Al-Qaida seems to be only a "minor player" in the conflicts in Yemen

from Turkish Weekly: http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/94802/-turmoil-in-yemen-provides-breeding-ground-for-terrorism.html


Turmoil In Yemen Provides Breeding Ground For Terrorism

Friday, 1 January 2010

"Yemen is a very tribal society, and the Iranians have been helping the Houthi rebels in the north," says Ed Yeranian who reports for VOA from Cairo. Some of the tribes that are allied with the Houthis have spilled over into Saudi Arabia. "The Saudis started fighting the Houthi rebels after they attacked a border post about two months ago, and the Saudis have been bombing Houthi rebel positions," Yeranian explains. "Saudi Arabia says the Houthis infiltrated over the border and claims the Houthi rebels are aiding and abetting al-Qaida," he says.

But, according to Yeranian, that claim cannot be independently verified. "The Saudis are practically the only ones covering the conflict because no one can get into Saudi Arabia unless they have a visa," he says. "On the other hand, the Yemenis are not allowing anyone up to Saada Province, which is where the Houthis are based," he adds. "And that means journalists can only get second-hand information, although the conflict has been getting considerably worse."

"There is definitely a north-south conflict," Yeranian says, "as well as a Houthi-government conflict." For example, the former vice president of South Yemen has been traveling to neighboring Arab countries, seeking aid so South Yemen can become independent again, Yeranian says. "You also get the sense that a lot of foreign fighters that are allied with al-Qaida have fled to Yemen because the central government has never been very strong," he adds.

U.S. Concerns

"Washington has been very concerned about al-Qaida and certainly does not want to see Yemen fall apart," Yeranian says.

But, according to Yeranian, al-Qaida seems to be only a minor player in the conflicts in Yemen. "A number of Yemenis have told me that the Yemeni government is using al-Qaida as a source of revenue by playing up the threat and trying to get money from its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, who are petrified of al-Qaida," he says.

"The fact that Yemen is sliding into chaos is allowing al-Qaida to be able to operate," Yeranian says, "and the fact that someone has tried to blow up a U.S. plane obviously raises the threat level."


read more: http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/94802/-turmoil-in-yemen-provides-breeding-ground-for-terrorism.html

but still dangerous.

. . . but responding militarily to threats posed by individual bombers - no matter what the consequence of those threats - has to be weighed against the almost certain prospect of widening and inflaming a regional conflict by transforming it into a battle against the U.S., and undermining the legitimacy and influence of the very wedge regimes we rely on for stability in the region.

In Yemen, those individuals identifying their violence with al-Qaeda are looking to enlist as many Yemenis as they can in their anti-American cause. The best way they know how is to provoke us into an open military engagement where civilian Yemenis are killed and maimed by our bombs or our assistance; much like al-Qaeda propagandists' wishes were fulfilled by Bush's militarism in Iraq.