive, causing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The U.S.-backed operation is also the primary reason that al-Qaida’s most dangerous affiliate is enjoying a major resurgence. In other words, the United States is playing an active role in making Americans less safe—likely for years to come.

The Islamic State has stolen many of the recent headlines, but al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen, remains a grave threat to the United States. While it has been years since the “underwear bomber” and bombs hidden in printers nearly brought down planes over American soil, the mastermind behind those devices is still very active. More recently, the group seems to have provided training, funding, and direction for the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris.

Accordingly, the United States has made Yemen a focus of its war against terror. Since 2009, it has controversially carried out dozens of drone strikes, assassinating a series of AQAP leaders but failing to weaken the group while also killing innocent Yemenis, infuriating if not radicalizing many. The United States has also supported Yemeni efforts on the ground to dislodge AQAP from its strongholds, most recently in the spring of 2014. The group ceded some territory, but proved resilient, and now, thanks to Yemen’s civil war, it is again thriving.

With the help of Yemen’s deposed president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Houthis, a rebel group based in the country’s north, seized Sanaa in September 2014, paralyzing the state and ending government efforts against AQAP. As the Houthis, who include “death to America” as part of their slogan, seem to hate the United States as much as al-Qaida does, their takeover forced the evacuation of U.S. counterterrorism elements from Yemen. This has hampered Washington’s ability to counter AQAP with anything other than much-reviled drone strikes.

4 replies

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Why Isn’t this News? US-Saudi War Helping al-Qaida Flourish in Yemen (Original Post) unhappycamper Mar 2016 OP

The Sauds seem to be making some adjustments now. bemildred Mar 2016 #1

Saudi-led coalition reaches truce deal with Houthis bemildred Mar 2016 #2

Saudi Arabia's New Ambassador To The U.S. Makes His First Pitch bemildred Mar 2016 #3

Obama Criticizes the ‘Free Riders’ Among America’s Allies bemildred Mar 2016 #4

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

1. The Sauds seem to be making some adjustments now.

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 08:05 AM

Mar 2016

So awkward not being able to invade both Syria and Yemen at the same time, and the West has stopped being so supportive.

But anyway, it looks like they want to at least freeze Yemen, so maybe they will get some slack and some aid now.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

2. Saudi-led coalition reaches truce deal with Houthis

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 08:45 AM

Mar 2016

Yemen's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the Saudi-led coalition has reached a truce deal with Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels along borders between the two countries.

"The Saudi-led coalition has notified the Yemeni government of a truce deal with Houthi group to secure the shared borders between the two countries and to secure delivering aids to the damaged areas near the Yemeni-Saudi border," Foreign Minister Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi said in a statement.

"The coalition has also exchanged an officer detained by Houthis for seven Yemenis," he said.

On Monday, the Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen sent a delegation to Saudi Arabia to negotiate a truce and exchange of prisoners, sources close to Houthi group said, adding that the move was mediated by Oman.

http://www.china.org.cn/world/2016-03/09/content_37985203.htm

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

3. Saudi Arabia's New Ambassador To The U.S. Makes His First Pitch

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 08:46 AM

Mar 2016

WASHINGTON -- Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's new ambassador in Washington, used his first message to the American people to rebut criticism of the kingdom, in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Huffington Post.

Al Saud, signaling that the Saudis are aware of their longtime American partners' growing impatience, denied that the kingdom has contributed to violent intolerance in the Muslim world. But experts said his article is unlikely to have much impact on frustrations with Saudi Arabia among American policymakers and the public.

"Saudi Arabia has been falsely accused by some commentators of promoting extremism," wrote Al Saud, who was appointed ambassador in October. "Don’t they realize that extremists are as much or more of a threat to Saudi Arabia than to any other part of the world? If critics took the time to look at the facts, they would see that Saudi Arabia has and will continue to lead all nations in combating the mindset that foments violent extremism."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) this year accused Saudi Arabia of contributing to religious intolerance in the region. That charge was the focus of a speech questioning the U.S.-Saudi alliance, making waves within the Beltway and showing that criticism of the kingdom is no longer taboo for top American players.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/saudi-arabia-ambassador_us_56e04767e4b0860f99d75630

bemildred

(90,061 posts)

4. Obama Criticizes the ‘Free Riders’ Among America’s Allies

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Mar 10, 2016, 08:47 AM

Mar 2016

WASHINGTON — President Obama believes that Saudi Arabia, one of America’s most important allies in the Middle East, needs to learn how to “share” the region with its archenemy, Iran, and that both countries are guilty of fueling proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

In a series of interviews with The Atlantic magazine published Thursday, Mr. Obama said a number of American allies in the Persian Gulf — as well as in Europe — were “free riders,” eager to drag the United States into grinding sectarian conflicts that sometimes had little to do with American interests. He showed little sympathy for the Saudis, who have been threatened by the nuclear deal Mr. Obama reached with Iran.

The Saudis, Mr. Obama told Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s national correspondent, “need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.” Reflexively backing them against Iran, the president said, “would mean that we have to start coming in and using our military power to settle scores. And that would be in the interest neither of the United States nor of the Middle East.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/world/middleeast/obama-criticizes-the-free-riders-among-americas-allies.html?_r=0

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