As Mass Uprising Threatens the Saleh Regime, A Look at the Covert U.S. War in Yemen

[Catherina]

Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by Democracy Now!

Jeremy Scahill: As Mass Uprising Threatens the Saleh Regime, A Look at the Covert U.S. War in Yemen

The crisis in Yemen is growing following high-level defections from the regime of U.S.-backed President Ali Abudullah Saleh. On Monday, a dozen top military leaders announced their pledge to protect the protest movement after 45 people were killed and some 350 were wounded when Yemeni forces opened fire on demonstrators in the capital of Sana’a on Friday—after two months of nationwide demonstrations. In recent years, the United States has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in military and security aid to Yemen. “The Obama administration has really escalated the covert war inside of Yemen and has dramatically increased the funding to Yemen’s military, particularly its elite counterterrorism unit, which is trained by U.S. Special Operations Forces," says Democracy Now! correspondent and independent journalist Jeremy Scahill. "It could get much worse if Ali Abdullah Saleh decides to unleash the U.S.-trained counterterrorist units on his own population."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-V0i9u248

[sabrina 1]

1. I wonder why so many of those military leaders defected at the

same time? I hope Yemen doesn't end up with a Military dictatorship.

[The Magistrate]

3. It Is An Odd And Riven Place, Ma'am

Its last civil war was in the mid 1990s, between the north (the hinterland) and the south (the coastal regions). Prior to that it was two separate jurisdictions, with an English presence on the coast at Aden still in the sixties. There was a major civil war in North Yemen in the mid-sixties, between Republicans and Royalists, with Egypt under Col. Nasser backing the former ad the Saudis backing the latter; more or less simultaneously there was a campaign against the English, who left Aden under the pressure. Pres. Saleh is a purely military figure from the north, which won the most recent civil war, against southern forces backed by Saudi Arabia. Without knowing the points of origin of the defecting generals, and where their units are recruited, it is hard to gauge motives. Everything from a renewal of the south v. north divide to a renaissance of royalist factions could be represented.

[sabrina 1]

4. Yes, I know it is a very complex situation.

What is puzzling is that Saleh has been very cooperative with the U.S. even, according to revelations in the Wikileaks cables, allowing the U.S. to bomb inside Yemen and covering for this by claiming he was responsible.

It would seem that the U.S. would not want to see such a cooperative ally overthrown. Otoh, if he has lost control as it appears, they also would not want to see him replaced by a government that might not be so cooperative.

[Catherina]

5. I share your concerns and hope n/t

[Tx4obama]

2. Yemen's Most Powerful Army Officer (controls 60% of military) Says He Will Protect The Protesters

Yemen's Most Powerful Army Officer (controls 60% of military) Says He Will Protect The Protesters
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4780483