From Sa'ada with Tears: "Weren't Our Leaders' Children Once?"

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

"The Month of Ramadhan, what a great opportunity to make amends with the Lord Al-Mighty and look back to see where we went wrong" said Farid as he started to work on the family budget again.

"What makes you think that we went wrong?" asked Aisha, as she began to prepare the Ramadan break-fast, speeding up her pace, as the alarm rang to alert her that it is one hour before sunset.

Farid was really upset about something: "Not WE, my dear Aisha, but rather our Government. How can our Government decide just before the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan to contract for the annihilation of the people of Sa'ada? Aren't the people of Sa'ada Yemeni citizens, who have the right to worship Allah as they see fit, like all other Yemenis? Must they carry on life with the threat of screeching Mig-29s constantly looming in their minds? Aren't the children of Sa'ada like our children? Look at these horrible pictures of the poor children of Sa'ada not knowing that this month is not simply another month of the year, but rather the month in which they will see Armageddon?"
"How come the international community has not been stirred by these horrible crimes? Just imagine if the children of the War Lords inside our Government and outside were living under the threat of TNT packed ordnances randomly ramming at them from 50 km away." Aisha was definitely moved by the horrible pictures of children's feet and hands lying out in the fields after being severed from their owners by the horrible payloads of those Sukhoi and Mig fighters.

"I would think that they should sever the heads of all these generals, sheikhs and whatever they pretend to be for being so careless about the children of Yemen, who have yet to develop their loins yet!" said Farid.

"There is really no excuse for this madness in Sa'ada, is there? How many children must lose their limbs indiscriminately before they had a chance to even speak their minds, let alone call for the destruction of Israel or the United States?" Aisha was very disturbed by the pictures she saw.

Farid continued on: "Even when international organizations like Amnesty International cry out for the sake of the children of Sa'ada (see this: http://com-senfromyem.blogspot.com/), the international press and local press do not even cover the public statements of AI when it comes to the people of Sa'ada. Three days ago Amnesty International issued the statement deploring the attacks on civilians and the violations of human rights that are inflicted on the good people of Sa'ada Governorate. It seems that our Government has obtained immunity from international outrage at the violations of human rights it inflicts on its people."

Aisha also had her own views: "They were more interested in the weak offers of peace issued by the President, which simply stated that the Houthis should surrender themselves to the nearest Police precinct, just like the peace overtures we heard during the 1994 Civil War. We are seeing now that the fruits of that war are still being harvested to this day. Never mind that the situation now is slightly different, where the initiative is apparently on the Houthis' side."

"Nobody really knows who is winning or loosing in Sa'ada. The Government is preventing anyone from the press or the outside world to visit the region. After all they will be kidnapped by the mysterious night crawlers, who find in kidnapping an art that can be perfected to drive the relatives of the kidnapped into madness, because the Government is not really looking hard enough for them or even cares about finding them. The officials are too busy collecting for the rewards of the Houthis they kill or capture, at least as the Government press is announcing. But then, what does it matter? Who is able to really verify that the reward is justified anyway?", said Farid.

Then Mahmoud walked in, just coming from one of the Ramadhan games he and his friends have gathered to play; he was looking at the photos his mother was talking about a while ago. He looked stunned: "Mom, whose children are those who lost their limbs in the photos? Could this happen to us in Yemen?"

"Now son, put that down", she said, while continuing in response to her son's statement: "Of course not. We have a civilized Government and civilized leaders who never would like to see our people "corpsed", as a recent dignitary announced. We even have a civil society that should be praised for supporting any war against the people of Yemen and are ready to give their lives in support of such madness. Didn't you hear that unbelievable declaration by our leaders who enjoy seeing corpses sprawled everywhere, for they only live to see people 'corpsed', as Sadiq Al-Ahmar said a few days back, as he announced his pledge to aid the Government forces against tribesmen who were once under his father's custody. The Governor of Amran also announced his support and forgot that his father had sought to bring a peaceful end to the strife in Sa'ada."

The son wondered in amazement: "Weren't these hired guns children at one time in their lives?"

Yemen Times Issue 1288 August 24, 2009