Yemen Spirals Toward Disintegration

As war renews in Yemen’s North and protests turn to riots in the South, terror attacks have hit the capital, and the opposition is boycotting upcoming elections. Civil liberties are under attack and traditionalism growing as the central government turns to hard liners for support and the population’s basic needs go unmet.

Al-Qaeda In Yemen: Mercenaries or Terrorists

القاعدة في اليمن مرتزقة أم إرهابيون؟ [23/4/2008] ? : – جين نوفاك*- ترجمة خاصة بـ[يمنات]

لقد تم الإعلان عن تناقض وجهات النظر بين محللين سياسيين غربيين ويمنيين حول اندلاع الهجمات الإرهابية في اليمن حيث بينت إحدى المقالات في مركز مكافحة الإرهاب أنه«تم التغلب على القاعدة في اليمن بسبب التعاون الوثيق بين اليمن والولايات المتحدة أثناء المرحلة الأولى من الحرب (2000 – 2003) لكنها – القاعدة – تعلمت من هذه الخسارة»وكيفت تكتيكاتها وأهدافها.
الجيل الجديد من هذا التنظيم يرفض التفاوض مع نظام الحكم اليمني وتبشر به إستراتيجية جديدة ورقي مستمر،عبر الدعاية الخاصة بالشبكة العنكبوتية.

في الوقت الذي تستحوذ فيه الضغوطات الداخلية على اهتمام نظام الحكم اليمني، تأتي فيه السيطرة على هذا التنظيم في آخر الأولويات.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Mercenaries or Terrorists

The dichotomy of viewpoints between Yemeni and Western analysts on the recent outbreak of terror attacks in Yemen is pronounced. An article at the Counter Terrorism Center at West Point finds that “Al-Qa`ida in Yemen was defeated by the close cooperation of the United States and Yemen during the first phase of the war (2000-2003), but it learned from the loss,” and adapted its tactics and goals.

Violence Explodes on Multiple Fronts in Yemen

Twenty-one people died in political violence across Yemen this weekend, including southern protesters, northern rebels, tribal paramilitary fighters, and Yemeni soldiers. A mortar attack by al Qaeda in the capital heightened tensions.

Yemen Mobilizes Military to Quell Riots

Yemen has rounded up opposition political leaders in response to several days of riots that caused extensive damage to government buildings and vehicles. Over the last 48 hours, the Yemeni military deployed dozens of tanks, armored vehicles and fighter jets into the southern Yemeni governorates.

Massive Protest in South Yemen

A rally in the southern Yemeni governorate of Dhalie on Monday drew several hundred thousand protesters from the governorates of Hadramout, Aden, Abyan, and Shabwa. Some estimates put the crowd at more than a half million.

Unsteady Peace in War Torn North Yemen

A three-year war in Sa’ada, Yemen generated thousands of casualities, wide-scale destruction, tens of thousands of internal refugees and cost upwards of a billion dollars. Progress toward implementing a cease-fire agreement negotiated by Qatar reached an impasse this week as both the Yemeni military and several thousand Shia rebels refused to abandon their positions. Reports of a prison massacre are heightening tensions amid sporadic skirmishes in the province, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Internet Censorship in Yemen

The Internet has taken root in Yemen, functioning as it does everywhere, as a social network, as an electronic pamphleteer and as a purveyor of facts and ideas. The Yemeni government is intimidated by the public’s internet use and the resulting social and political progress. Consequently the Yemeni state dramatically increased internet censorship in the last months, as it is prone to do in times of crisis and negative publicity.

Yemen’s Illogical Logic of Repression

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty,” Thomas Jefferson.

As Yemenis struggle toward freedom from tyranny, the Yemeni government uses all means at its disposal to thwart the growing democracy movement. The regime simultaneously creates a façade of reform for the benefit of the western donors, often with depressingly good results.

Yemen’s Intifada

يواجه اليمن عدم استقرار غير مرئي منذ الحرب الأهلية في 1994م زادت من حدته الحرب التي خاضتها الدولة مع الثوار الشيعة

في محافظة صعدة الواقعة شمال اليمن، حيث خلفت تلك الحرب أكثر من 50000 لاجئ داخلي، ورغم أن التمرد انتهى في يونيو/ حزيران الماضي إلا أن التهديد ما زال قابلا للاشتعال بسبب عدم تطبيق أي من الطرفين لشروط وقف إطلاق النار.

التهميش السياسي والاقتصادي لقطاع واسع من المجتمع ساهم في التمرد وبالتالي خلق فسادا حكوميا مستوطنا.. قلة الخدمات الأساسية والتدابير الأمنية المتشددة كانت من أهم العوامل المحفزة لاحتجاجات جنوب اليمن واسعة الانتشار والتي جذبت أكثر من 100.000 محتج والتي راح ضحيتها حتى الآن عشرة محتجين زعم أن قوات الأمن هي من قتلتهم بالإضافة إلى ضرب واعتقال الكثير منهم.

Yemen’s Intifada

Yemen is facing instability unseen since its 1994 civil war. A war with Shiite rebels in the northern Sa’ada province left over 50,000 internal refugees. The rebellion ended in June but threatens to re-ignite as neither side has fully implemented the cease-fire conditions. The political and economic marginalization of vast segments of society contributed to the rebellion as did endemic governmental corruption, lack of basic services and draconian security measures. These factors are also the catalyst for widespread protests in southern Yemen, some of which attracted over 100,000 protesters. Ten protesters were killed, allegedly by security forces, and many were beaten and arrested.

Yemeni Officials Who Profited from Land Confescation

A Yemeni Parliamentary committee issued a report in 2006 naming 26 persons who illegally profited from land confiscated in Aden following Yemen’s 1994 civil war. The list includes Members of Parliament and the Shoura Council, military and security force commanders, current and former judges and ministers. The Parliamentary committee recommended that the land owners receive compensation for their losses, however none has been paid.

INTERVIEW: Colonel Naser Saleh Abdul Qawi, secretary general of Aden Military Retirees Society.

Colonel Naser Saleh Abdul Qawi is the secretary general of Aden Military Retirees Society. Col. Abdul Qawi was a member of the southern Air Force, and was stationed at the al-Anad military base before it fell to Sanaa’s forces in Yemen’s 1994 civil war. Abdul Qawi is one of hundreds of military retirees who were reinstated to the Yemeni military in response to months of protests that have rocked the southern Yemeni governorates.

One Killed, Four Wounded in Aden Protests

November 29, Aden: One person was killed and several wounded when Yemeni soldiers prevented thousands of protesters from reaching the site of an anti-regime demonstration.

INTERVIEW: Yemeni MP Ahmed Saif Hashed, “There Are No Human Rights In Yemen”

Mr. Ahmed Saif Hashed serves on the Yemeni Parliament’s Freedom and Human Rights Committee. An independent MP, Mr. Hashed represents constituency 70, which includes parts of Lahj and Taiz. Mr. Hashed is a prominent human rights activist with a special interest in the condition of Yemeni prisoners. He heads the Al-Tageer human rights organization and owns the Al-Mostakela newspaper. Jane Novak interviewed him for the Global Politician.

Yemen’s Truce with Al-Qaeda

THE AMERICAN ATTEMPTS to rehabilitate the Yemeni regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh have not succeeded. Yemeni authorities recently pardoned Jamal Al-Badawi, convicted mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing. Almost all the terrorists who bombed the American warship and killed 17 American sailors are free, except those dead or in U.S. custody.

Bloody Protests Continue in Yemen

Since May, Yemen has witnessed widespread civil unrest in the southern governorates including Aden and Marib. Three protesters were killed during demonstrations in Mukallah, and two more were killed in Dhalie. On October 13, five people were shot dead at a sit-in in Radfan, Lahj when security forces opened fire on the crowd. Witnesses reported a dozen wounded. Over fifty thousand people gathered the next day in Radfan for a previously scheduled demonstration despite these brutal security practices.

INTERVIEW: Dr. Aidros Nasr Al Naqeeb, Head of the YSP Parliamentary Block, “The Yemeni regime has no desire for reforms in any field.”

Armies of Liberation conducted an interview with DR. AIDROOS NASR NASER AL NAQEEB, the chairman of the Yemeni Socialists Party’s (YSP) Parliamentary block. Dr. Aidroos represents three districts in the southern governorate of Abyan.

The USS Cole Bombing: A Seven Year Perspective

On October 12, 2000 two Yemeni suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden dingy into an American destroyer, the USS Cole. Seventeen US service members were killed and forty-nine injured. The destroyer had been invited by the Yemeni government to refuel in the port of Aden.

In the light of historical perspective, several facts have become clear. Intelligence warnings generated prior to the attack were never forwarded to the commander of the Cole. The investigation afterwards was marred by turf wars within the US government, leaving links between the Cole bombing and the attacks of 9/11 unexplored. The Yemeni government worked diligently to limit the scope of the US investigation. Almost all the Yemenis involved in the Cole bombing are walking free. The involvement of some Yemeni officials in the bombing is documented; however, the scope of that involvement is not.

Yemen on the Brink of Civil War?

Tensions simmering since the Yemeni civil war in 1994 have flared into violence that may engulf the nation.

“We want equal rights,” retired Brigadier General Ali Moqbel stated. The simple declaration expressed the sentiment of tens of thousands of Yemenis who have repeatedly clashed with security forces in Aden, Makallah, Dahlie and other towns in southern Yemen since the spring.

INTERVIEW: General Ali Moqbel, Head of the Yemeni Retired Military Consultive Association, “We demand equality in citizenship.”

In an effort to enlighten our readership on the true nature of the growing civil unrest in Southern Yemen, Armies of Liberation obtained an exclusive statement from Brigadier General Ali Moqbel, organizer and member of the Yemeni Retired Military Consultive Association (MCRA). In the statement, General Moqbel clarified the goal of the protests, “We demand equality in citizenship and the return of all our officers to their positions.”

Disband the GPC

واجه اليمن حالة من عدم الاستقرار في عدة مجالات منذ الانتخابات الرئاسية الماضية، وتشمل جوانب الأزمة عودة حرب صعدة في شمال اليمن للمرة الرابعة، والاحتجاجات الشعبية في المحافظات الجنوبية سابقاً،والتحالف القبلي المواجه،وعودة الهجمات الإرهابية التي تستهدف الدولة.

كل تلك النزاعات لها عامل مشترك ومسبب واحد يتمثل في تأسيس حالة من عدم المساواة أو العنصرية الرسمية حالة هذه هي أيضاً متجذرة بفساد هائل يدمر اليمن ،ومع وجود نخب النافذين المتجذرة وتفشي الفساد، يبقى الإصلاح المؤسسي مستحلاً تقريباً، ربما يكون هناك حل واحد ، هو حل الآليات التي تعمل على إطالة أمد حالة عدم المساواة وتمكين الفساد،بدءا بحل الحزب الحاكم.

Yemen’s Ruling Party Subverts Democracy

Since Yemen’s presidential election, the nation is experiencing several areas of instability. Crisis areas include the fourth recurrence of the Sa’ada war in North Yemen, popular protests in the former South Yemen, hostile tribal posturing, and the resurgence of terror attacks directed at the state. One causal factor common to all these conflicts is institutionalized inequality or state discrimination. This inequality is also the foundation of massive corruption that is destroying Yemen. With elitism so engrained and corruption so pervasive, structural reform is nearly impossible. One solution may be to dissolve the national mechanisms that function to perpetuate inequality and enable corruption, starting with Yemen’s ruling party.

Leading Yemeni Journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani Arrested

(Arabic, Al-Thawry pdf)

In 2004, prominent Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani wrote from jail, “I believe in democracy, freedom, equality and rights and am willing to suffer for their sake simply because I do not wish my children to suffer dictatorship and I will strive to provide them a better future.”

Ceasefire In Yemen

The Sa’ada war in northern Yemen may be coming to a close. The Yemeni government announced on June 15 that a cease-fire had been negotiated through the good offices of the Emir of Qatar. Shiite rebels agreed to lay down their arms after nearly three years of fighting. Hopes are high that an end to hostilities will allow immediate assistance to over a half a million Yemenis in Sa’ada province adversely affected by the fighting.

Tensions Flare in South Yemen

Demonstrations and armed conflict in southern Yemen are heightening fears of growing instability in the impoverished nation, already battling an insurgency in the North.

Yemen has experienced marked instability since September’s 2006 presidential election. In the northern Sa’ada province, about 60,000 soldiers have been embroiled in a guerrilla war with about 2000 Zaidi Shi’a rebels since January. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting and military bombing, and many are without shelter, food, water, and medical care.

Training Day

يوم تدريب
كيف يساعد اليمن ويحرض المتمردين العراقيين ؟
جين نوفاك
كاتبة ومحللة سياسية أمريكية
خبيرة في شؤون اليمن
5 أبريل 2007
ترجمة : حميد يحيى القطابري

يعمل اليمن بشكل كبير كداعم للإرهاب الدولي تحت مظلة الشراكة مع الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في الحرب على الإرهاب ؛ حيث ركز كل من المسؤولين اليمنيين والأمريكيين على هذه الشراكة علنيا.
سفارة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في صنعاء وصفت هروب عناصر القاعدة الثلاثة والعشرين في فبراير من العام 2006 من سجن الأمن السياسي مُبررًا بطريقة ما ، معتبرةً الفساد المستشري في اليمن وضعف المؤسسات وعدم أهلية الحكومة. ( الهاربون يتضمنون عددا من مفجري المدمرة الأمريكية كول وأمريكيا مرتبطا بخلية اللاك أوانا الإرهابية في نيويورك)

Training Day, How Yemen Aids and Abets Iraqi Insurgents

YEMEN OPERATES LARGELY under the radar as a supporter of the global jihad. Both Yemeni and U.S. officials publicly tout Yemen’s partnership with the United States in the war on terror. The U.S. embassy in Sana’a described the February 2006 escape of 23 al Qaeda operatives from a maximum security jail as “understandable in a way,” considering Yemen’s rampant corruption, weak institutions, and bureaucratic incompetence. (The escapees included several Cole bombers and an American associated with the Lackawanna, New York terror cell.) Presidential assistant Frances Townsend has described the Yemeni regime as an “inconsistent” partner in the war on terror, but Yemen has been quite consistent in its appeasement and facilitation of al Qaeda and related jihadi groups, and, as a result, has played a significant role in the destabilization of Iraq.

From Nepotism to Jihad

The upper levels of the Yemeni military, judiciary and intelligence services are inculcated with hard core Salafists, and many aspects of Yemeni state institutions support jihaddist campaigns all over the world, including Iraq. It is in this context that the Yemeni Ministry of Defense recently published a fatwa on its website authorizing and obligating the use of deadly force against the Believing Youth, a small band of Shiite Zaidi rebels that has been battling the government on and off since 2004. Essentially Yemen’s military leadership declared a jihad on the group.

Democracy Without Minority Rights

ترجمة : سامي نعمان، الشورى نت:

تحصل اليمن على الكثير من المساعدات من الدول الغربية، وبشكل خاص الولايات المتحدة، وذلك مقابل تعاونها في الجهود العالمية في الحرب على الإرهاب.
وعلى نفس المنوال فإن جهود اليمن في (الدّمَقْرَطَة)، خصوصاً الاندفاع المتقدم في الذي شهدته في انتخابات سبتمبر/أيلول الرئاسية، ستفضي إلى زيادة مساعدات المانحين التي تعتبر اليمن في أشد الحاجة إليها.
ولكن، إثر الانتخابات، دشن النظام اليمني حملات تشويه السمعة، واعتقالات ومضايقات لزعماء المعارضة والناشطين والناخبين على السواء. في إحدى القضايا الغريبة، زعم النظام أن أحد ناشطي حقوق الإنسان مرتبط بالقاعدة، وهو أمر يثير الشكوك حول مدى إخلاص النظام في كلا الأمرين: تطوير الديمقراطية، والحرب على الإرهاب.

Democracy Without Minority Rights

Yemen extracts benefits from the West, notably the US , in return for its cooperation in global anti-terror efforts. Likewise Yemen’s efforts at democratization, especially the improved conduct of September’s presidential election, should result in an increase in badly needed donor funds. However, in the aftermath of the election, the Yemeni regime has begun discrediting, arresting and harassing opposition leaders, activists and voters. In one bizarre case, the regime has alleged a human rights activist is linked to al-Qaeda, casting doubt on the sincerity of both Yemen’s democracy promotion and its efforts against terrorism.

Yemen’s Natural Gas: Who Benefits?

Freedom House recently noted Yemen as among the world’s most corrupt developing nations. With the personal interests of the ruling elite taking priority over national development, nearly half Yemeni children are malnourished and out of school. Unemployment is high and medical services scarce. A looming water crisis threatens to destabilize the country. Claims of development are little more than government propaganda with the gap between the extremely rich and the extremely poor widening and infant mortality remaining high year after year.

The Presidential Drama in Yemen, Act Two

Thursday could have been a historic day. That was when President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen refused to accept his party’s nomination for the presidency, declaring “I am not a taxi to hire for a ride.” It was a good line in a bad play.

Saleh had spent nearly a year indignantly insisting that his sincere intention was to relinquish power in the presidential elections scheduled for September. He had made the same pledge only to renege in the 1998 election. Late Saturday Saleh announced, to the surprise of no one, he would keep his old crown after all and the palace and the purse and the other accouterments of his monarchy.

A Day in the Life of a Failing State

An outbreak of chickenpox in Yemen goes a long way in demonstrating the challenges of daily life for Yemeni citizens. The incident is also a snapshot of the factors that may lead Yemen toward state failure. Barhan is a typical village in Yemen where most villages have no electricity, no sewage system and no clean water. Nationally, one in ten kids dies by age five; contaminated water contributes to half their deaths. Of the millions of kids not in school, the highest percentage is among rural girls.

The Impossible is Possible in Yemen

Motorcyclists denied their right to work in Yemen engaged in a symbolic funeral procession for the main Yemeni political parties. It may have been an apt analogy: the multi-party system may be dead. The democratic institutions established over fifteen years ago in Yemen may shrivel up and blow away without anyone noticing. The country may sink further into chaos as it slowly implodes and the oil runs out.

Democracy or Failure

Ahmed Al-Rabei recently described the worst case for Yemen as, “an Afghan scenario and a civil war that will spread to the borders of GCC countries.” Al-Rabei, a columnist for Alsharq Alwasat, wrote with great affection for the Yemeni people of his concern for the future of Yemen. Al-Rabei is not alone in his assessment of an uncertain future for Yemen. A variety of international organizations and reports have highlighted increasingly dysfunctional Yemeni institutions and governance.

Al-Qaeda Escape in Yemen: Facts, Rumors and Theories

One theory circulating in Yemen these days is that the recent escape of 23 prisoners from a maximum security intelligence facility was orchestrated to transfer them to U.S. custody, circumventing Yemen’s extradition laws. Certainly the U.S. would have interest in obtaining custody of the escapees. Several were convicted of complicity in the bombing of the USS Cole which killed 17 US service members on October 12th 2000. Others include convicted bombers of the French oil tanker, the Lindburg, and an American, Gaber Elbaneh, convicted in the U.S. of involvement in an al-Qaeda cell in Lackawana, New York.

An Attack on All

Much discussion lately has been centered on what limits a responsible media should place on itself. At the other end of the spectrum remains the burning issue of censorship, propaganda and governmental limitations on the flow of information to the public. For some years the reformist posture of the Yemeni regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh had credibility internationally because of the existence of a lively Yemeni press. One reason confidence in Saleh’s commitment to democratization has diminished is a prolonged and systematic assault on Yemeni journalists, as an informative press is the bedrock of a government run by the people.

Drug Smuggling, Gun Running and Other Crimes

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen is scheduled to visit the United States in November for a round of meetings with President Bush and other high-ranking officials. As the representative of the Yemeni people, Saleh deserves a great deal of respect and hospitality. Yet it has become increasingly apparent that the regime, under the total domination of President Saleh, is engaged in a wide variety of criminal activities to the detriment of regional stability and the Yemeni people themselves.

The Battle for Truth in the Age of Terror

جين نوفاك*

قال تقرير صادر عن البرنامج الإنمائي للأمم المتحدة مؤخرا بأن اليمن «مليئة بالفساد» في كافة القطاعات بما في ذلك أجهزة الرقابة والمحاسبة، وتفتقر الحكومة اليمنية لنظام فعال لتعرية وكشف الفساد.

الفساد المنتشر نتيجة منطقية السلطة في اليمن.. فعلي عبدالله صالح هو الرئيس، وقائد الجيش، ورئيس القضاء، ورئيس الحزب الحاكم، إضافة إلى سيطرته الأساسية على البرلمان ووسائل الإعلام الرسمية. وهو مسيطر على السلطة منذ 27 عاما.

في ظل غياب الإشتراك في السلطة بين المؤسسات الفعالة التي توازن إحداها الأخرى، فإن الآلية الوحيدة التي تقتضي مسؤولية المسؤولين اليمنيين البارزين بالنسبة للشعب اليمني هي المعارضة وأجهزة الإعلام المستقلة.

The Battle For Truth in the Age of Terror

A United Nations Development Program report recently said that Yemen is “infested with corruption” throughout all sectors including corruption monitoring agencies, and the Yemeni government lacks an effective system of exposing and checking corruption. Rampant corruption is a logical consequence of the concentration of power in Yemen: Ali Abdullah Saleh is the president, the head of the military, the chief judicial officer, the head of the ruling party, and essentially controls the parliament and the official media. He has been in power for 27 years.

A Fair Election in Yemen

It is an unhappy designation to be among the poorest countries on earth, but for a society as dignified as Yemen’s, the label seems counter intuitive. Unfortunately, abuse of power in Yemen has been creeping for decades and is pervasive. It’s only the indomitable spirit of the Yemeni people that prevents an avalanche of corruption from engulfing the nation entirely.

According to the World Bank, 46 percent of Yemen’s five-year-old children suffer from malnutrition. Half of Yemen’s children never attend primary school. About 90 percent of Yemenis lack access to the necessary water. In rural areas, 70 percent of residents have no access to a doctor. Yemen’s children are nearly invisible in the global media, and they appear internationally only as statistics.

Yemen’s Election: A Fraud in the Making

Yemen is a country in trouble. Recently ranked the 12th most unstable nation in the world, ahead of Haiti, Afghanistan, and Rwanda by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Yemen is teetering on failure. Among the top indicators of Yemen’s instability are factionalized elites, uneven development, and delegitimization of the state. The concentration of power in the executive branch has fostered rampant corruption and widespread human rights abuses, including the imprisonment of young children as retribution. Yemen has slid into a painful anarchy and the only consistent law is the supremacy of the personal interests of the ruling elites. Those acting in the public interest do so at great risk to themselves. The threat to regional stability of a failed Yemen could not be greater.

Ayatollah Sistani and the War in Yemen

Now that Iraqi Shiites and Kurds are in power after decades of repression, perhaps some other regional governments will embrace the concepts of pluralism and equal rights. Recently the Shiite religious establishment in Najaf, Iraq, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said the Yemeni government is waging “a kind of war” against Yemeni Zaidis.

Al-Qaeda in Broad Daylight

Recent public statements about Yemen paint a dire picture. Grand Ayatollah Ali and the religious establishment in Najaf, Iraq, said there is a “brutal massacre” of Shiites going on. A defecting Yemeni ambassador has stated that high-ranking members of the Yemeni government and military are affiliated with Al Qaeda. Putting together the massacre with the Al Qaeda, it’s like another 9/11 unfolding slowly in the mountains and cities of Yemen.

The Yemeni ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdullah al-Hasani, is attempting to defect to the United Kingdom. He says that members of Al Qaeda are in the highest ranks of Yemen’s military and security forces. Al-Hasani says that it is very likely that President Ali Abdullah Saleh “knew in advance of the Cole explosion” which killed 17 United States servicemen. Indeed, Freedom House, an American-based nonprofit organization, in 2003 reported that Saleh refused to even investigate the Cole bombing until the United States threatened military action. Also in 2003, Al Qaeda praised President Saleh as the only Arab and Muslim leader who is not an agent for the West or the East.

Justice in Yemen

Perhaps the most sacred and solemn power granted to a state by its citizens is the power to imprison. It is an action that needs be done with scrupulous care so as not to undermine the rights of all citizens or even one citizen.

There are fundamental requirements necessary to insure justice for the state, the accused and the citizenry at large. One is proper application of the law. Another is the right of the accused to launch a defense. A third is the existence of an impartial judiciary acting in the interest of the nation by neutrally applying the law to a given situation. Justice should be blind to all but the facts and the law.

Democracy and Unicorns in Yemen

What a good con artist Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is. He had me fooled for quite a while. One of my earliest tip-offs came when he gave a beautiful speech about democracy being “the rescue ship of all regimes.” But he didn’t let the journalists into the democracy conference. Or the human rights groups.

The Children’s Parliament is an institution that I thought demonstrated Saleh’s commitment to educating young Yemenis about the institutions of democracy. But then I learned that the Adult Parliament has never initiated any legislation. The Parliament’s greatest accomplishment to date has been blocking a very few of Saleh’s proposed laws. The real lesson Saleh teaches children in Yemen is that even the adults have no power.

Yemen’s Jihad

The upper levels of the Yemeni military, judiciary and intelligence services are inculcated with hard core Salafism, and many aspects of Yemeni state institutions support jihaddist campaigns all over the world, including Iraq. It is in this context that the Yemeni Ministry of Defense recently published a fatwa on its website authorizing and obligating the use of deadly force against the Believing Youth, a small band of Shiite Zaidi rebels that has been battling the government on and off since 2004. Essentially Yemen ’s military leadership declared a jihad on the group.

Yemen in the Spring

Once elections take place in Iraq, the U.S. military may remain for a few years, but its likely Al-Qaeda won’t. Al-Qaeda’s goal in Iraq is to foment a civil war, empower Sunni extremists and create a Taliban style utopia. The false identity of “resistance” falls apart in the face of a legitimately elected government, even to those rooting for their success like Al-Jazeera and France.

Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi has stated that once the Iraqi government “extends its control over the country, we will have to pack our bags and break camp for another land.” Facing increasingly democratic regimes in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and mounting pressure in Pakistan, Al-Qaeda may attempt to regroup in Yemen, one of the least developed countries in the world.

The Free Press and Democracy

It is a telling statement about the rigors of political evolution that the Sana’a Regional Democracy Conference prohibited journalists and some NGOs from attendance, when the foundation and substance of democracy is honest public debate among a well informed electorate.

As noted by Stamford University, since 1974 more than 60 countries in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa have made transitions from authoritarian regimes to some form of democracy. Many around the Arab world are calling for some reform or democratization in the Middle East.