The Tragic War in Sa’ada: If at First, You Do Not Succeed, Try Again and Again and… (6X)
Hassan Al-Haifi (commonsense@yemen.net.ye)
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Since 2004, this poor and God forsaken country (known before as Arabia Felix) has been the stage of a very reckless war launched apparently for the sake of others, with the Yemeni people, of Sa’ada in particular, and throughout the country in general being the last and the most unfortunate of stakeholders. The most tragic consequence of this most unfortunate design of bloodshed, destruction and ugly signs of sectarian and tribal confrontation has been the misallocation of scarce and scanty economic and material resources. This is especially significant at a time when Yemen has to contend with decreasing revenues from petroleum exports (The Yemeni people really have no transparent picture of the petroleum situation as we are not confident of the official reports that have very scantily been presented on this important economic front). This war in Sa’ada defies logical nationalistic considerations and will perhaps be the biggest scar that will go on record in the long years of tenure that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has held the reigns of authority in Yemen (in both its fragmented state and unified status).
Historically, the dispute started out as a simple effort to impose a controlled venue of freedom of expression. The late leader of the Houthis, Hussein Badr Al-Din tried to remind his constituents of the need to peacefully reinstill an Anti-Zionist platform among his followers and the rest of his fellow countrymen, if they are rightfully to consider themselves as Moslems. It is standard political rhetoric, which most Moslems in general and Arabs in particular would be strongly willing to accept, in view of the humiliation and intolerance one sees on a daily basis being displayed by the Zionist ethnic cleansing machine in the Holy Land. This is not a rhetoric espoused by Shiites or Zeidis alone, but indeed is recognized no matter where one goes in the Arab World and the Moslem World, and even among a sizable chunk of the Christians of the Arab World, who sympathize with the plight of their Christian brethren in the Holy Land. Never mind that the Gentiles of the West have been mesmerized by the need to rectify their guilt for the crimes of their brethren against the “Semites” in their midst, which the Arabs or Moslems have nothing to do with in the first place. This mesmerization does not allow for feeling sympathetic to the tragic plight of fellow Gentiles who suffer from Zionist persecution as well. But it is really understandable that Zionism has no place in a progressive world where religious arrogance (in its Zionist or other irrational genders) is simply intolerable.
To get back to the Sa’ada conflict, the observer is inclined to suggest to the misguided authorities in the Republic of Yemen that their attempts to placate the West with their misdirected anti-terrorism efforts are really counterproductive to the interests of Yemen and to their longevity. The West generally has a fair understanding of the situation in Yemen to realize that the regime in Sana’a has an awesome credibility problem in many respects. Thus any claims the latter might blare out, especially against the good people of Sa’ada (and really they are good, notwithstanding their ferocity when it comes to upholding their honor and freedom) will be scrutinized with strong depth to insure that they are not misled by the “official” taint of these claims. For example, it just seems illogical that the good Governor of Sa’ada, whose past is well known in the Arms Trade and in being one of the icons of the Saleh regime (as well as 26b September, the media mouthpiece of the military), would accuuse the good people of Sa’ada of such heinous crimes as rape, adultery and even sodomy, not to mention kidnapping of foreigners. One is bound to recall how the regime has used such heinous tactics in promoting its war against its former partners of unification, the former leadership of the Yemeni Socialist Party.
Yet, even when allowing for such political nonsense, it is still deplorable to think that the Government in Sana’a would feel guiltless in the killing of many innocents by the use of Mig-29s and other sophisticated killing machinery against a comparatively lightly armed insurrection. The many pictures that have been openly portrayed in the local press of children torn apart by heavy ordnances unleashed by this sophisticated machinery and other eyewitness reports point to a serious disregard for the lives and safety of people the Government purportedly wants to convince of its “justified” fight against a “rebellion”, the latter of which to this day never claimed to be so.
Then comes the issue of how Yemen’s neighbors are behaving in this sad case of civil strife. One is not ready yet to believe that Saudi Arabia is fully behind this unnecessary war (http://alwahdawi.net/news_details.php?sid=5340) by being ready to bear all the expenses of the Government for this madness. It is safe to say that this only helps to encourage the ugly war lords that have already torn this country to so many pieces to carry on filling their bloodstained pockets at the expense of the good people of Sa’ada (and believe this observer, they are really a good and God fearing people beyond belief) in particular and the people of Yemen in general. We do pray that there is no truth to that at all. This would be unhealthy, not only for Yemen but, in the long run, for our good neighbors North of the border.
It is once again time to appeal to the good senses of the President of the Republic to once and for all put an end to this mockery of governance and to have sympathy for the very good and decent people and children of Sa’ada.
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Since 2004, this poor and God forsaken country (known before as Arabia Felix) has been the stage of a very reckless war launched apparently for the sake of others, with the Yemeni people, of Sa’ada in particular, and throughout the country in general being the last and the most unfortunate of stakeholders. The most tragic consequence of this most unfortunate design of bloodshed, destruction and ugly signs of sectarian and tribal confrontation has been the misallocation of scarce and scanty economic and material resources. This is especially significant at a time when Yemen has to contend with decreasing revenues from petroleum exports (The Yemeni people really have no transparent picture of the petroleum situation as we are not confident of the official reports that have very scantily been presented on this important economic front). This war in Sa’ada defies logical nationalistic considerations and will perhaps be the biggest scar that will go on record in the long years of tenure that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has held the reigns of authority in Yemen (in both its fragmented state and unified status).
Historically, the dispute started out as a simple effort to impose a controlled venue of freedom of expression. The late leader of the Houthis, Hussein Badr Al-Din tried to remind his constituents of the need to peacefully reinstill an Anti-Zionist platform among his followers and the rest of his fellow countrymen, if they are rightfully to consider themselves as Moslems. It is standard political rhetoric, which most Moslems in general and Arabs in particular would be strongly willing to accept, in view of the humiliation and intolerance one sees on a daily basis being displayed by the Zionist ethnic cleansing machine in the Holy Land. This is not a rhetoric espoused by Shiites or Zeidis alone, but indeed is recognized no matter where one goes in the Arab World and the Moslem World, and even among a sizable chunk of the Christians of the Arab World, who sympathize with the plight of their Christian brethren in the Holy Land. Never mind that the Gentiles of the West have been mesmerized by the need to rectify their guilt for the crimes of their brethren against the “Semites” in their midst, which the Arabs or Moslems have nothing to do with in the first place. This mesmerization does not allow for feeling sympathetic to the tragic plight of fellow Gentiles who suffer from Zionist persecution as well. But it is really understandable that Zionism has no place in a progressive world where religious arrogance (in its Zionist or other irrational genders) is simply intolerable.
To get back to the Sa’ada conflict, the observer is inclined to suggest to the misguided authorities in the Republic of Yemen that their attempts to placate the West with their misdirected anti-terrorism efforts are really counterproductive to the interests of Yemen and to their longevity. The West generally has a fair understanding of the situation in Yemen to realize that the regime in Sana’a has an awesome credibility problem in many respects. Thus any claims the latter might blare out, especially against the good people of Sa’ada (and really they are good, notwithstanding their ferocity when it comes to upholding their honor and freedom) will be scrutinized with strong depth to insure that they are not misled by the “official” taint of these claims. For example, it just seems illogical that the good Governor of Sa’ada, whose past is well known in the Arms Trade and in being one of the icons of the Saleh regime (as well as 26b September, the media mouthpiece of the military), would accuuse the good people of Sa’ada of such heinous crimes as rape, adultery and even sodomy, not to mention kidnapping of foreigners. One is bound to recall how the regime has used such heinous tactics in promoting its war against its former partners of unification, the former leadership of the Yemeni Socialist Party.
Yet, even when allowing for such political nonsense, it is still deplorable to think that the Government in Sana’a would feel guiltless in the killing of many innocents by the use of Mig-29s and other sophisticated killing machinery against a comparatively lightly armed insurrection. The many pictures that have been openly portrayed in the local press of children torn apart by heavy ordnances unleashed by this sophisticated machinery and other eyewitness reports point to a serious disregard for the lives and safety of people the Government purportedly wants to convince of its “justified” fight against a “rebellion”, the latter of which to this day never claimed to be so.
Then comes the issue of how Yemen’s neighbors are behaving in this sad case of civil strife. One is not ready yet to believe that Saudi Arabia is fully behind this unnecessary war (http://alwahdawi.net/news_details.php?sid=5340) by being ready to bear all the expenses of the Government for this madness. It is safe to say that this only helps to encourage the ugly war lords that have already torn this country to so many pieces to carry on filling their bloodstained pockets at the expense of the good people of Sa’ada (and believe this observer, they are really a good and God fearing people beyond belief) in particular and the people of Yemen in general. We do pray that there is no truth to that at all. This would be unhealthy, not only for Yemen but, in the long run, for our good neighbors North of the border.
It is once again time to appeal to the good senses of the President of the Republic to once and for all put an end to this mockery of governance and to have sympathy for the very good and decent people and children of Sa’ada.
Yemen Times Issue 1286 August 17, 2009
posted by Hassan (Yemen) @ 5:11 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
thank u 4 ur effort by gyving the fair side of what's happening in sa'adah & yemen... allah bless u.
I always make it a point to thank anyone who has viewed my blog or an article I wrote, Sometimes it may be somewhat later, but it is still worthy of acknowledgement. May God bless you too mojdeh69.
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