Al-Haifi Blog: Facts and Fiction

Middle East and North Africa: Protest and repression set to continue in 2012 | Amnesty International

2012-01-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

Middle East and North Africa: Protest and repression set to continue in 2012 | Amnesty International

Repression will continue, but the spirit of rebellion is still strong.
Press Release by Westgulf Amnesty International with the following text:

Repression and state violence is likely to continue to plague the Middle East and North Africa in 2012 unless governments in the region and international powers wake up to the scale of the changes being demanded of them, Amnesty International warned today in a new report into the dramatic events of the last year.

In the 80-page Year of Rebellion: State of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa, the organization describes how governments across the region were willing in 2011 to deploy extreme violence in an attempt to resist unprecedented calls for fundamental reform.

But Amnesty International said that the region’s protest movements appeared to show few signs of abandoning their ambitious goals or accepting piecemeal reforms.

“With few exceptions, governments have failed to recognize that everything has changed,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s interim Middle East and North Africa Director. “The protest movements across the region, led in many cases by young people and with women playing central roles, have proved astonishingly resilient in the face of sometimes staggering repression.”

“They have shown that they will not be fooled by reforms that make little difference to the way they are treated by the police and security forces. They want concrete changes to the way they are governed and for those responsible for past crimes to be held to account.”

“But persistent attempts by states to offer cosmetic changes, to push back against gains made by protesters or to simply brutalize their populations into submission betray the fact that for many governments, regime survival remains their aim.”

Despite great optimism in North Africa at the toppling of long-standing rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Amnesty International said that these gains had not yet been cemented by key institutional reforms to guarantee that the same kinds of abuses would not be repeated.

Egypt's military rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), pledged repeatedly to deliver on the demands of the “January 25 revolution” but Amnesty International found that they had in fact been responsible for a catalogue of abuses that was in some aspects worse than under Hosni Mubarak.

The army and security forces have violently suppressed protests, resulting in at least 84 deaths between October and December 2011. Torture in detention has continued while more civilians have been tried before military courts in one year than under 30 years of Mubarak’s rule. Women appear to have been targeted for humiliating treatment to try to deter them from protesting. In December the offices of a number of Egyptian and international NGOs were raided by security forces in an apparent attempt to silence critics of the authorities.

Amnesty International said it feared that 2012 could see further attempts by the military council to restrict the ability of Egyptians to protest and freely express their views.

The uprising in Tunisia brought significant improvements in human rights, but one year on many consider that the pace of change has been too slow, with families of the victims of the uprising still awaiting justice.

Following elections in October a new coalition government was formed. Moncef Marzouki, a human rights activist and former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, is the country’s interim president.

Amnesty International said that that in 2012 it was critical that Tunisians seized the opportunity of drafting a new constitution to ensure that it guaranteed protection of human rights and equality under the law.

In Libya, there were significant questions about the ability of the new authorities to control the armed brigades that had helped oust the pro-Gaddafi forces and prevent them from replicating the patterns of abuse learnt under the old system.

Despite the National Transitional Council calling on its supporters to avoid revenge attacks, serious abuses by anti-Gaddafi forces have rarely been condemned. In November the UN stated that an estimated 7,000 detainees were being held in makeshift centres under the control of revolutionary brigades, with no prospect of a proper judicial process.

Elsewhere, Amnesty International said that governments remained grimly determined to cling onto power, in some cases at almost any cost in human lives and dignity.

The Syrian armed forces and intelligence services have been responsible for a pattern of killings and torture amounting to crimes against humanity, in a vain attempt to terrify protesters and opponents into silence and submission. By the end of the year there were over 200 cases of reported deaths in custody, over 40 times the recent average annual figure for Syria.

In Yemen the standoff over the Presidency caused further suffering for ordinary Yemenis. More than 200 people were killed in connection with protests while hundreds more died in armed clashes. Tens of thousands were displaced by the violence, causing a humanitarian crisis.

There were hopes in Bahrain that the November publication of an independent report by international experts on protest-related abuses might mark a fresh start for the country. At the end of the year the strength of the government’s commitment to implementing the commission's wide-ranging recommendations remained to be seen.

The Saudi Arabian government announced major spending packages in 2011, in what seemed to be an attempt to prevent protests spreading to the Kingdom. Despite that – and the drafting of a repressive anti-terror law – protests continued at the end of the year, in particular in the country’s eastern region.

In Iran, whose domestic policies remained largely out of the spotlight during 2011, the government continued to stifle dissent, tightening restrictions on freedom of information and specifically targeting journalists, bloggers, independent trade unionists and political activists.

Amnesty International said the response of international powers and regional bodies such as the African Union, Arab League and EU to developments in 2011 had been inconsistent, and had failed to grasp the depth of the challenge to entrenched repressive rule in the region.

Human rights were espoused as a reason in favour of a military intervention in Libya, but the Security Council, stymied by Russia and China in particular, had by the end of the year only issued a weak statement condemning the violence in Syria.

And while the Arab League acted quickly to suspend Libya from membership in February and later suspended Syria and sent a team of observers, it remained quiet when Saudi Arabian troops, acting under a Gulf Cooperation Council banner, backed the Bahraini government’s efforts to crush protests.

“Support from world powers for ordinary people in the region has been typically patchy,” said Philip Luther.

“But what has been striking about the last year has been that – with some exceptions – change has largely been achieved through the efforts of local people coming onto the streets, not the influence and involvement of foreign powers.”

“The refusal of ordinary people across the region to be deterred from their struggle for dignity and justice is what gives us hope for 2012.”

Yemeni Revolutionaries Demand US Ambassador to Yemen Must Leave

2011-12-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi
26 December 2011

A leading component of the Yemeni peaceful protesters against the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh demand that US Ambassador to Yemen, Mr. Gerald M. Feierstein, be fired from his post and sent back home to the United States "without delay". The US Ambassador reportedly made statements that the Yemeni peaceful Revolutionaries found to be insulting to their dignity and to the millions of Yemenis that come out to support them from every Governorate.The "Convoy of Life" arrived to Sana'a after a four day march that began in Ta'ez and eventully ended up with over 100,000 who joined with the convoy as it approached Ibb, Dhamar and the hundreds of villages along the way (250 km). Among other things, the Ambassador is said to have called the protesters law breakers and violators of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative, and went on to testify that the protesters were actually armed, when he never even looked at them. The Convoy of Life is a new initiative created by the peaceful protesters in Freedom Square, Ta'ez, to rejuvenate the Revolution, after the signing of the GCC Initiative in Riyadh on November 23, 2011.Before the convoy reached Sana'a, government Central Security troops and paramilitary thugs started to attack the convoy in Dar Salm (about 20 km south of Sana'a and stiffened the attack when the convoy was able to reach Sana'a and come to within 2 km of the Presidential Palace, where Ali Abdulla Saleh continues to reside although he has presumably transferred all his authority to Vice President Abdur Rabbo Hadi, as called for by the GCC Initiative. Most Yemenis believe that this transfer is not worth the paper it is written on. The Yemeni youth continue to insist that they are not a party to the GCC Initiaitive as it gives Saleh, his relatives, and cronies immunity from prosecution for human rights violations and all the billions of US dollars, they have all robbed from the Yemeni treasury, and the horrendous corruption that has characterized the Saleh regime, since it came to power in 1978. They conitnue to demand that Saleh stand trial and punishement for all his crimes. The international human rights watchdog groups have all condemned the idea of giving Saleh, his relatives and cronies immunity, which organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even the UN Commission on Human Rights, regard as a dangerous precedent, especially as such immunity is guaranteed by the international community in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2014 on Yemen issued on October 21, 2011, which endorses the GCC Initiative.

Here is the a copy of the letter to be sent to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

In thename of Allah, the Beneficent – the Merciful

To: HisExcellency Barack Obama, President of the United States of America

Her Excellency, HillaryRodham Clinton, Secretary of State in the Obama Administration

Ref: The US Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen isan Advocate for a Tyrannical Mob and must be Removed Immediately.

December 25, 2011

Dear Excellencies:

First of all, pleaseallow us to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Yemeni people, express toboth of you and the American people our sincere season's greetings and the bestwishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year 2012.

The Yemeni people have been carrying out an uprisingagainst the continuation of the rule of Dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh since thebeginning of 2011. As you are both fully aware, Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces,which are still commanded by his sons and nephews, still rely on a continuousexcessively brutal reactive response to the growing popular demand fordemocratic change in Yemen, which betrays a lack of vision typical of anotherage – a by-gone era when suppression of human rights and restricting freedomand liberty were common practices.

Instead of respecting the legitimate rights of theYemeni people to peacefully protest and express themselves, Saleh, his familyand his hired paramilitary thugs continue to mercilessly clamp down on anypeaceful protest demonstration, march or rally. They continue unabashedly to deal with any popularuprising by randomly and indiscriminately killing unarmed Yemeni citizens withall kinds of light and heavy weapons.

Yesterday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), doctors atthe Field Hospital in Change Square and other hospitals in Sana'a reported that13 protesters were ruthlessly killed and over 100 were mercilessly wounded bytrigger-happy Central Security troops and paramilitary thugs under the commandof Saleh's nephew, Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh. Without any reasonable warning, thesemercenaries of death opened

fire at over 100,000 protesters, who haveconverged into the Capital, Sana'a, gathering strength as they marched (mostlyon foot) over four days from to Ta'ez to Sana'a, in a convoy called the Convoyof Life.

This craving for the bloodletting of innocentpeaceful protesters comes even as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) brokered theso called "transition deal", backed by your Excellency'sAdministration's strong support and guarantees, is presumably being carried outby the signing parties to the accord. You should be aware that the peaceful protesting youth and their fellowYemeni supporters, who continuously still come out by the millions, were notparty to such an unprecedented feat of political engineering drawn up mainly bydespotic tyrants. Thus, theconstitutional rights of Yemenis to continue to demand genuine democraticchanges in the way the Yemeni people are governed after 33 years of harshdictatorship are legitimately guaranteed by the Yemeni Constitution,international agreements and conventions and even the recently issued UnitedNations Security Council Resolution 2014 on Yemen issued on 21 October 2011.

At the very same time that Saleh's murderer's werecarrying out their bloodbath against the convoy in Dar Salm and on the southernperiphery of Sana'a, the Yemeni people were awed by shocking statements made byyour Ambassador to Yemen, Mr. Gerald M. Feierstein. The statements, which defy all principles ofdiplomatic protocol, actually went on to actually condemn the victims of thismost recent of Saleh's heinous massacres. Mr. Feierstein stated, among other things, without any shred of evidencethat the peaceful convoy was armed and that the convoy was a violation of theGCC Initiative. Mr. Feierstein surelyknows that the majority of Yemenis, led by the peaceful youth protesters, opposeand are not in any way represented thereto by any signatory. The major international and local presshave shown the horror of this massacre and also pointed out the reaction of theYemeni people to the inflammatory statements of the US Ambassador, as this linkclearly details: Forces Loyal to Yemeni PresidentFire on Protesters - New York Times.
Almost from the start of his tenure in Yemen,Ambassador Feierstein has never been very cordial with his personal (wecertainly would hope that they are not viewed as official US views, accepted byyour Administration) disappointing declarations on Yemen and the Yemeni people,and Feierstein's mostly defensive stances with the tyrannical Salehregime.

On behalf of the millions of protesting Yemenipeople peacefully demanding a comprehensive regime change in Yemen, theCoordinating Council of Yemeni Revolution for Change (CCYRC), we are obliged toinform Your Excellencies that the hostile statements by the US Ambassador toYemen yesterday on the peaceful convoy and its resulting bloodbath are indeedan affront to the human dignity of our people. Such unwelcome statements, to say the least, show a clear greatdisrespect for the sovereignty of Yemen, and the legitimate rights of theYemeni people accorded by such sovereignty.

Furthermore, CCYRC strongly detest such rudeforeboding accusations against innocent unarmed protesters by the representativeof the American people in Yemen, who, so far, has been far from being anyreflection of American democratic principles and freedom loving values. On the contrary, the Yemeni people have onlyseen your Ambassador as taking on the position of advocate and defender ofSaleh's ruthless oppression of his people, almost from the start of hisassignment in Yemen.

Surely, your Administration can well understandthat such contemptuous statements by the Chief Diplomat of the US Embassy inYemen, are bound to be the best fermenting grounds for increasing hostilityagainst the US and will only benefit those who are seeking to promote ananti-US and anti-western agenda as means to promoting a menacing Jihadistculture in Yemen, which neither the Yemeni people or the American peoplemutually look upon with any great favor.

Thus, CCYRC strongly demand that the US embassyand State Department issue an official apology and that Mr. Feierstein beimmediately dismissed as Ambassador of the United States to Yemen and sent homewithout any further delay.

Published on 26 12 2011

Ta'ez Under Fire by Saleh's Forces and No End in Sight

2011-12-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of New York Times Photo by Associated Press

By Hassan Al-Haifi
2 December 2011

It is not clear how long the remaining forces of the supposedly deposed President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will continue to indiscriminately and randomly shell the City of Ta'ez, in a frantic effort to quell the brave peaceful protest there against the diehard Saleh regime. This suppression of the people of Ta'ez (and elsewhere in Yemen) has not let up even with the signing of the GCC Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 24, 2011. They certainly are not leading to anything closer to reducing the aura of hell that the shelling of the city has brought on to the inhabitants of Ta'ez. Last week Human Rights Watch pointed out that 35 unarmed residents of the city were killed since the United Nations issued Security Council Resolution 2014 calling for a cessation of the use of excessive force by the Saleh regime against legitimate peaceful protests. Even after the signing of the GCC Initiative, and the entry of Yemen into the transitionary period, the bloodletting in Ta'ez has not abated. During this period, Saleh was to hand over all powers to his Vice President, and remain as a "ceremonial President" (whatever that means is not clear, and he certainly is not being ceremonial now) and then to implement the procedures for the power sharing scheme between the ruling party, the General People's Congress (GPC) with the formal opposition factions (including the Joint Meeting Parties of official opposition parties and other loose but nevertheless powerful factions) that co-signed the multi-faceted and still unclear transition deal as set out in the "mechanism for implementation" appended to the GCC Initiative. The latter was worked out by Jamal Ben Omar, UN Special Envoy sent to Yemen to get the political deal signed and implemented. Whatever the case, although there are some other political activities called for by the transition deal (such as the naming of a temporary caretaker government (comprising agreed division of ministerial portfolios between the signing parties said to come to 34 ministries!). But for the people of Ta'ez, Arhab (north of Sana'a, Nehm and other Saleh hotspots, the regime continues to see force as the only way to deal with protesters against the President, who has ruled Yemen now for 33 years.
For the last three days alone, the number of casualties have surpassed 25 fatalities, 12 of them on Thursday alone and the number of wounded has surpassed 100. The objective of the shelling of Ta'ez in this almost sadistic manner is not seen by many observers except as an obvious desire to forcefully end all protests against the regime. Others believe that the Saleh regime is pursuing to provoke anti regime protesters to take up arms against the Saleh regime and thus bring an all out war in Yemen, so that the regime can escape from meeting its commitments in the GCC Initiative and thus forfeit the need to abdicate by President Saleh altogether. The revolutionary youth of Yemen have issued an appeal to the "brokers" of the GCC Initiative and the international community to take measures to stop Saleh's continuous persecution of Yemeni protesters in general and the people of Ta'ez in particular (http://pdfcast.org/pdf/an-appeal-to-the-regional-neighbors-and-international-community). Today, the world must reconsider its position towards the Saleh regime. The latter is not even grateful to the sponsors of the GCC Initiative and its international guarantors for granting Saleh and his supporters immunity against being held accountable for all their violations of human rights and the corruption of regime officials over the last third of a century. All international human rights advocacy groups (HRW and Amnesty International among others) have rejected such stipulations as being conducive to international law and set a dangerous precedent for future efforts to deal with repressive and corrupt regimes.

The Ugly Face of the Saleh Regime

2011-06-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

This is what the Saleh Regime awards the people of Ta'ez with for being so steadfast in their demands for a free Yemen, a demcratic and corrupt free government and riddance of the oppression of the Saleh Regime:

ماذا جرى فعلا في دار الرئاسة في الجمعة الماضية؟

2011-06-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

حسن محمد الحيفي
10 يونيو 2011
بعد عودة كاتب هذه الصدور من صلاة الجمعة في الساعة 1,45 بعد الظهر، من يوم الجمعة الموافق 3 يونيو 2011، اتصلت بي ابنتي الساكنة في الجانب الآخر من مدينة صنعاء، في الجبال المطلة على شارع حده بالقرب من جامع الرحمن. وقد أفادت بشيء من الفزع عن نشوب قتال ضار في المنطقة. كما أنها لاحظت صواريخ كبيرة لم تكن قد رأتها من قبل، "تشبه الطائرات"، وهي تطير قريبة من فوق رؤوسهم. من المعروف أن الجبال في تلك المنطقة تحتوي على أنواع كثيرة من السلاح بما فيها الصورايخ. ومن الاعتقاد أن هذه الصواريخ تتبع الحرس الجمهوري.
في تلك اللحظة ركزت اهتمامي على تهدئة ابنتي من الفزع التي كانت تبديه هي وبناتها الثلاث. ووجهتها أن تنقل مع بناتها وحماتها الفاضلة إلى الـ"بدروم" الطرحة السفلى تحت سطح الأرض. وسكني هو كائن في ضاحية الروضة مسافة 12 كم شمال العاصمة، فلما قلت لابنتي أني سآتي إليهم الآن، اعترضت بشدة من كثر تبادل النيران الذي هيمن على المنطقة.
بعد ذلك بقليل بدأت تتناول وسائل الإعلام أنباء أخبار عن هجوم صاروخي على دار الرئاسة وأشيع بالخطأ أن الرئيس على عبد الله صالح توفى نتيجة للقصف الصاروخي على دار الرئاسة.
من المهم إذا النظر بإمعان إلى بعض النقاط الهامة بهذه الملابسات:
1) الوقت التي تم فيه الإطلاق للصواريخ كان تقريبا في الساعة الثانية تقريباُ، الأمر الذي يعني أنها قد تمت صلاة الجمعة في كل جوامع صنعاء وضواحيها تقريباً, وعليه، من المرجح ألا يوجد أي ناس في أي جوامع آنذاك فقد تموا الناس من أداء صلاة الجمعة، وعادوا إلى منازلهم لتناول وجبة الغداء. هذا ما يؤدي إلى الاستنتاج بأن الصاروخ الذي أصيب به الرئيس وأصحابه لم يضرب إلى المسجد الرئاسي، بل في مكان آخر انتقل إليه الرئيس وضيوفه بعد استكمال أداء الصلاة.
2) لم يذكر موضوع إصابة المسجد الرئاسي بالصاروخ إلا من بعد المغرب، حسب مشاهدات كاتب هذه السطور على التلفزيون ومن خلال الإطلاع على شبكة الإنترنت. فقصة وقوع الانفجار في المسجد لم تظهر إلا بعد ما وقع الهجوم بساعات عدة.
3) إن مشاهدة سكان المنطقة القريبة من الدار للصاروخ أو الصواريخ بالحجم الذي وصفوه يعمل على جعل الرواية بأن الانفجار تم من الداخل بعيدا من الواقع المرئي. ربما أنه بالفعل حصل انفجار من الداخل في المسجد الرئاسي، ولكن ذلك الانفجار لم يكن نفس الانفجار الذي أصيب به الرئيس وقتل بعض إفراد حراسه وضيوفه.
4) بما أنه تم استخدام مثل هذه الصواريخ الكبيرة في حجمها وانفجاراتها، فإنه ليس من المبالغة القول بأن محاولة الاغتيال بالفعل تم التخطيط لها بدقة، وترتيبها وتنفيذها ببالغ الفعالية والإحكام. وهذا ما يعني بأن عناصر في مواقع حساسة في قوات الحرس الجمهوري (التي تمتلك مثل هذه الصواريخ). ولا يستبعد أن يكون هؤلاء العناصر من أقرب الأقارب للرئيس، سواء من جيل الرئيس أو الجيل اللاحق.
5) إن ضلوع عناصر قيادية من الحرس الجمهوري يبرز من كون هذه القوات هي المنفردة بالقدرة الصاروخية لتنفيذ عملية حساسة ودقيقة على هذا النحو.
من المحتمل أنه لو تم التحقيق في الحادث بالافتراضات المحتملة الواردة هنا قد يتم الوصول إلى الضالعين في هذا الهجوم. وقد وردت قبل هذا الهجوم بـأيام قليلة جدا عن نشوب بعض الخلافات فيما بين أفراد الأسرة الحاكمة، مما أدى إلى ترك بعضهم مراكزهم والحنق إلى مسكنهم في "البلاد". ويقال أن هؤلاء من القيادات العليا في قوات الحرس الجمهوري.
ربما أن الانفجار في الجامع تم من الداخل، ولكن بعض المراقبين يرجحون أن الانفجار هذا تم لاحقا لخلق طابع "الشهادة" على الحادث وعلى ضحاياه، فيما أن الرئيس لم ينجو من الحادث، بل حتى ولو نجي. قد يكون الانفجار في الجامع، الذي لم يسمع عنه إلا بعد المغرب من يوم الحادث، شبيه بقميص يوسف الصديق عليه السلام الذي قدم لوالد النبي الفتى يعقوب عليه السلام ليؤكد قتل ابنه المحبوب من قبل الذئب، كما ادعى إخوته. من خلال الدماء الملطخة للقميص الممزق.
إن هذا المقال لا يوحي بأن الهجمة المميتة على دار الرئاسة حدث على النحو المبين أعلاه، فهناك الكثير من الغموض حول ملابسات الحادث. ولكن طالما الجهات الرسمية لم تقدم أي معلومات واضحة وشفافة حول الحادث، فمن الطبيعي أن يترك المجال للمراقبين أن يخمنوا ما يمكن الوصول إليه من خلال ما تتوفر من معطيات شحيحة جداً، مع أن حادث كهذا يجب ألا يخضع لأي تكهنات أو افتراضات. وقد تم التحري هاهنا بالرجوع إلى كل ما روي من مشاهد، وفي الأوقات الزمنية التي تمت فيها الملابسات المتعلقة بالحادث. ولا يعلم الغيب إلا الله جل جلاله

How Did All Hell Break Loose At The Presidential Palace Last Week?

2011-06-10T04:16:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi
Posted 110 June 2011
About half an hour after this observer came home from the Friday prayers on Friday, at around 1345 Hrs on the 3rd of June 2011, my daughter called to advise that there is heavy fighting in their area. She noted that there were rockets that were "as big as planes" flying over their heads, and that she has never seen ordnances of that size before. My daughter lives on the hills overlooking Hadda Street, overlooking the Al-Rahman Mosque. Those mountains overlooking Hadda are said to be storehouses and launch sites of large scale rockets, presumably belonging to the Republican Guards. At that moment, I concentrated on the effort to calm my daughter down and direct her and all those in her house to head for the Basement of the house, especially my three granddaughters and her faithful mother in law, who is one of the most God fearing individuals I have ever known, may God preserve her. Just then, the news immediately spread that the Presidential Palace has been hit and it was prematurely announced that President Ali Abdulla Saleh was dead. I lived on the other side of town in the Village of Rawdha about 12 km North of Sana'a, whereas the Presidential Palace compound and the Hadda area is on the other side of Sana'a due south.
It is important here to note a few points:
1) The time of the rocket launches was nearly 2:00 PM, which means that the Friday prayers would have ended in just about anywhere in Sana'a and its vicinity. Thus no one would be found in mosques except those who missed the Friday prayers. The rocket that eventually struck the President and all those killed or injured with him did not hit them at the mosque, but somewhere else.
2) There was no talk of the incident occurring at the mosque until almost after sunset, and thus it is obvious that the tale of the explosion at the mosque only materialized much later than the time of the attack.
3) The fact that such large rockets were actually observed being used on the attack seems to belie the assumption that the explosion was from within the compound of the Presidential Palace. The latter may be true of the explosion at the Presidential Palace mosque, which occurred later than the fatal explosion that rendered the President severely wounded, and a number of his guests at the compound dead and wounded.
4) Being as such highly explosive and precision guided rockets were used in the attack, it is not farfetched to believe that the attempted assassination was well planned, organized and executed. This would mean that very well placed personnel within the Republican Guards indeed executed the attempt at a very high level (since such rockets do belong to the RG). It is not also farfetched to assume that they would be family members from the Presidents most closest of kin, either at fraternal or even offspring level.
5) The assumption of the Republican Guards comes in light of the fact that they are the ones with the rocket capability of executing such a delicate operation.
If an investigation is carried out along these presumptions, it would easily lead to determination of the culprits. It should be noted that there was a lot of family infighting that led to some of the big members of the Presidential family leaving their posts and home in anger and hiding out in their local village a few days before the attack on the Presidential Palace Compound. The members involved were senior members of the Republican Guard command.
The mosque explosion was indeed an "inside job", but meant to create an aura of martyrdom to the incident, just in case His Excellency did not survive, or even more if he did survive. What we call in Arabic Yousef's shirt! [The prophet Joseph (PABUH) was said to have been eaten by wolves, and His brethren presented their father, Jacob (PBAUH) with a cloak that was drenched with blood to give weight to their story that Joseph was killed by wolves].
This article does not suggest that the fatal attack at the Presidential Palace could have only occurred this way, as all the details remain a mystery. But judging from the observations and actual timing of the attack and the other mitigating circumstances, it is not impossible to believe that they would not veer too far from the actual slate of events. "God is the Only Knower of all things unknown".

اللقاء المشترك يفشل الثورة ضد النظام

2011-05-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

حسن محمد الحيفي

لقد قام شباب اليمن من الجنوب والشمال والشرق والغرب من هذا البلد بإعلان إرادة الشعب اليمني الشرعية بالإسقاط الفوري غير المشروط وغير المقيد لولاية علي عبد الله صالح كرئيس للجمهورية اليمنية والإنهاء الفوري غير المشروط لنظام الحكم الفاسد المستبد الذي يسمح له ولزمرته بالعبث بموارد البلاد وتكريس كل جهود الدولة نحو خدمة المصالح الضيقة للقياديين التابعين لهذا النظام. كان ذلك منذ أكثر من ثلاثة أشهر ونصف، وبعد سقوط المئات من القتلى وعشرات الآلاف من الجرحى والتعطيل شبه الكامل لكل الأنشطة السياسية، الاقتصادية والاجتماعية. وقد وصلت الثورة إلى التمكن من تأكيد حتمية الإنهاء لحكم علي عبد الله صالح، وفي أسرع وقت ممكن، بلا حاجة لأي موافقة منه، ولا من زمرته الفاسدة، ولا تنظيمه الشمولي، ولا من أحزاب اللقاء المشترك على انفراد أو مجتمعين، ولا من مجلس التعاون الخليجي – على انفراد أعضائه أو مجتمعين، ولا من السيد باراك أوباما، وإدارته في البيت الأبيض، ولا الاتحاد الأوروبي بأعضائه – على انفراد أو مجتمعين، ولا من أي جماعة أو مجموعة سياسية كانت أو اجتماعية، أو اقتصادية، أو ثقافية. فهذا هو مطلب شعبي جماهيري مشروع ومعمد بدماء الشهداء ومعاناة الشعب اليمني من الحكم المتسلط على كل مقدرات الأمة لأكثر من ثلث قرن من الزمن. أيها الثوار الأحرار، أيها الشعب اليمني: هذه الثورة لها أهدافها النبيلة المتمثلة أولاً بالتخلص الفوري من حكم علي عبد الله صالح وكل مقومات الدولة التي تعمل على إبقاءه على العرش، سواء كان ذلك بالأساليب الصورية للشرعية المرتكزة على توجيه مؤسسات الدولة ومواردها بدون وجه حق لضمانة ذلك، أو بالتضليل والتشويه للحقائق، عبر وسائل الإعلام التابعة للدولة وعن طريق شراء الولاء والإذعان لنظامه بالمال العام، والتصريح لاستغلالها لخدمة المصالح الآنية الضيقة لأقطاب النظام ورموزه، المنخرطة معظمها في قمع المواطنين وسلب حقوقهم المشروعة سياسياً، اقتصاديا واجتماعياً.
لنسأل أنفسنا ماذا يؤخر تحقيق أهداف الثورة المجمع عليها كل فئات، وشرائح وتنظيمات وأحزاب، ومنظمات وجمعيات شريفة من هذا الشعب اليمني الأبي، في الريف والحضر، وملتف حولها الكثير، بل ألأغلبية من قادة البلاد السياسيين، والعسكريين، والدينين، والقبليين؟ نحن ندرك جيدا ما هناك من مساعي تبذل لمحاولة وجود مسوغ قانوني إقليمي لتثبيت نظام علي عبد الله صالح وإفشال الثورة، ولا يسع إلا أن نقول هذه المساعي للأسف الشديد لا تعمل على تحقيق أي هدف من أهداف هذه الثورة، ويجب الوقوف أمامها ومنعها من الوصول إلى حيز التنفيذ. الأمر بكل بساطة يعود إلى اللقاء المشترك من أحزاب المعارضة. وللأسف ألشديد أن نقول أن اللقاء المشترك في الواقع أصبح هو السبب الرئيسي لبقاء علي عبد الله صالح في دار الرئاسة، دون سواه. ذلك بكل بساطة يعود إلى ما سمح لنفسه اللقاء المشترك ليدخل كطرف رئيسي في هذه المناورة المشبوهة من دول الجوار، وبالتالي، جعلت بقاء على عبد الله صالح ضروري حتى يوافق على صيغة مناسبة له من هذه المبادرة الخليجية السخيفة، والتي تعمل على تمرير الوقت ليس إلا حتى يتمكن على صالح من القضاء على الثورة بأساليبه القمعية المعتادة.
من الواضح جدا أن اللقاء المشترك ومشاركته في هذه اللعبة الخطيرة على الثورة أصبح العائق الكبير أمام نجاح الثورة، لأنه يعطي لعلي صالح الحق للبقاء في دار الرئاسة حتى يتم الوصول إلى الصيغة المناسبة للمبادرة، والتي من الغفول أن نتوقع الوصول إلى ذلك، فعلي صالح باق طالما يتم الأخذ والرد السخيف حول هذه المبادرة وشروطها المتنوعة والمتغيرة من صيغة إلى صيغة، على نحو يجعله في واقع الأمر من المستحيل الوصول إلى الصيغة التي ترضي الرئيس. هذا معناه أن الثورة تركت المسعى الرئيسي للثورة المتمثل بإنهاء أي شأن لعلي صالح في مجريات الأحداث ما بعد انطلاق الثورة، فالشعب اليمني لم يعد يعترف بأي حقوق لعلي صالح كرئيس للجمهورية، ويجب أن يكون اللقاء المشترك أيضا غير معترف بأي حق لعلي صالح بتاتا في تقرير مصيره كرئيس لليمن، فلا داعي أن ننتظر لموافقته على أي صيغة من أي مبادرة لا تتمشى وتحقيق رغبة الشعب اليمني في التخلص الفوري من علي صالح وزمرته، ولا يجب أن يحسب اللقاء المشترك أنه مخول أو موفد أو موكل للخوض في أي حوار أو مفاوضات نيابة عن الشعب اليمني الثائر ولا بد من إعلان قادة الشباب الثوار علناٌ بأن الثورة ليست معنية بأي حوار يتم إجراءه مع اللقاء المشترك كممثل للثورة. وبالتالي يجب أن ينصح اللقاء المشترك عدم تنصيب نفسه كمتحدث عن الثورة أو ممثل لها، ويجب التحذير للقاء المشترك بأن استمرار انجرا ره في هذه المناورة والمحاولة لكبح الثورة بأساليب سياسية لا تستند إلى أي مراجع قانونية دولية، إقليمية أو وطنية. فبالتالي على المجلس ألتنسيقي لثورة الشباب أن يعلن صراحة بضرورة التوقف عن الدخول في أي مفاوضات مع أي طرف في أي شأن لا يعمل على التنحي الفوري لعلي صالح ومغادرته أو إلقاء القبض عليه لمواجهة التهم التي ستعلن في حقه، لما قام به من جرائم أثناء فترة توليه رئاسة الجمهورية. أما اللقاء المشترك فيصبح حليفا لعلي صالح طالما يشارك في هذه اللعبة التي تحاول إفشال الثورة، وبالتالي يجب أن يتخلى اللقاء المشترك عن لعب أي دور تفاوضي أو للتوقيع أو أي عمل آخر متعلق بأي مبادرة سخيفة تحاول تغيير مسار الثورة وإبقاء الرئيس يلعب بكل الأطراف التي تشارك في هذه اللعبة المفضوحة. والله الموفق.

Wise Words of A Yemeni Statesman to the President and Protesters

2011-05-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi
16 May 2011

As a follow up to the Breaking News report on the assault on Tarek Mohsin Al-Aini (http://yemencommonsense.blogspot.com/2011/05/son-of-former-prime-minister-mohsin-al.html), in addition to Tarek's active role as a protesting youth in Tagheer Square, tent and following of other youth protesters, it can be easily seen why the following could have also been a strong reason for the unjustified assault on Tarek Al-Aini (and his wife):

An open Letter by H. E. Mohsin Al-Aini, former Prime Minister of Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic – prior to unification of Yemen) several times, Foreign Minister and Ambassador of Yemen to FDR (Germany), the United States etc., directed to the current President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh dd. 5 April 2011 (Source Almasdar Online (http://www.almasdaronline.com/index.php?page=news&article-section=1&news_id=18239):
"I (hereby) implore President Ali Abdullah Saleh to abdicate immediately, and without any restrictions or conditions. How can the President rest comfortably for even one night in the Presdiential Palace, with scores of Yemeni people who have fell as martyrs and hundreds as injured respectively?
On more than one occasion, the President has expressed his willingness to abdicate and his desire to give up (the Presidency), so what is it then that prevents him from achieving his desire and the realization of the people's wish?
Your Excellency, abdicate, not just for the thousands of "youth for a change" in the different squares of protest. Or for the parties of the Joint Meeting Parties Coalition, but even also for the hundreds of thousands of Yemenis who have come to Sana'a to support you and stand by your side. They all – supporters and protesters – deserve to be spared the conflict, bloodshed and the entry into a civil war. And for what reason?
Yemen is more dear than all (Official) positions, tenacity and self-pride.
Does not the President care for the unity of Yemen … and the Yemeni people, and for Yemen's stability, security and development.
The persistence of the President to continue threatens the unity of Yemen … and exposes to conditions that do no honor to anyone.
So let us elevate ourselves, and prove once again our patriotism … our love for Yemen and we will indeed never be sorry."
Mr. Al-Aini, in the same open letter, then turns to the protesting factions:
"As for you, the Youth of Change, the parties of the JMP, Brigadier General Ali Mohsin and his comrades in the military, the brothers of the Southern Movement, the political arena of the South, and the North, and the Sheiks and tribes of Yemen, have you agreed on the leadership for the transitional phase? (A leadership) that will insure security and peace in an atmosphere of reconciliation, cooperation, tolerance and brotherhood?
Do you a (clear) picture of the New Yemen you aspire to build? On its relations with neighboring states and the world around us?
Have you opened up to all the national power factions and trends, so as not to exclude anyone … whether they are Zeidi or Shaf'ei, Hashemite or Qahatani, and military or tribal.
May God be with you and with Yemen.
Mohsin Al-Aini"

Breaking News: First March Towards the Republican Palace Led By Tawakkul Karman

2011-05-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

by Hassan Al-Haifi

Reports indicate that Tawakkul Karman, a leader in the Revlutionary Movement of Yemen has led a march towards the Republican Palace, in the center of Sana'a as one of the first steps of escalation in protesters drive to oust Ali Abdullah Saeh the long reigning Presidewnt of the Republicd of Yemen. Tens of Thousands have joineed with her in this significant development in the revolt against Saleh after the failure of the 4 recent Gulf Cooperation Initiatives (GCC).

Deadly attack on Yemeni protesters undermines reform plans | Amnesty International

2011-04-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Deadly attack on Yemeni protesters undermines reform plans | Amnesty International

COMMON SENSE: Why it must be Over?

2011-04-19T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:18-04-2011
Yemen Times

One would that think that with so many millions of Yemenis, who have gone into the streets from Sa'ada to Hadhramaut, screaming as loud as their voices could shout, LEAVE, LEAVE, the President of the Republic of Yemen would say, like Zein Al-Abidein, the dethroned former President of Tunisia, said three months ago, "I understand"; i.e., I got the message. There is nothing that could show President Ali Abdullah that there is really justification for continuing to hold on to the Presidency with most of the institutions in Government, which really matter to the people of Yemen, hardly functioning by any means.

The Central Bank of Yemen and a considerable portion of the Republican Guards and Central Security are the only elements that the President insists give him the right to carry on his already untangling stranglehold on the Yemeni people, who he has been more than lucky to be able to rule now for nearly a third of a century. There is, no doubt, considerable pride that the President might be able to feel in being able to hold the record of all the Presidents, who have ruled Yemen, since the Revolution of September 26, 1962 and October 14, 1963. There are even some achievements that the President might also consider as worth some note in history, mainly the unification of Yemen (which was partly stimulated by a rapidly changing global arrangement spurned by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union). But, the President did take the initiative that eventually removed the border barrels at Habilayn and other border outposts as well as the unnecessary fortifications that worked to bar entry and exit of Yemenis on both sides of the former border that superficially divided the Northern Governorates and the Southern Governorates.

The unification of Yemen could not have been surpassed by any other event by which Yemen enters the 21st Century or the Third Millennium. However, after Mr. Saleh transformed the once commendable unification agreement into a private enterprise, in addition to the other maladies brought on by the regime, in both north and south, the threat of fragmentation reappeared. Regrettably speaking, the disagreeable practices of Mr. Saleh, his relatives and the other icons of the regime, in the Southern and Eastern Governorates, especially after 1994 and the breakdown of all hopes of saving the positive spirit that was evoked by the Unification Agreement did rightfully produce much discontent amongst our fellow Yemenis in the South. There have been even recent calls for "breaking the ties" of unity mainly by elements of the regime that used to manage the state of affairs in the South before unification and a considerable number of other fellow Yemenis in the South. Without a doubt, such calls are understandable, as indeed President Saleh has reneged on the unification agreement, but they certainly could never be acceptable, because the Constitution of the Republic of Yemen was put to a national referendum and the overwhelming majority of Yemenis in both the Governorates that made up the former "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen" and those that made up the former Yemen Arab Republic voted yes for termination of the fragmented status of Yemen and the beginning of a new era that conforms to the natural and historical legacy of Yemen from ancient times to our age.

Incidentally, even the British recognized that Yemen was indeed one country and allowed the Imam of Yemen before the September Revolution to keep a Viceroy in Aden and a Viceroy in Mukalla. The fact that President Saleh did not even try to solve the grievances of our southern brothers has done much to tarnish his record as the initiator of unification and all that was required is that the southern elements of the government that used to run the PDRY should not have been ignored and literally abandoned by the Government of the Republic of Yemen, in both the military side and the civil service side. There were some really outstanding military and civil service personnel that were in the Government of PDRY and they should have really been allowed to maintain their positions, which they held before the unfortunate War of 1994. Perhaps the only entity that seemed to have kept the management intact, with the personnel that came with the unification to Sana'a and the other way around to Aden that I am aware of was the Public Electricity Corporation. The credit of this goes to no other than Engineer Ahmed Hassan Al-Aini (Managing Director at the time of the Public Electricity Corporation), who indeed instilled the spirit of unity and brotherhood amongst all the staff and there was never any feeling of aloofness or detachment among the PEC staff from both north and south of the Mikeiras line even after the 1994 War.

Thus, it can be seen that if we are to be able to maintain the unity of the country without further raising the discontent of our southern fellow Yemenis, it goes without saying that maintaining the Presidency of Ali Saleh will never alleviate the aura of despair and hope amongst our southern brothers and sisters. Therefore, for this very important reason, the President should understand that the continuation of his Presidency brings with it the risk of forcing many of our southern brothers to seek a secession. One of course does not really see any reason yet that such a drastic step should be taken and for all intents and purposes, such irrational course would be tantamount to distorting the sovereignty of Yemen to the unholy state it was in before unification. Such a state was certainly not favorable for any Yemenis on both sides of the fictitious border that then divided them. Both sides lost many lives and much of the scarce resources of the country as each side sought to instill their version of a united Yemen. It was impossible for a Marxist agenda to be imposed on all of Yemen and the ultra conservative north also did not present a commendable formula for application on both sides of Yemen. That is why, we are today facing the risk of fragmentation and it is therefore the first task of the Post Saleh democratic Government to ensure that the issues that have bothered our southern brothers be dealt with justly, equitably and with an emphasis on restoring the dignity and pride of our southern brothers. This, along with the consequences of the Sa'ada Wars should be sufficient reasons to convince the President that it is all over for him, otherwise Yemen faces the threat of becoming fragmented beyond repair.

Amidst this depressing note, it is inspiring to see how Yemenis from every corner of Yemen have found an almost utopian era in Change Square, where no one is ever discriminated against or even recognized as being from that region or this governorate. All insist only that they are Yemenis and all have come to the Square ready to risk their lives in order to bring about a readjustment of the unhealthy course, which the long standing regime of Saleh has set the country on without regards to the interests of the Yemeni people at large. Instead the Saleh regime has focused all its efforts and directed all the resources of the country to maintaining the domination of the President's family and cronies over all aspects of Government, business and of course social affairs, while leaving the vast majority of the Yemeni people, in the North and the South with very little to look forward to if the Saleh regime is not removed once and for all. There simply is no other course left for Yemen to take.

اليوم في اليمن خاصة وخارجه: عشر استراتيجيات للتحكم بالشعوب

2011-04-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

نعوم تشومسكي

تناقلت عدّة مواقع عالميّة في الأيّام الأخيرة قائمة أعدّها المفكّر الأمريكي نعوم تشومسكي واختزل فيها الطّرق التي تستعملها وسائل الإعلام العالميّة للسيطرة على الشّعوب عبر وسائل الإعلام في 10 استراتيجيّات أساسيّة. وبما أنّ نظريّة المؤامرة تلقى رواجا كبيرا لدى شبابنا فقد رأيت أنّه سيكون من الأنفع لي ولهم أن نطّلع على تحليل لمفكّر بوزن نعوم تشومسكي بدلا عن مشاهدة مقاطع الفيديو الطّفوليّة التي تنتشر على فايسبوك والتي بلغت من السّخافة حدّا يجعل ضررها أكثر من نفعها. لم أجد المقال باللغة العربيّة فرأيت أن أقوم بترجمته و أرجو لكم قراءة طيّبة

ا(1)استراتيجيّة الإلهاء: هذه الاستراتيجيّة عنصر أساسي في التحكّم بالمجتمعات، وهي تتمثل في تحويل انتباه الرّأي العام عن المشاكل الهامّة والتغييرات التي تقرّرها النّخب السياسية والاقتصادية، ويتمّ ذلك عبر وابل متواصل من الإلهاءات والمعلومات التافهة. استراتيجيّة الإلهاء ضروريّة أيضا لمنع العامة من الاهتمام بالمعارف الضروريّة في ميادين مثل العلوم، الاقتصاد، علم النفس، بيولوجيا الأعصاب و علم الحواسيب. "حافظ على تشتّت اهتمامات العامة، بعيدا عن المشاكل الاجتماعية الحقيقية، واجعل هذه الاهتمامات موجهة نحو مواضيع ليست ذات أهمية حقيقيّة. اجعل الشعب منشغلا، منشغلا، منشغلا، دون أن يكون له أي وقت للتفكير، وحتى يعود للضيعة مع بقيّة الحيوانات." (مقتطف من كتاب أسلحة صامتة لحروب هادئة)

ا(2) ابتكر المشاكل ... ثم قدّم الحلول: هذه الطريقة ا(2) تسمّى أيضا "المشكل - ردّة الفعل - الحل". في الأول نبتكر مشكلا أو "موقفا" متوقــَعا لنثير ردّة فعل معيّنة من قبل الشعب، و حتى يطالب هذا الأخير بالإجراءات التي نريده أن يقبل بها. مثلا: ترك العنف الحضري يتنامى، أو تنظيم تفجيرات دامية، حتى يطالب الشعب بقوانين أمنية على حساب حرّيته، أو: ابتكار أزمة مالية حتى يتمّ تقبّل التراجع على مستوى الحقوق الاجتماعية وتردّي الخدمات العمومية كشرّ لا بدّ منه.

ا(3) استراتيجيّة التدرّج: لكي يتم قبول اجراء غير مقبول، يكفي أن يتمّ تطبيقه بصفة تدريجيّة، مثل أطياف اللون الواحد (من الفاتح إلى الغامق)، على فترة تدوم 10 سنوات. وقد تم اعتماد هذه الطريقة لفرض الظروف السوسيو-اقتصاديّة الجديدة بين الثمانينات والتسعينات من القرن السابق: بطالة شاملة، هشاشة، مرونة، تعاقد خارجي ورواتب لا تضمن العيش الكريم، وهي تغييرات كانت ستؤدّي إلى ثورة لو تمّ تطبيقها دفعة واحدة

ا(4) استراتيجيّة المؤجّــَـل: وهي طريقة أخرى يتم الالتجاء إليها من أجل اكساب القرارات المكروهة القبول وحتّى يتمّ تقديمها كدواء "مؤلم ولكنّه ضروري"، ويكون ذلك بكسب موافقة الشعب في الحاضر على تطبيق شيء ما في المستقبل. قبول تضحية مستقبلية يكون دائما أسهل من قبول تضحية حينيّة. أوّلا لأن المجهود لن يتم بذله في الحين، وثانيا لأن الشعب له دائما ميل لأن يأمل بسذاجة أن "كل شيء سيكون أفضل في الغد"، وأنّه سيكون بإمكانه تفادي التّضحية المطلوبة في المستقبل. وأخيرا، يترك كلّ هذا الوقت للشعب حتى يتعوّد على فكرة التغيير ويقبلها باستسلام عندما يحين أوانها.

ا(5) مخاطبة الشعب كمجموعة أطفال صغار: تستعمل غالبية الإعلانات الموجّهة لعامّة الشعب خطابا وحججا وشخصيات ونبرة ذات طابع طفولي، وكثيرا ما تقترب من مستوى التخلّف الذهني، وكأن المشاهد طفل صغير أو معوّق ذهنيّا. كلّما حاولنا مغالطة المشاهد، كلما زاد اعتمادنا على تلك النبرة. لماذا؟ "إذا خاطبنا شخصا كما لو كان طفلا في سن الثانية عشر، فستكون لدى هذا الشخص إجابة أو ردّة فعل مجرّدة من الحسّ النقدي بنفس الدرجة التي ستكون عليها ردّة فعل أو إجابة الطفل ذي الإثني عشر عاما." (مقتطف من كتاب أسلحة صامتة لحروب)

ا(6) استثارة العاطفة بدل الفكر: استثارة العاطفة هي تقنية كلاسيكية تُستعمل لتعطيل التّحليل المنطقي

وبالتالي الحسّ النقدي للأشخاص. كما أنّ استعمال المفردات العاطفيّة يسمح بالمرور للاّوعي حتّى يتمّ زرعه بأفكار، رغبات، مخاوف، نزعات، أو سلوكيّات. (7) إبقاء الشّعب في حالة جهل وحماقة: العمل بطريقة يكون خلالها الشعب غير قادر على استيعاب التكنولوجيات والطّرق المستعملة للتحكّم به واستعباده. "يجب أن تكون نوعيّة التّعليم المقدّم للطبقات السّفلى هي النوعيّة الأفقر، بطريقة تبقى إثرها الهوّة المعرفيّة التي تعزل الطّبقات السّفلى عن العليا غير مفهومة من قبل الطّبقات السّفلى" (مقتطف من كتاب أسلحة صامتة لحروب هادئة)

ا(8) تشجيع الشّعب على استحسان الرّداءة: تشجيع الشّعب على أن يجد أنّه من "الرّائع" أن يكون غبيّا، همجيّا و جاهلا.

ا(9) تعويض التمرّد بالإحساس بالذنب: جعل الفرد يظنّ أنّه المسؤول الوحيد عن تعاسته، وأن سبب مسؤوليّته تلك هو نقص في ذكائه وقدراته أو مجهوداته. وهكذا، عوض أن يثور على النّظام الاقتصادي، يقوم بامتهان نفسه ويحس بالذنب، وهو ما يولّد دولة اكتئابيه يكون أحد آثارها الانغلاق وتعطيل التحرّك. ودون تحرّك لا وجود للثورة!

ا(10) معرفة الأفراد أكثر ممّا يعرفون أنفسهم: خلال الخمسين سنة الماضية، حفرت التطوّرات العلميّة المذهلة هوّة لا تزال تتّسع بين المعارف العامّة وتلك التي تحتكرها وتستعملها النّخب الحاكمة. فبفضل علوم الأحياء، بيولوجيا الأعصاب وعلم النّفس التّطبيقي، توصّل "النّظام" إلى معرفة متقدّمة للكائن البشري، على الصّعيدين الفيزيائي والنّفسي. أصبح هذا "النّظام" قادرا على معرفة الفرد المتوسّط أكثر ممّا يعرف نفسه، وهذا يعني أنّ النظام - في أغلب الحالات - يملك سلطة على الأفراد أكثر من تلك التي يملكونها على أنفسهم.

(Avram Noam Chomsky) أفرام نعوم تشومسكي الميلاد 7 ديسمبر 1928 (العمر 82)، فيلادلفيا،الاسم بنسلفانيا المدرسة/التقليد الفلسفي اللسانيات، الفلسفة التحليلية الحقبة فلسفة القرن العشرين / الحادي والعشرين الإقليم الفلسفة الغربية الاهتمامات الرئيسية اللسانيات، علم النفس، فلسفة اللغة، فلسفة العقل، السياسة، الأخلاق

Is the End of the Yemeni Political Crisis Over?

2011-04-10T21:52:00.001-07:00

Throughout the evening I followed the local, regional and international media for any reports of shootings in Yemen against the peaceful protesters against President of Everything that moves, speaks or talks, dead or alive substances, etc. To my delight there were no incidents of the security apparatus commanded by his sons and nephews or hired thugs unleashing their deadly weapons on the peaceful youth and protesters against the tyranny of the long-standing regime mainly dominated by his close of kin and fellow tribesmen. It appears that this could be a sign that the President has accepted the Gulf Cooperation Council formula to settle the Yemeni political crisis: 1) Ali Saleh to abdicate all his authorities to his Vice President Abdu Rabbu Hadi 2) A caretaker government to be formed to manage affairs pending elections and the redrawing of Yemen's Constitution. This leads one to suggest that either the wily Saleh may be palnning for something desperate or that Saleh and his cronies are packing to leave the country.

Amnesty International Praises Yemeni Women Participating in Revolt

2011-04-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

April 1, 2011 During recent Yemen protests, an increasing number of women have been taking part in recent protests in different cities including Sana’a, Ta’izz and Aden, and Amnesty International voices its support of women’s increased visibility in Yemen and women’s right to join in the calls for government reform. But Amnesty International remains concerned that many Yemeni women are treated as second-class citizens in law and tribal custom, including forced marriages, unequal protection under the law, and gender-targeted threats to their safety and security. Moreover, women in Yemen remain inadequately protected against domestic and other violence. Amnesty International calls for an end to discriminatory laws and violence against women in Yemen, and stands with the women in Yemen for full and equal access to their human rights. During this time of government protest, we especially highlight the need for women to have equal access to participate fully in government. Women should have full and equal rights and access to participation in Yemeni government and cultural life, and we call on the Yemen government to ensure women are represented equally and are granted equal protection under the law. Amnesty International continues to call on the Yemeni government to protect civilian protestors and ensure that the right to peaceful protest and freedom of assembly is protected for the men and women of Yemen. Sincerely, Tarah Demant, Women’s Human Rights Group, Amnesty International, USA Alireza Azizi, Yemen Country Specialist, Amnesty International, USA

Mr. President: Yemen is Not a Slaughterhouse for You and Your Kin

2011-03-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

1) At moment of first posting (2:30 PM) the butchers of the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh killed 30 people and wounded over 200 in the Square of Change in the City of Sana'a. All victims were unarmed and had just completed Friday prayers. The victims were all peaceful young protestors demanding the fall of the Ali Abdulla Saleh regime, which has ruled for over 32 years.

2) By sunset (6:30 PM), the number of killed in Bloody Friday has risen to 45 and the wounded to over 250. Doctors in the Field Hospital at the site state that the shots were aimed for the head, neck and chest.

Appareently, he did not heed my plea below:

Yemen Times Issue No. 1450 http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=35748
March 14, 2011
By Hassan Al-Haifi

For thirty-three years, Ali Abdullah Saleh and his band of thugs has been allowed to turn this decent and peace loving country into a bloodbath for the President and his team of mobsters so that they can take possession of all its resources and to bleed it out of every cell of conscientiousness. Mr. Saleh and his band of highway robbers and hired killers have turned murder, theft and sheer gut force as the only way to rule a once peaceful God-fearing nation and make it subservient to no more than cutthroat butchers. For more than three decades, Saleh and his gang continue to insist that mob rule is the only way to ensure that Saleh and his mobsters can escape from any accountability for all the evil they have introduced into a once innocent society as if this nation was a piece of cake they can devour, without even having to wash their hands from all the blood they have shed to get Saleh to his throne and keep him there.
What happened last Saturday morning in the heart of the City of Sana'a – the traditional City of Peace – surely is not the behavior of sensible men of state, but the behavior of hungry vampires thirsty for the blood of humankind to satisfy their unquenchable urge to see their fellow citizens begging for their mercy to have their lives spared. For a third of a century, the regime spent all the resources of the country to amass every conceivable tool of death and destruction to ensure its infinite longevity – and deprive their people from even achieving subsistent existence. This regime and its filthy "official" mouthpieces continued to twist the facts to suit their unabashed exploitation of the goodness of their people and good faith that these people once had (for a very short while indeed), only to turn around and explain their failure to carry out their end of the social contract on the lack of respect that their people have for their deified existence. For thirty three years, Saleh continued to kill, maim and displace his countrymen not just by individuals but en masse, with scores of massacres that have spanned the length and width of Yemen to the point that have driven even "great powers" like the United States to do his killing for him, while he would unabashedly take the credit for such unholy deeds. On the eve of the massacre on the Square of Change (last Friday night), reports were coming to this observer that the thugs of the regime and disguised security men were being deployed in all the streets branching out of the Street of Change and driving even residents in the interior of the streets away and preventing them from returning to their homes until they paid bribes to these thugs. This is the kind of society Ali Abdullah Saleh has created in Yemen, where terror is the rule and not the exception, nor is it the work of bands of so called Al-Qaeda murderers. After all, it is Saleh, who has a perpetual love affair with Al-Qaeda and extremism and who uses this booby man skillfully to embezzle the United States and the other gullible western powers of all the armaments and legitimacy he needs to keep his tight grip on his people.
It is impossible to believe that President Barak Obama would send ambassadors to this country, who are unable to see that Ali Abdullah Saleh is the major terrorist of the region only half way equaled by Muammar Qadhafi and Omar Al-Bashir, both of who also insist that they have the right to irrigate the lands they purport to rule with the blood of their subjects to guarantee the perpetuity of this right. Mr. President, it is bad enough that your administration takes its very slow time in assessing the enormous harm that these masters of death, destruction and mayhem are doing not only to the interests of the United States, but to the peace and tranquility of the entire world. Mr. President, please be informed that it is these men who are responsible for nurturing the "terrorism" you appear to dread and it is they and their Saudi mentors who brought terrorism to your turf at the World Trade Center and your Ministry of Defense, the Pentagon. It is Saleh and his security apparatus that have made Yemenis incapable of voicing even the weakest complaint against the pilferage of the Presidents' relatives of the state treasury and all the resources of the land, while half of their countrymen live below the world poverty line of less than US $ 2 a day. If that is not enough, it is the Saleh regime that then takes advantage of the misery of these destitute fellow countrymen and hire them out as armed "loyalists" to support his security machine in its various manifestations, as they storm the tents of peaceful unarmed demonstrators and rain these courageous sincere hopeless youth of Yemen, hungry for freedom and a decent life, with bullets and lethal gases of unknown origin and assault them with the latest state of the art torture utensils. If this is what Ali Abdulla Saleh wants us to remember him by when he leaves (now or tomorrow), he is mistaken, because tyrants of his like are usually thrown into the garbage bins of history and lauded with curses every time their names are mentioned.
By the way, it is worth passing a note of congratulations to the recent appointments of the Yemen Embassy in Washington, all of whom are sons and nieces of His Excellency the President. Such appointments are understandable, since it would not be appropriate for such young children of the ruling family to be witnesses to the murderous exploits of their fathers and uncles as they guarantee the smooth takeover of every meaningful position in Government to their close of kin at home and as they eliminate the true patriotic youth of the country, who are guilty of nothing except saying, "Mr. Saleh, enough is enough; for God's sake, if you truly believe in the Al-Mighty, pack your bags and leave us with some peaceful moments to cherish for a change".
As these words are written, the thugs of His Excellency's regime continue their murderous attack on the proud and patriotic youth of Yemen, in Sana'a and the brave cities of Ta'ez, Aden, Sa'ada and Mukalla, who thought that there is still some respect in this world for the people who struggle and sacrifice their lives so they and their fellow citizens can live free and with dignity. But the story seems to be the same from Wisconsin to Capitol Hill to the streets of Zawiya, it is the rule of the gun that is respected and allowed to prevail even if the whole country is turned into a slaughterhouse.

Hassan Al-Haifi may be blogged at http://com-senfromyem.blogspot.com/.

Yemen: 'Chaos by design' - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

2011-03-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best analysis of the situation in Yemen now.

Hassan Al-Haifi

Yemen: 'Chaos by design' - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

We are not the enemy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

2011-02-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

We are not the enemy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The others are bound to wake up, carry on Tunisia

2011-01-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:24-01-2011

“Yes, brothers and sisters in Tunisia, thanks a million for making us realize that there is some vitality left in a nation killed by a combination of authoritarian dictatorial and oppressive machines that make the feudal kings and the Catholic Church of Europe during the Middle Ages seem like angels sent from Heavens to deliver Mankind!”, said Alia, as she put together a combination of her best homemade cookies for light snacks for her children.

Nabila stretched her hand to dig for the chocolate chip cookies, which her mother buried by some other new cookies she has just learned to make, : “Mom, nothing will ever top your chockos, as far as I am concerned. Mom, don’t delve into matters that could mean we will be deprived of your chockos as the lynch men of the regime take you away from us into an unknown cell bloc in the name of ‘national security” and/or ‘anti terrorism’ in order to placate an American foreign secretary, who has trouble getting on a plane, let alone managing the international affairs of a fast declining power.”

“Notwithstanding the comment about Hillary’s gait, I am at a loss to think what we would do without Mom’s cookies and pies, commented Ahmed as he ran down the stairs also hitting the bottom of the cookie pile as he grabbed a handful on his way to the door, continuing, “I just can’t wait until our people take a hint from Tunisia and realize that ‘Allah does not bring change upon a people, until the people bring a change upon themselves’, as the Lord has rightly said in the Final Heavenly Scriptures to come down from the Throne of the Al-Mighty – No! Make that all the Arabs from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Look, Algeria is already nominated to follow their fellow North African Arabs in Carthage, then Egypt, then the Sudan, then Yemen – although the regime here is trying very hard to show it has some ‘popular support’ – with its puppets, who continue to sell themselves cheap, at the expense of their people’s freedom and the state treasury, intermixing with protestors to show that there is a ‘two sided’ story here.”

Nabila remarked: “Dictatorships are a one sided story, no matter where they are and no matter how much they raise the pictures of the dictators they serve, which are by the way printed at Government presses and costed at five times their normal costs. How long can these crooks continue to rob their people, even at bad times for them as well, an even as their thrones are being challenged by the masses they have literally bled for decades?”

The father began to feel a sense of rebellion brewing at his house: “Hey people, be careful, the first one they will come for is yours truly. But then, I can’t blame you and the kids; the whole country is fed up from Sa’ada to Aden. Yes, we need a change, for sure. But how this Tunisian Tsunami going to hit Yemen remains to be seen. The point to make here is that the present status quo is absolutely unsustainable any more. But the tide will be big and powerful and not just a ripple.”

But dad, the Arab League just came out with substantial remedies for solving the plight of the discontent and hungry that are bound to calm the whining masses of les Miserable’s throughout the Arab World. On the other hand before Hillary fell on the plane, she assured the world that Yemen is on the roster of allies against terrorism. Whatever that means, it certainly is understood to mean that Obama and friends are in favor of the status quo here in Yemen. It seems that is what she hinted to the “opposition” she met. Never mind that it was the creators of this unlivable status quo who actually imported terrorism into Yemen, systematically, over the span of their hold on authority, thanks to Saudi prodding and support.”

Alia continued talking, noticing that the chocolate chips continue to have first ranking among her cookies: “That is the kind of senseless blind support all these dictators in the Arab World are so happy to sing about, while their subjects have lost the knack for even singing the “blues”, whether inner city or rural.”

Her husband said: “Alia, now I know you have lived in the USA, you seem to know their culture so well, not to mention knowing how footloose they are.”

Alia was not distracted by her husband’s play on semantics about his wife: “ Hillary’s fall has nothing to do with dancing. She fell because, Madeline Al-Bright did for her husband, what she could not do for Barack Obama, manage America’s foreign policy with her feet in steadfast mode.”

The tide begins to turn: First Tunisia and then?

2011-01-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

By
Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:17-01-2011
Yemen Times
Time and again, this column has often stated that the kind of events that unfolded in Tunisia are bound to occur in any of the Arab States, which have witnessed sufficient grounds for a mass unfavorable public reaction that certainly would make most of the rulers in the Arab World from Mauritania to Yemen wish they had another chance to see just where did they go wrong? Of course, they forget the underlying fact that the reins of authority have been in their hands for at least two decades. This is bound to be enough cause for uprisings by the public, who feel that their democratic right to a peaceful transfer of authority has been ripped off the ballot box, in one way or another. On the other hand, all of these regimes have their ground roots in distant lands; i. e., they originated under suspicious plots engineered outside of their home turf. The overriding cause of their rise emanates from a desire by autocratic regional powers (at least they regard themselves as powers – although they have proven to be weaker than lambs) to do away with any hopes of democratic practice in the Arab World.

We have seen this kind of regional chess time and again. It happened in Yemen on more than one occasion starting in 1973, when the civilian government of Qadhi Abdul-Rahman Al-Iriani was toppled in a bloodless coup d>état that returned the military to the helms of authority after a seven year tryout with civilian democratic rule. Needless to say, what Yemen was given in return apparently meant perpetual military rule. We certainly could have done better without the change. However, the matter was repeated again in Egypt, in Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria and in Mauritania, where military or totalitarian rule was either confirmed or reinstated, in most cases with the support and prodding of the rich oil magnates of Saudi Arabia. The saddest cases as such are in the Sudan and Mauritania, in which genuine democratic government duly elected by their people after genuinely serious military coups, which were exceptional to the common military coups of cutthroat generals we have seen otherwise. But nevertheless, this was disagreeable to certain autocracies in the region and thus you have regimes like Yemen>s current totalitarian regime, the failed state regime of Sudan, which is now disintegrating rapidly, the failure manifested by the Bin Ali regime in Tunisia, etc.

It is quite clear that governments that insist on stepping on the necks of their constituencies forever are doomed to collapse, sometimes in a violent and disagreeable way, but nevertheless almost unavoidable.

Regimes that rely on sheer gut power and oppressive means of maintaining their hold on authority are bound to witness the kind of healthy erratic civil uprisings that unfolded last week in Tunisia, whether they liked them or not. In Tunisia (as is the case in all the autocratic regimes in the Arab World), we had all the maladies of most of dictatorial states. These include a reliance on family or clan rule, nepotism and favoritism, not to mention the misallocation of fiscal and natural resources to suit political and business ambitions of the icons of the dictatorial regimes and their bought puppets along the socio-economic spheres, so as to guarantee the longevity of these monstrous regimes.

Tunisia now represents for many of the large masses of the population in the Arab World a symbolic stimulus for unfavorable, but nevertheless mass public reactions to sloppy government that characterize Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, and Mauritania. These latter states have a common denominator, in that the regimes of these countries have brought on a hopeless aura of poverty, deprivation and corrupt administrative systems that have bled not only the resources of the countries mentioned, but also the will of the people to carry on with the hope that relief is bound to come. They will obviously eventually reach a boiling point when these people realize that they have reached the pit of hopelessness and despair, brought on by the autocratic corrupt regimes that rule them.

In conclusion, this observer would like to reiterate the memorable words of Rejib Tayyib Erdogan, the Mahathir Mohammed of Turkey, who has worked very hard over the last five years or so to catapult Turkey into a dynamic political and economic giant in the region after having done away with an aging military establishment that froze all chances of Turkey to come out of its stagnation. In an interview with Al-Jazeera program, «Without Limits» the outspoken Turkish leader summed up the situation well in the Arab World, when he analyzed it as follows: «Oppressive rulers are bound to be failure in governance, no matter how many laws a state has. Just rulers are the only guarantee for success, even if a state has the worst laws in the world.»

What was Palestine before Netanyhu’s “62 years”?

2010-10-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

What was Palestine before Netanyhu’s “62 years”?
You heard it from the horse's mouth !
Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:25-10-2010
Yemen Times 1210 (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34940)

God only knows how many times sensible historians and observers of the Middle East scene have been telling the world that Israel was a mischievous agenda, which came into being by the most ruthless and scrupulously planned ethnic cleansing campaign of the Twentieth Century. Before the infamous British mandate of Palestine after the First World War, there was hardly a Jewish presence of any significance to speak of.

In fact, even the British, who issued the Balfour Promise for a “national home” for the Jews are ready to tell you that they had not intended to produce the existing outcome of one of the biggest headaches for the world left over from the British Empire. But, distorters of public opinion in the pro Zionist press and media have always tried to project Israel as a long standing entity and project the indigenous population of Palestine (and quite often all Arabs) as nomadic Bedouins, who have not crossed the Middle Ages.

But it is no mystery to anyone who delves deeper into the geography and the history of the region. Surely they will find that Palestine is part of the Levant, meaning Syria, Lebanon and Jordan and Palestine (now the West Bank, Gaza and the bulk of the area taken over by force by the Zionist settlers in the heart of Palestine: Judaea and Galilee and the Negev Desert). The area is known to the Arabs as Al-Sham or Al-Mashraq Al-Arabi (the Arab Orient, which would sometimes encompass the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, when discussed in relation to the Maghreb Al-Arabi - Arab North Africa).

Up until the British Mandate, there was hardly any Jewish character to the land of Palestine, nor did any one, God being the least one, suggest that there should be one! Not until some European Jewish venture capitalists came up with the Zionist project in the late part of the 19th Century did anyone visualize any Jewish state as an integral part of the Levant. These same venture capitalist went to the last remaining Sultan of the Ottomans Dynasty, which had control of the Levant and most of the Middle East at the time and offered money and to lobby in the Western Alliance (Britain, France, Italy, etc) to not fight the Ottomans before World War I.

Of course, as the Caliph of Islam, the Porte in Istanbul could never entertain such a baseless request. Jews were allowed to visit the Holy Land and many did live under the domain of the Ottomans in several parts of the Arab World, without any obstruction or hindrance, with probably some 2,000 in Palestine, according to some Jewish chroniclers, and the Porte understood that the intentions were beyond a “home for Jews to settle”. The British obliged on the request in return for lobbying the United States to break the stalemate that had characterized the European war theater in WWI. The US did join the Western Alliance in 1917 right after the issuance of the Balfour Declaration.
There may have been a large Jewish community in Palestine in biblical times, but then there were significantly large Jewish communities in the Arab World, such as in Yemen (which before Islam was divided half Christian – half Jewish), but most converted to Islam voluntarily, as did most of the Levantine Christians and Jews. Those few that did not convert were allowed to maintain their religious convictions, without any problems or prejudice, as the existence of so many pockets of Jewish and Christian communities within the Arab World to this epoch is bound to stand as proof of Moslem tolerance. Compare that to what happened in Southern Italy and Sicily and Spain after the Christian takeover of the areas that were under Islamic rule for centuries.

Compare that to the tolerance that was exercised by the Zionist State in Palestine and look at the misery filled faces of the remaining Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. On the other hand the Hebrews were nomads of Ancient Times, whose patriarch Abraham (who is also the ancestral patriarch of the Arabs) came originally from Mesopotamia and the tribe of Israel settled in more than one locale and hardly had any memorable long presence in the Holy Land to speak of except for the Kingdom of David and his son Solomon (who are incidentally highly revered prophets of Islam as well, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them).

But one need not take this observer’s word for the facts of history. The Prime Minister of Israel had admitted to the whole world that the Israelis have been there for 62 years:

“The best response to scorners was given in this auditorium 62 years ago,” he said. “And since then, look at what a nation, what a state, what an army we have. We will continue to build and to create, and we will know how to protect ourselves as best as we can.” This was in answer to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedenijad, who suggested that Israel is bound to end, since it illegitimately arose at the expense of Palestine’s indigenous population. Note that Ahmedenijad did not suggest he or Iran was going to eliminate Israel, he said that it is bound to come to an end by the nature of its irregular and cruel “creation and building and protecting themselves, with the most merciless “defense forces” any “state” has established.

The behavior of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza is clear testimony to confirm that Israel’s behavior is neither biblically inspired or humanely acceptable by any genuine moral standards. Ahmedenijad is suggesting that Heavenly justice is bound to avenge the transgression inflicted upon the Palestinians, just so aliens can steal and occupy their land as the Israelis are doing now daily in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where even cemeteries are being barbarically vandalized by Israeli settlers: (http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-68595.html).

There is a way out of all this mess

2010-10-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Do we need all this violence?

Yemen Times 1408
http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34905
Published:18-10-2010

The situation in Yemen is in need of some thorough analysis and contemplation, because as it stands now, it is very difficult to determine in what direction the country is heading. Needless to say, Yemen is beset by an awesome assortment of challenges, none of which seem to have a beginning or an end all to themselves, and moreover none of them can be isolated and resolved without some parallel solutions at work in all the other challenges.

There are obvious political difficulties, some of which have taken on a color of violence that is not at all helpful towards meeting any of the challenges. But even this increasing violence has not awakened the Government and the general population of Yemeni to a harsh reality that Yemen is further sinking into an abysmal scenario of death, injury and destruction. It is not clear if this violence is pursued for want of political leverage, or for simply dragging the country further into a ripe venue for war lords, arms dealers and contractors of death, to harness their bloodsucking energies to find a niche to reap exorbitant profits. With minimal effort and – sadly – minimal risk, these vagrants will allow Yemeni blood to be spilled needlessly and mercilessly, wherever their greedy bloodletting enterprising minds take them. This violence will be cloaked in various facades from the religious to the political to the economic to the tribal and so on and so forth. The players in this seemingly fuzzy, open and undesirable free for all will certainly add misery and destitution to an already overtaxed Yemeni population. Never mind that the latter are broken by unbearable loads of social fragmentation (spiced with large population displacement, obstructed demographic configurations, behavioral and social depravation, and a deterioration of values).

The economic situation does not provide any aura of hope that the problems of high unemployment, inadequate or absent public services, poor access to natural, material and financial resources will be resolved - especially the ones most in need of these fundamental economic basics. It is safe to state that the latter could otherwise be highly productive elements of the society, in all sectors of the economy and more importantly in all the social strata that comprise Yemen’s diversified and colorful social mix. The issue in the economic sphere boils down to giving equitable access to the resources of the land and allowing the fruits of development to spew out to the outlying and remote areas of the country, some of which have never seen an electric light bulb, let alone a school or a health center.

As it stands now the natural and institutional resources of Yemen are clearly and easily working to make the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This is compounded by the unhelpful rigid bureaucracy that has nurtured a corrupt network of unfaithful cadre of civil, military and security personnel (many of whom have actually forgotten that in the end they are public servants), sleazy merchants and exploitative social dignitaries, who cannot seem to come to the maximum marginal propensity to acquire wealth and bleed their constituents of all their belongings. One cannot fail to see that the latter only seek to disassociate the social fabric of the society from the binds, guarantees and obligations of the constitutional, institutional and regulatory framework that sound government must be based on and which would guarantee the equality of all citizens before the law.

The Yemeni people are famous for being industrious, for their loyalty to God, country and government. But then the Yemeni people are entitled to some returns for this loyalty. When talking to most Yemeni people from all the different geographical, social and economic backgrounds, one cannot help but note that now the only real faith they have rests with the Almighty, who they view as the only one who can lift them out of all the misery and despondency easy to observe wherever one finds a significant assembly of Yemenis.

With this kind of an aura hovering above the coasts, mountains and deserts of this great country, it is imperative to suggest that Yemen need not be turned into a country overtaken by chaos and mob rule. There is still a chance that the Yemeni people could find ways out of all the predicaments they are under now, including even this series of acts of increasing violence and lawlessness. There are many good people in Yemen; many are endowed with high intellect, sagacity and good will, not to mention a strong love for their country and people. If these people continue to be left on the sidelines, then Yemen will, day by day. become less capable of overcoming all its current problems, since many of these people are nearing the end of their destiny – while no replacements are forthcoming. Surely we have seen what the existing decision making machine has produced and to where it is driving the nation. The widespread violence being witnessed these days is more than a warning sign that the country better shape up or else fall into the merciless violence that characterizes all societies and countries that have thrown reason and good sense out of the window, just so a few could continue to bleed their society of all their resources, deprive them of all their rights and deny them all their dignity and honor.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years. His blog may be read at: http://com-senfromyem.blogspot.com

Published:18-10-2010

The situation in Yemen is in need of some thorough analysis and contemplation, because as it stands now, it is very difficult to determine in what direction the country is heading. Needless to say, Yemen is beset by an awesome assortment of challenges, none of which seem to have a beginning or an end all to themselves, and moreover none of them can be isolated and resolved without some parallel solutions at work in all the other challenges.

There are obvious political difficulties, some of which have taken on a color of violence that is not at all helpful towards meeting any of the challenges. But even this increasing violence has not awakened the Government and the general population of Yemeni to a harsh reality that Yemen is further sinking into an abysmal scenario of death, injury and destruction. It is not clear if this violence is pursued for want of political leverage, or for simply dragging the country further into a ripe venue for war lords, arms dealers and contractors of death, to harness their bloodsucking energies to find a niche to reap exorbitant profits. With minimal effort and – sadly – minimal risk, these vagrants will allow Yemeni blood to be spilled needlessly and mercilessly, wherever their greedy bloodletting enterprising minds take them. This violence will be cloaked in various facades from the religious to the political to the economic to the tribal and so on and so forth. The players in this seemingly fuzzy, open and undesirable free for all will certainly add misery and destitution to an already overtaxed Yemeni population. Never mind that the latter are broken by unbearable loads of social fragmentation (spiced with large population displacement, obstructed demographic configurations, behavioral and social depravation, and a deterioration of values).

The economic situation does not provide any aura of hope that the problems of high unemployment, inadequate or absent public services, poor access to natural, material and financial resources will be resolved - especially the ones most in need of these fundamental economic basics. It is safe to state that the latter could otherwise be highly productive elements of the society, in all sectors of the economy and more importantly in all the social strata that comprise Yemen’s diversified and colorful social mix. The issue in the economic sphere boils down to giving equitable access to the resources of the land and allowing the fruits of development to spew out to the outlying and remote areas of the country, some of which have never seen an electric light bulb, let alone a school or a health center.

As it stands now the natural and institutional resources of Yemen are clearly and easily working to make the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This is compounded by the unhelpful rigid bureaucracy that has nurtured a corrupt network of unfaithful cadre of civil, military and security personnel (many of whom have actually forgotten that in the end they are public servants), sleazy merchants and exploitative social dignitaries, who cannot seem to come to the maximum marginal propensity to acquire wealth and bleed their constituents of all their belongings. One cannot fail to see that the latter only seek to disassociate the social fabric of the society from the binds, guarantees and obligations of the constitutional, institutional and regulatory framework that sound government must be based on and which would guarantee the equality of all citizens before the law.

The Yemeni people are famous for being industrious, for their loyalty to God, country and government. But then the Yemeni people are entitled to some returns for this loyalty. When talking to most Yemeni people from all the different geographical, social and economic backgrounds, one cannot help but note that now the only real faith they have rests with the Almighty, who they view as the only one who can lift them out of all the misery and despondency easy to observe wherever one finds a significant assembly of Yemenis.

With this kind of an aura hovering above the coasts, mountains and deserts of this great country, it is imperative to suggest that Yemen need not be turned into a country overtaken by chaos and mob rule. There is still a chance that the Yemeni people could find ways out of all the predicaments they are under now, including even this series of acts of increasing violence and lawlessness. There are many good people in Yemen; many are endowed with high intellect, sagacity and good will, not to mention a strong love for their country and people. If these people continue to be left on the sidelines, then Yemen will, day by day. become less capable of overcoming all its current problems, since many of these people are nearing the end of their destiny – while no replacements are forthcoming. Surely we have seen what the existing decision making machine has produced and to where it is driving the nation. The widespread violence being witnessed these days is more than a warning sign that the country better shape up or else fall into the merciless violence that characterizes all societies and countries that have thrown reason and good sense out of the window, just so a few could continue to bleed their society of all their resources, deprive them of all their rights and deny them all their dignity and honor.

An Arab world full of hopelessness

2010-10-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

ByL Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:11-10-2010
Yemen Times 1406 (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34862)
Perhaps the situation in the Arab World has never been been as bleak as it is now and for sure never so hopeless. Here are 22 nations sitting atop the world’s largest sea of oil and gas, but apparently this wealth was to not meant in any way to improve the lot of the inhabitants of the region or further thier causes. One cannot help but feel distressed that we are at a loss for leadership in the Arab World just when the interests of the nation are falling out of the control of the inhabitants of the region and literally used to benefit either the enemies of this nation from within or the neocolonialist powers and international cartels that have found an easily exploitable nation, as its leaders find themselves too busy to even forsake their primary duty as leaders of the Arab World to protect the resources of the land and channel them to the overall benefit of the people of the region. We have 22 Arab nations that cannot come up with a strategy to face up to all the challenges that have befallen the nation, which can be summarized as follows:

An enemy that has literally made fools of our leadership as it continues to plunder the Holy Land and prevent its indigenous population from enjoying peace and tranquility in their own territory or hope of ever being able to hold on to what still remains in their hand, as the enemy’s Caterpillar’s continue to unleash their destructive power on the homes and history of the Palestinians. Even as this enemy seeks to convince the world that it is opting for peace, all the Arab leaders can do is hope that America can come to their rescue and convince their Israeli puppet to «talk peace».

A nation that has fallen behind considerably in development, with most of the countries not showing any positive directions in terms of providing a venue of culture and progress, which will uplift the standards of living of the people of the region and create substantial opportunities that show our leaders have a knack for the sagacious use of our abundant resources. This use should go beyond filling up their private coffers and depriving their constituencies of even the most basic of returns as called for under the social contract they have snatched from their peoples.

The inability of the region to keep pace with the onset of globalization, as regional groupings replace the rigid sovereign status of individual states, while in the Arab World we talk of building wire fences and security walls along the boundaries between the different Arab States, whereas one could still remember when the movement of capital and people was so easy and without effort or even legal documents from one end of the Arab World to the other, north or south.

A cultural void that is creeping into the mindset of the nation, as the educational systems under the custodianship of the current impotent Arab leadership fails to produce the desired educational output that efficiently harnesses the nation’s productive capacity and manages its natural and economic resources to ensure their equitable distribution for all the inhabitants of the region.

Needless to say, governance in the Arab World remains our weakest attribute as dictatorships and archaic monarchies continue to limit the ability of their constituents to have a say in the management of their affairs and resources and continue to insist that we must perpetually remain under their corrupt and or inefficient government apparatus until the end of time. This also has created a big social fragmentation, and a large gap that allows a few of the population to harvest all the benefits of the economy to just a few of the privileged, who are either related to the rulers or serve to ensure the latters’ perpetual stranglehold on their constituents’ lives and sometimes on their necks.

The Arab leaders meeting in Libya are not showing that they have indeed grasped the pitiful situation they have put their nation under and the strong distaste that their ‘subjects’ have developed for them.

If the Arab leaders expect President Barack Obama to bail them out of the predicament that Netanyahu and Lieberman have set up for them, then they are still living under an aura of wishful thinking that only emphasizes their impotence and lack of self esteem and dignity.

It is really pathetic that we have tens of leaders but all that they can produce is dead meat leadership. We are falling behind rapidly and it appears that the Zionist enemy will continue to make fools out of the worst slate of leadership the Arab World has ever known, and will eventually gobble up the remains of Palestine, while they put their stakes on the only thing that Barack Obama can deliver, whether for us or his own nation – frustration and hopelessness, as he succumbs to the military industrial complex that shapes policy in the United States and to AIPAC, which ensures that the United States does not veer off its Zionist track.

Who are the real enemies of the nation?

2010-10-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:20-09-2010
Yemen Times (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34759)

“Our Arab leaders have really fallen off their rockers!” said Mona, as she helped her son pack his school gear for the first day of school.

“How dare you call them leaders? They can’t lead a pack of mules, let alone a nation of incalculable resources,” quipped Mahmud as he gathered his briefcase off to work.

Mona, broke in again: “That is really giving those leaders more than they are worth! Dad look at the mess they have made of this nation.” She always called her husband by what the kids often call him.

The mother then became more worried about getting the kids to school in due time for the morning line up than about the Arab political scene: “Look at the time, kids, you are getting late for school. How can you expect to take over the leadership of the Arab World without a solid education to bank on?

“Mom!” Mahmud again broke the conversation, calling her what the kids called her: “Do not worry about that becoming an obstacle to political ascent. Most of the Arab leaders have trouble reading and writing, let alone understanding economic geography. Just listen to some of them try to make a speech. They are probably the laughing stock of international political forums as they stutter mixing up the past tense with the present and hardly realizing that the future for their nation simply spells: GLOOM!”

Mahmud tried to speed up having his breakfast, as he heard the sound of his car warming up outside: “Mona, what is making you so raunchy against our great lineup of Arab leaders. I was worried that the kids could pick up on our talk and echo what they heard in public. With our leaders worried more about remaining in power than looking out for the interest of the nation, their security apparatus might pick some unfavorable vibes from our kids. That could make their parents vulnerable to becoming candidates for unhealthy interrogations.”

That in itself is enough to raise the anger of any Arab citizen as all of the Arab people become the victims of political terror that makes the “terror” of Osama Bin Laden seem like child play!” said Mona.

Mahmud began to sense the bells of danger ringing in the horizon: “Be careful about statements like that! You know our leaders are making fortunes on declaring wars on the latter, although half of them haven’t the faintest idea who Osama is working for? For them, Osama is the best news they have heard. With the West being jittery about the name of Osama, all of a sudden our leaders have become anti Osama freaks, just waiting for the next appearance of Aiman Al-Zawhiri, so they can scream that they are partners in the so called ‘War on Terror’. For God’s sake, these leaders have come to personify real terror in all its manifestations. You can’t speak your mind anywhere without having to worry about the guy or gal next to you being an informer of the state security apparatus. Moreover, even our newspapers have been silenced by a labyrinth of laws and a quagmire of security machines that portray a venue of freedom that only applies to the lynch men of the security organs of Government, who have forgotten that their original mandate is to protect the citizens of the country from hostile assaults and other criminal infractions. So tell me Mona, when does one have time to worry about all the hostile criminal acts being inflicted on our fellow Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. In other words my dear Mona, the Arab leadership is a God send for the Zionist machine of the world, if not its very own creation!”

Mona, said: “Watch out before being accused of making up conspiracy theories, which has become an unfailing attack vehicle for those who seek to prevent anyone from getting to the truth of things happening in this world!”

Mahmud responded to that with ease: “Conspiracy theory or not, these are all inescapable facts we see on the ground. If you try to write up about the facts on the ground the International Zionist Establishment have people like “Mo” ready with slander and libel and all the concoctions to try to intimidate one to get into a useless tic for tat, to silence you from speaking about the horrors of the Zionist machine in the Holy Land and the horrors of the bogus “democracy” we enjoy in the Middle East”.

Mona continued to straighten her husband out: “Well Dad, you can be sure that the IZE has enough money to waste on silly tools like “Mo” and bizarre assassinations that run up into the millions, such as the Mossad hit earlier this year on a Hamas mid level leader in Dubai, who found Iran to be more worthwhile than most of the Arab leaders who have fallen into the traitor category as far as the national Arab interests are concerned, with or without Osama, showing them the way.”.

2010-10-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Israel: Breaking the law is the rule and not the exception

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:16-08-2010
Yemen Times (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34579)

If there is any country in the world that has enjoyed full immunity from due process and from accountability for crimes committed, it is Israel. Of course, it is needless to say that a state with the dubious and suspicious foundations for its very existence can never hope on enjoying peace and quiet. Israel’s founding came at the cost of the inhumane and criminal removal of the indigenous population of Palestine for millennia and Israel’s continuity can only be guaranteed by a regime that must continue to violate every human right and every international law and convention, just so it can assure its vagrant settlers that it can guarantee for them eternal statehood based on wishy washy mythological contentions that they are only carrying out “God’s” promise.

Never mind that this kind of arrogant view of the justice of the All-Mighty would certainly render the belief in Him subject to many questions by the vast majority of faithful believers. Most worshippers of God know for sure that God is much fairer and equitable in his outlook on all of His Creation and that there is no special favor bestowed on any ethnicity, except by the level of their obedience to his Commandments, of which the Zionist state is the most notorious violator.

There is no reason to believe that there is any Heavenly blessing to all the crimes that the Zionist regime has inflicted in the Holy Land. There is also no reason to believe that Israel should enjoy full immunity from crimes it commits, whether in the Mediterranean (sinking of the USS Liberty in June 8, 1967 by the Israeli Offense Forces, in which Israel has yet to answer to the killing of 34 US crew members), the Turkish humanitarian aid vessel, Mavi Marmara, etc., abducted by the Israelis after killing 9 Turkish crew members and passengers earlier this year), or in Dubai in one of the most bizarre murder acts ever carried out in history.

It is sad that the Federal Republic of Germany had to bow to the pressure of the international Zionist establishment and their supporters in the United States and elsewhere and release criminals, even if its own laws and sovereignty are violated and dubious citizens carry out irresponsible acts that are in collusion with a criminal Zionist security apparatus. Moreover, it is sad that Germany had to waste all that time and effort to get Uri Brodsky, who helped secure at least one German passport for members of the gang that carried out the killing of a former Hamas leader in Dubai, extradited from Poland. They should have at least finished investigating the circumstances surrounding the violation of their own national documentation statutes and perhaps can enlighten the world on some of the demonic workings of the Mossad (The Israeli KGB), whose filthy crimes have trespassed all borders and violated all human rights including those of its own citizens (the nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu, who was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad spy, where he was drugged and kidnapped by Israeli intelligence agents. He was transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors. Italy has yet to explain how its sovereignty could easily be compromised).

It is also amazing how the Zionist establishment has such arm twisting leverage even against independent minded states like Germany (Belgium, Great Britain etc.) and then succumb to the arm twisting tactics that sovereign even when it comes to enforcing their own laws and civil rights. With this arm twisting and blackmail or bully tactics, Israel can just about get all it wants from great powers like the United Kingdom and even the United States, especially when avoiding any legal actions against Israeli agents or political leaders. Among the examples of such spoiled child’s treatment is the case of the Summons on Ariel Sharon by a Belgian Court to answer to alleged charges of genocide.

Ariel Sharon is the former Israeli Prime Minister, who has been responsible for the killing of thousands of civilian Palestinians and Lebanese and whom and who was even the subject of protest marches by his own citizens when 400,000 Israelis demonstrated against the former Defense Minister after the Sabra and Shatila massacres engineered and supervised by Sharon himself, in which some 2,000 unarmed sleeping Palestinian men, women and children were massacred in Beirut in 1982 (see 'The Legacy of Ariel Sharon', by Robert Fisk, The Independent, 6 Feb, 2001).

But then, even if CNN correspondents like Ben Weiderman of CNN (who was shot in the stomach by the Israeli Offense Forces in July 2006 in Gaza while standing against a lamppost), CNN would still succumb to the arm twisting tactics of the Israeli lobby and fire one of its most distinguished correspondents and reporters for expressing a harmless opinion of respect for a highly revered religious scholar, who passed away recently in Lebanon.

The world in a sense has given Israel the right to kill civilians by the hundreds, imprison, destroy, confiscate, murder, forge, steal, trespass, possess wmd, but watch out if any one dares to bring any Israeli or Israeli agents to justice for any crimes against humanity or even jaywalking.

2010-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Israel takes over CNN

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:31-07-2010
Yemen Times

Perhaps it is difficult for most Moslems to understand why the West looks at our religious leaders with so much contempt and hatred. When someone like Mohammed Hussein Fadhl Allah passes away after giving so much of his life in service to the Lord All-Mighty and his religious convictions, and facing the threat of death on many occasions, the international Zionist establishment is in jubilation. Of course someone like Mohammed Hussein Fadhl Allah is understandably dangerous to them. They realize this when his death gathered over a million people (including many non-Moslems) to come and show their respect for a man with deep convictions on the strength of his faith and his sincerity in the fight against injustice in all its forms. What forms of injustice can be worse than the Zionist injustices we see daily being perpetrated in Palestine and throughout the world in the media and elsewhere?

Coming back to the topic at hand, we have a devoted professional journalist who has devoted all her professional acumen for a news broadcaster who purports to have an objective international view of events in the world. Ms Octavia Nasr has been working with CNN for over two decades and has headed the Middle East bureau of CNN, and now all of a sudden she has been fired for expressing respects for a man, who even the British Ambassador to Beirut insists does deserve the respect and admiration of all open minded observers. Who saw in Mr. Fadhl-Allah an example of religious moderation and progressive outlook on many views that Moslems could look to for guidance amidst the efforts of extremist foreign renditions of Islam have sought to project otherwise. Ironically, we never hear the Zionist media and their friends suggest that these extremist elements are new to Islam and actually work in favor of the Zionist media efforts to blame the religion of Islam for all their troubles.

Mr. Fadhl-Allah never advocated the killing of innocent civilians for any cause let alone the cause of Islam and he himself was the God saved victim of a terrorist attack that was intended for him in 1985, but took the lives of 82 people instead. He was saved because he insisted on devoting a few minutes of his precious time to listen to an old lady who wanted to hear some kind works of prayer for her. This attack was said to have been orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency on the contention that Sayid Fadhl-Allah was one of those behind the attack on the US Marines and the US Embassy in Beirut during that explosive period in the seventh and eighth decade of the last century. The truth of the matter is that Hussein Fadhl-Allah was outspoken against elements like Al-Qaida. He often suggested that these evil concoctions that have no religious jurisdictional backing whatsoever to support their horrific renditions of Islam, such as those of the Somali version that even considers brushing your teeth with a nylon brush is 'haram' or not sanctified by Islam, are themselves delving into the worst kind of haram by the sanctifying the loss of innocent human lives.

Mr. Fadhl-Allah also was a voice of moderation on Islamic sectarian differences, in which he often suggested to let bygones be bygones and let Moslems start working towards facing the really dangerous threats that need to be addressed in the Islamic World, including underdevelopment, illiteracy, poverty and of course the constant threat that Israel poses not just to Moslems but to the world at large.

Ms Octavia Nasr has never been known to say that Israel should be thrown into the sea or expressed any 'anti Semitic' viewpoints that would have raised the eyebrows of Wolf Blitzer, a former correspondent with the Jerusalem Post, now a leading anchor at CNN, or any one who lived in Israel. Like the British Ambassador, she expressed a viewpoint that rested purely on the intellectual convictions of a man, who was a unique Moslem scholar, with a powerful eloquent tongue that inspired the clear minded thoughts of many Moslems. A man who sought relief from the sad misrepresentations of Islamic thought being perpetrated by the international Wahhabi establishment and their partners, the international Zionist establishment. In fact, I believe that Ms Nasr, who judging from her name is actually Christian, is therefore was quite impartial in making any statement of admiration for the phenomenon that Mr. Fadhl-Allah proved to have been. So, who should one believe? The British Foreign Office or the management of CNN or the more than million farewell bidders to this awesome and revered scholar that Mohammed Hussein Fadhl-Allah was.

Israel and peace are clearly incompatible

2010-10-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Any person watching the theatrics of the Middle East peace process is bound to wonder: How much is the world closer to seeing a real genuine peace in the Holy Land? In fact, all the signs are showing that for all intents and purposes, peace is simply not anywhere near being “around the corner”.

The problem does not so much lie in the weakness of the efforts or the insincerity of the proponents of a peaceful resolve to one of the most complex and intertwining conflict of modern times. The essence of the problem lies in the approach and the missing understanding of how the problem came into being. Furthermore a genuine and sincere conviction by all the parties concerned is inescapable that there are fundamental issues that underlie the arrival to a durable and just peace. For any objective and long time observer of the Middle East to overlook that peace without redress to the victims of a this Zionist nightmare planted in the midst of a region that taught the world the essences of human rights, tolerance and morality is at best impossible, but certainly unforgivable.

Moreover, one is inclined to believe that continued peace talks are utterly impossible, while one of the wrongs that initially created the problem is allowed to proceed at full pace, energy and resolve. Such presumption really borders on the ridiculous and absurd, on top of awarding the culprit a reward for a continued insistence that might makes right. The total neglect of the internationally recognized legitimate rights of the Palestinians even now when, at the same time, the Palestinians are being almost goaded to an obviously predictable staged effort to achieve “meaningful peace”, cannot be viewed as sound groundwork for Palestinian – Israeli talks. On the contrary, the insistence that Israel could be allowed to proceed with its Zionist agenda in the occupied West Bank cannot be expected to raise any hope amongst even the most optimistic observers that indeed the tracks are paved for a peaceful conclusion of this conflict that is now going into its second century. Never mind that this agenda in all its manifestations is clearly still being unabashedly pursued although there are daily evidence that portrays this phenomenon as of one of the most dreadful cases of man’s inhumanity to man.

The recent behavior of the Israelis in Washington is a clear suggestion that the latter have simply decided to make their Zionist agenda the only acceptable grounds for any “peaceful settlement”. This is not simply attested to by open declarations of the Israeli Foreign Minister at the General Assembly. The ongoing onslaught of Israeli bulldozers knocking down whole Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank and whole blocks in the Holy City of Jerusalem are mercilessly, rapidly and aggressively being evicted of their indigenous Arab inhabitants and wrecked and erased off the maps. Almost simultaneously, and coming behind an exaggerated and probably almost unnecessary display of military might and mob rule against helpless and unarmed uprooted men, women, children and members of Palestinian families, cement mixers and ready-made raised steelwork work to replace centuries of history and legitimacy, with sumptuous dwellings for heavily subsidized illegitimate trespassers arriving from distant lands. This is the ethnic cleansing that has been the theme of the internationally declared illegitimate occupation of the West Bank and formerly the tiny pocket of densely populated Gaza – which is still unquestionably, the largest prison in the world, despite the Israeli withdrawal. The prisoners in Gaza are not the normal criminal elements one finds in many institutions of penal reforms and penitentiaries. The people of Gaza are already the largest agglomeration of hopelessness, despair, misery and wanton suffering. Comprising hundreds of thousands of evicted Palestinians from as far back as 1948, living in the most humanely unbearable habitat for three generations, the inhabitants of Gaza have multiplied to become 1.5 million cases of systematic and slow extermination. The very same machine responsible for this relentless program of mass agony in Gaza is the very same machine that insists on producing illegitimate demographic “facts on the ground” in the West Bank of Palestine, while making a mockery of a seemingly sincere endeavor at peace – making pursued by the current US Administration headed by President Barack Obama. It is inescapable to note the diplomatic arrogance that has characterized the behavior of the Israelis in Washington and over the well organized pro – Zionist leaning mainstream US media (by choice, crossed interests or by sheer arm – twisting). The Israelis have neither a desire or intent to “compromise” on any issues at stake in any peace talks with their expected cohabitants of the Holy Land, who are now undergoing a process of elimination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra – right wing Administration in Israel are obviously not in a hurry for peace. US President Obama is already on the toughest credibility tightrope, as he has yet to show how genuine and sincere is his Administration’s quest for peace in the Middle East. The US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s “understanding” of Netanyahu’s position on the refusal to halt illegitimate settlement construction surely does not help reinforce this genuineness and seriousness, nor does it obviate any sincerity to reach a peaceful and just settlement.

Michael Bloomberg, bona fide Mayor of New York City and deservedly so!
This observer could not help but recognize that Mayor Mike Bloomberg, now on his third term as the sagacious Mayor of the fabulous City of New York, has candidly and unabashedly expressed his deep understanding and respect for religious tolerance. Mayor Bloomberg openly stated without hesitation that he sees no comprehensible reason to oppose the construction of the Islamic Cultural Center on Park Place, Manhattan, or anywhere else in NYC. He recently stated this in an appearance on CBS David Letterman’s, The Late Show. It is this kind of independence that should be displayed by the Mayor of the Greatest City in the World, without competition. New York should be honored with His Honor’s full – time devotion to keeping New York humming, truly sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

Yemen Times
Issue 1404

45 Park Place, New York: The Islamic center controversy

2010-09-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:06-09-2010
Yemen Times

If anything can be learned about the sensationalism and controversy that has arisen over a proposed Islamic Cultural Center to be built a couple of blocks away from “Ground Zero”, the location that embraced the former magnificent architectural wonder that was the World Trade Center, it is that the terrorists have indeed got what they were after. In fact, one is inclined to believe that the terrorists were out to portray Islam in a way that fumigates the air with inter religious enmity and violence and creates hostility between believers in the same Divinity as called for by the three leading monotheistic religions of the world, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

The horrific destruction of the WTC is as distant from genuine Islamic doctrine and proper conduct and practice by Moslems, as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are to Christian teachings and behavior of devout followers of Jesus Christ (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). To attempt to permanently affix the terrible crime of the unimaginable destruction of WTC as part and parcel of Islamic teachings and conduct of Moslem believers is really submission to the designs and objectives of whoever was behind this most horrific of crimes against humanity and human civilization. All the evidence and post Isalmiphobia that has arisen since that tragic day of September 11, 2001 point to the reality of the 9/11 incident as a clear project to unleash ethnic hatred and religious strife amongst human beings under cover of a well designed cloak of intentional religious misrepresentation. Needless to say, the phenomenal case of unholy mass murder is as much harmful to Islam and Moslems as any scheme to distort the teachings of Islam could be. Surely, informed and progressive minded people will not hesitate to point out that the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad are as innocent of 9/11 as the Bible and Jesus Christ are innocent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Inquisition and the Serbian persecution of the Bosnians, not to mention the Holocaust, all of which involved the large-scale senseless and cold blooded murder of millions of innocent unarmed people for their religious persuasions, ethnic affiliation or both by those who supposedly engraved the cross in their hearts and often in their flags, even in its Swastika format. For sure, the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad are as innocent and free of blame for 9/11 as the Torah and Jewish Scriptures and Moses (PABUH) are of the horrible massacres and ethnic cleansing that the Holy Land has witnessed for the past nine decades by bearers of the Star of David. For a more thorough insight and comprehensive understanding of Islamic religious beliefs and practices readers are guided to click this link (http://www.knowtheprophet.com/his-life/etenral_,message.htm).

On a daily basis, the whole world is witnessing the horrible acts of terrorism inflicted on scores of Moslems by reportedly similar disoriented ideologues to those who are alleged to have carried out the 9/11 attack. In fact, the number of Moslems who have become victims of alleged Moslem terrorists has at least almost doubled the number of victims of the infamous 9/11 attacks on the WTC (aside from the hundreds of thousands of mostly civilian casualties of the wars that presumably were carried out to pursue the alleged culprits of 9/11, who are still at large!). Yet, hate mongers and political opportunists never fail to rush to associate Islam and all Moslems with 9/11, forgetting that Islamic religious tolerance is second to none as history has categorically shown.

When the Second Caliph of Islam Omer visited Jerusalem after its liberation from the chauvinistic Byzantines (with the support of local Christian Arabs), he went to salute the Patriarch of the Church of the Ascension. When the Patriarch invited the Caliph to pray in the Church (which incidentally is not forbidden in Islam), he thanked the Patriarch for his hospitality and went out to pray outside beside the Church. When asked why he did not pray inside, since churches and synagogues are viewed as Houses of God, he said: “Lest this becomes a precedence for future excessively fanatical Moslem leaders that they can enter churches and institute any violations of the sanctity of these churches as they erroneously might consider, while these churches still had large Christian constituents”, or something to that order.

When Moslem states over the centuries failed in protecting Christian minorities in their midst, they abashedly refunded all the “protection levies” imposed on non-Moslems since the Zakat Islamic levy was not obligatory on non-Moslems. This is the Islam that reflects the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad and the Holy Quran and may be construed as having been violated by any Moslem, who is allegedly involved with 9/11, who will unmistakably be condemned to hell.

Those who insist that 9/11 is derived from Islamic teachings are as guilty of ignorance, if not outright bigotry based on blind prejudice, as those who stubbornly claim that the economic woes of the West are due to the manipulations of the financial and economic institutions of Jewish bankers and investment brokers. All genuine believers in Allah and followers of the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad are obligated to condone and condemn attacks like 9/11 and the ongoing terrorism by misguided fanatics and deviants of Islamic religious doctrine in Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere in the Moslem World. The hatred witnessed by the antagonists of 45 Park Place in New York are not doing Christianity or Judaism any good by spilling the fuel of hatred for a seemingly routine, transparent and legitimate religious cultural center.

Ironically, Islamic doctrine insists that Judaism and Christianity are themselves part and parcel of Islamic spiritual inclinations and represent important stages of development for the eventual culmination to Islam; i.e. they emanate from the same Divinity to which adherents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have faith in and equally revere all the prophets of the Old and New Testament as deliverers of mankind from the arrogance, bigotry, chauvinism and hatred that have blemished the socio-political development of mankind in order to serve the narrow interests and demonic ambitions of those who insist on thriving from the propagation of misrepresented profiles of genuine religious inclinations and on the right to reject and persecute those who persist in declaring that the Lord All-Mighty is one and the same for all monotheistic persuasions.

Incidentally there were reportedly some 60 Moslems who died at the WTC on that tragic day of 9/11 or .001 percent of the estimated Moslem population of the US if estimated to be around 5,000,000. The total number of fatalities of that day comes to 3,000 unfortunate souls, which also comes to 0.001 percent of the entire population of the United States

Yemen Times Issuee 1396
Published:06-09-2010

Two Decades of Unity, Is that Really Enough?

2010-05-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

Two Decades of Unity, Is that Really Enough?
The release of prisoners is a good start, but…

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:24-05-2010
Yemen Times

Many an observer fails to understand why the Government fails to concentrate its attention on finding solutions to the persistent economic stagnations facing the country and readily finds good reason to insist that the violence that had subsided for the past five months must go on and on in Sa’ada and in the South. Surely, there is no reason why Yemenis should be subject to further economic constraints as continued military activity near the Saudi border would not alleviate the increasing cost of living and the hardships now being faced by the overwhelming majority of Yemeni citizens. Most people are inclined to suggest that the Government could not afford another round of fighting is Sa’ada, which has already accumulated over three hundred thousand refugees or internally displaced persons by the admission of the Yemeni Government itself. Nor can the Yemeni people buy the idea that the regime is entrenched in an endless struggle to keep Yemen united.

It is clear that the Yemeni Government has wasted so much of the country’s resources on merely sustaining the current regime’s stranglehold on the political will of the people. Is it now time that the elements, which have managed to eke out a considerably comfortable standard of living from working towards the latter, start thinking about rechanneling some of this abundance of wealth (at least the illegitimate share of it – the bulk) back to the rest of the population.

On the contrary, it is apparent that the resources of the land continue to be channeled towards making most of the illegitimately rich even richer, as the seeds of corruption continue to grow and its beneficiaries continue to gnaw at the social fabric unabashedly Yemen is not in an envied position at all, when well over half the population are living under the poverty line and cannot find access to the resources that could help alleviate this intentionally chronic difficulty or so it seems. The problem is really twofold: The regime is not geared to respond to the needs of the Yemeni people at all, as most of the pervious open channels for self-development were actually blocked by the regime and the ability of the people of Yemen to advance themselves hindered by an intertwining regime of constantly changing and sometimes unbelievably repressive legislation and inequitable application of law and justice. Yes Yemen is suffering, not so much due to an international environment, which at best may be said to be inhospitable to countries subject to the kind of repression we have here in Yemen, but due to the carelessness of irresponsible citizens, who have found niches for their evil acumen to operate freely, knowing full well that they are not at all subject to any accountability for their ill performance as public officials and their horrendous misuse of legitimate public funds and assets, under an umbrella of legitimization spiced by sheer muscle.

Yemen is now in its third decade as a united country and thank God, it still desperately holds on to this unity for all its worth on both sides of the divide. That this unity is facing threats of self-fragmentation is clearly a result of its spontaneity as its being as it its due to the irresponsible elements of the regime that consider this unity a matter of a “might makes right” attitude that overwhelms the mindset of many of the loyal backers of the prevailing regime that has left no stone unturned to bring suffering and despair to the overwhelming population of the Republic of Yemen. The regime is hinging its bets on the “unity” issue as the overriding concern of the majority of the Yemeni people, but his is a short-lived play on emotions that is bound to be eaten up by the hunger, insecurity, instability disease and deprivation that the regime has made as the lot of the overwhelming majority of the citizenry north and south of the Mukeiras divide, that used to symbolize the fictitious supposition of a North Yemen and South Yemen, which has never and will never be the hope of any decent minded Yemeni citizen, whether in Sa’ada or Al-Mahara Governorates or at the Tihama Strip or the Ramlat Al-Sabatein Desert.

The President announced the release of many prisoners, most of whom have never been subject to due process of law as attested to by many a local and foreign organization advocating for human rights and civil liberties let alone actually proven as engaged in any act of civil disobedience. This is indeed welcome news. But the roots of Yemen’s persistent problems go beyond a momentary respite of civility within the regime. The President and the cronies around him must start thinking about finding ways to allowing themselves to be subject to accountability and self assessment, if they are to hope for any peace in the country and some appreciation from their largely displeased, if not contemptuous constituents. Happy anniversary, Yemen.

Israel is Just Being Israel-No Hope For Peace

2010-04-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi

Many people may have been somewhat baffled by the continued misconduct of Israel over the last couple of months. Yet some people, who are continuously up to date on the events of the region are hardly shaking their heads, except at the naïve look of surprise of the former, who still insist that it is alright for Israel to cross all the red lines of acceptable human behavior! In such a world, it is hard to believe that anyone can actually be viewed as aspiring to live in peace at all with its neighbors or for that matter with the rest of the world. Human nature has taught most observers that those who embark on an agenda driven by arrogance, chauvinism and contempt for the rights of others surely cannot be expected to live in honorable good standing. Come to think of it, when has Israel and the International Zionist Movement ever behaved in an honorable way? A state with an ongoing dirty record of behavior and conduct will never be expected to live in peace with its neighbors. The people of the countries that comprise Israel's proximate neighbors have continuously seen how the criminal establishment, which created this cancer of evil in the midst of the Holy Land, continues to depend on evil to not just "survive", but to go further with its yet unfinished agenda of wrenching the Holy Land of all its God ordained purity and sanctity, with which this part of the world is blessed
How can a "state" that relies on fraudulent tactics, even if at the sleazy expense of ridiculing its best of allies, be expected to really want to live in peace, when it uses these tactics to carry out a bizarre act of cold blooded murder within a state it supposedly wants to live in peace with? Yet this is Israel, in case anyone did not know.
How can a "state", which relies on mercilessly starving the people it originally uprooted from their indigenous homeland and drove them into prison enclaves, which the state continues to bite off piece by piece, until eventually the remaining living Palestinians have been wiped out of existence or will have no place to call home, ever be considered as a bona fide good member of the international community?
How can a "state", which thinks that its destructive and evil intentioned agenda prevails over the expectations, interests and whatever genuine and sincere efforts are pursued by some of its best "friends" at bringing stability to an area that serves as the most important strategic and well resourced region of the world?
The keen observers of events in the region and the world at large are fully aware that Israel and the International Mob that continues to unequivocally feed it with all the nutrients it needs, material or otherwise, to carry on with its murderous agenda, can never be trusted to coexist in peace with its neighbors. They also know that Israel will continue to work towards tuning the Holy Land into one giant synagogue and any hopes of peace that anyone may have cannot be expected to permit such chauvinistic cravings to be pursued. This is especially so, when such demagogic aspirations are bound to be at the expense of the religious rights and beliefs of the other "shareholders" in the holiness of the Holy Land. A look at what Israel is doing in Jerusalem now the nearly 1000 churches and mosques, which Israel has destroyed over the years, underscores this reality of the holy intentions in the Zionist agenda.
For the astute observers all that Israel is committing against foe or "enemy" is the normal behavior that has come to characterize this icon of mob rule even from before its existence as a duly recognized state. One must bear in mind that this recognition itself came as a result of diplomatic arm twisting and sleazy pressure tactics in the international forum that granted this recognition – a product of the blind justice that the international community continues to mete out for the sake of Israel and her robber baron friends, whose influence is widespread throughout the economic and financial institutions, which energize the economy of the world.
Israel has no intentions of seeking peace in the Middle East or anywhere else for that matter. It continuously steers its sponsors, allies and friends from one war to another in order to insure this cancer the longevity it needs to keep all of humanity in jitters, chaos and confusion so it can continuously cream off the resources of the world to quench its draculan thirst.
Of course President Barack Obama of the United States will fail in bringing peace to the Middle East just like his predecessors intentionally or unknowingly failed. In fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the United States last week making it clear that Washington or anyone else should not waste their time on such useless efforts. Israel simply does not want peace and cannot have peace. In the agenda Israel thrives on and lives on, widespread suffering, destruction and mayhem must prevail in the region. Otherwise, how can the dirty germs that continue to gnaw at the chastity of the Holy Land render it completely out of tune with the spiritual stanza that makes it holy to more than two thirds of the population of the world, who have no place in the Zionist agenda?
But then, the world should never forget to be grateful to Capitol Hill for the unflinching support to a chauvinistic culture, even if at the expense of American interests, prestige and standing in the international community. Better yet, it would be more reasonable to suggest that the US Congress should be holding its sessions in a new chamber to be built aside the Israeli Knesset. After all, the only matter in which agreement can be found between Democrats and Republicans in Capitol Hill is on anything and everything that AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Although Mrs. Hillary Clinton is pleadingly but unsuccessfully trying, just as her husband once failed to crown his legacy by, hopes for a Middle East peace deal are as unrealistic as they ever were. The International Zionist Movement is simply not ready or desirous for such peace.
On another note, one should not expect anything to come out of the impotent Arab World leaders meeting in Libya this week, even in this humiliating times for the Arab World. But then that is another story which has its own sordid explanation.

Yemen Times 1350
March 29, 2010

Rachel Corrie Again and Again!

2010-03-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

The story of Rachel Corrie and her brutal and tragic death seven years ago by the cold blooded murdering IDF is bound to run chills down one’s spine, unless one has lost all sense of being human and has lost any semblance of sanity. In the kind of world that we live in, it is not so difficult to be deprived of any hope in human nature – that is until one recalls the unmerciful workings of the International Zionist Movement on the gentle and timid body of Rachel Corrie. It is indeed a great wonder of the Al-Mighty’s fabulous creations that Rachel had a heart of solid steel to counterbalance this frailty of human structure, by which the Divine has graced womanhood by. This heart of Rachel was blessed with the infinite kindness to see that in the West Bank and Gaza – or what is left of Palestine – there is a great crime against humanity being unleashed almost daily by a monstrous machine of hatred, chauvinism and obnoxious arrogance that has surpassed all forms of human evil. It is an unrelenting trait of human nature that God has blessed humanity with Rachel – and so many likes of Rachel Corrie – to tell mankind that it does not have to be that way at all. Rachel has reflected the inherent deep good that can be found in all human beings, who know that Zionism is an ugly cancer that has nothing to do with human goodness.
This kind of goodness of the heart was what Rachel Corrie reflected and was ready and willing to give up her life for at such a young and innocent age. She could not believe that America with all its might and extravagance would allow one of its own machines – Caterpillar D – 9 or 10 or whatever to render its very own citizens flat and drained of all that hot freedom loving American blood for the sake of murderers of the likes of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and …. Yes, they are murderers and all their predecessors in Israeli officialdom have a long track record of spilling blood all over the Holy Land. Has anyone forgotten that the land of Palestine has lost its fertility since so much blood has been allowed to poison the dirt that once catered to millions of olive trees and citrus fruit trees and kept the people of Palestine alive for millennia?
Zionism has no room for the blood of Rachel Corrie to continue flowing in her veins, so she can go back home to the good old USA and tell her fellow Americans that American money, guns and tractor/shovels are doing all the dirty work of Zionist demagoguery.
In case anyone did not know, a few days before the untimely death, she and some of her colleagues in the International Solidarity Movement were facing American bullets unleashed by the misnamed Israeli Defense Forces, who were only taught one word throughout their training: “Kill! Kill! Kill! That is the only thing expected of you and the only thing desired of you!” This is the crux of an ideology that is spiced with hatred and demagoguery, disguised vainly as the implementation of a Devine Promise made up over a meal of dry matzo meal, of which the Lord is completely innocent. Otherwise, who would believe in Him, if they knew that He was handing out parcels of land to Zionist witch doctors, who are as far away from God as anyone could ever get.
Rachel Corrie knew better than to allow the name of America to be smeared by Zionist hooligans, who grew up in Brooklyn and now want the whole world to believe that it is the will of the Al-Mighty that they are realizing in the Holy Land. The Lord knows well that these mobsters have desecrated His houses of worship almost with a cold defiance against the One who they claim gave the Zionists the deed to the Holy Land. Ask the millions of Palestinian Christians and Moslems whatever happened to the hundreds of churches and mosques that spread throughout natural Palestine, but fell down under the push of Caterpillar tractor/shovels, after American aircraft, Apaches and tanks have leveled most of the surrounding homes of innocent unarmed Palestinians to the ground.
To Rachel Corrie this is not the model of America she wanted to see reflected in the Holy Land. Even if the Zionist courts do not come up with the result of compensating her loved ones for the tragic loss of their angel - Rachel – her family should still realize that there are a lot of good people in the world, who regard Rachel as a masterpiece of morality and love for her fellow human begins.
Those who give their lives for the sake of other human beings would never find solace from the Israeli judicial system. But just the same, we praise her family for reminding the world that in America there is indeed goodness, kindness and a deep recognition of right and wrong that has not been smeared by the AIPAC and all the advocates of hate that are given a free pass to enter and exit the corridors of the US Senate and House of Representatives as they like and continue to keep those Caterpillar D – 9 crushing even American advocates of peace, freedom and justice – none of which has anything to do with the Zionism that Washington simply cannot do without.
__________________________________________
Yemen Tines 1348
Published 22 - 3 2010

The right to life is a God given right:

2010-03-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Bloodshed is not the only solution to Yemen’s problems
Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:11-03-2010
If bloodshed is not the right solution to any problem anywhere else in the world, it certainly is not the case more so in Yemen. In Yemen bloodshed only begets more bloodshed as the ritual of blood vengeance is clearly embedded in the tribal culture of Yemen and it is not understood why the regime in Sana’a continues to think that it can confront all of its problems by the nozzle of the guns it has in its possession pointing and firing at the citizens it purports to rule and serve. While this may be sound logic very temporarily in the case of the former, it certainly does not reflect a genuine desire to carry out any services expected of Government, which are for all practical purposes non-existent. With the nozzles now somewhat quite in the Northern provinces of Sa’ada and Amran and other nearby governorates (although there are looming threats of a Round Seven emerging), they have been uncovered in the southern governorates and with greater disregard for the codes of honor that our tribal heritage also left us, such as the ban on assaults on armless civilians, the respect for the rights of life to women and children and the lack of use of houses of worship as staging points for attacks against adversaries or civilian protestors. On the other hand, there are several constitutional stipulations being currently violated in the Southern Governorates that certainly forbid the armed attack on any citizens, who may have expressed opinions that may seem demeaning to certain Government officials.
One wonders to what extent the state security apparatus would be used to serve the wishes of elements of a regime that has failed to provide the minimum standards of government services and failed to apply the very laws it has diligently amended so many times to suit its purposes as much as possible. In the southern governorates, there is a strong feeling that the diehard regime in Sana’a has out stepped the bounds of purposeful government and has acted more like an occupying power, rather than a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. At least that is how our southern brothers see it. While the feeling is really shared by all the people of Yemen, north and south, the southerners have found the situation so deplorable that they find it unbearable to carry on under such gross misuse of government by careless officials, who grant themselves the right to grab anything and everything they like, as if God had only created the Earth for them to plunder and loot as they wish. Just to reassure our brothers in the south, this feeling is shared by their northern brothers and really does not hide the existence of better conditions north of Mikeiras at all. The fact of the matter is that the regime in Sana’a has been the most flagrant violator of not only its own laws, but the very international conventions it has become party to, wantonly bringing hundreds of civilians in Sa’ada to their untimely death without justifiable cause, except to reflect an unholy arrogance that has come to characterize the regime, especially since the end of the 1994 uncalled for invasion of the south. It that senseless war was to “protect the union” (It was only after the invasion by about three weeks that the leaders of the southern side in the Unification Agreement decided for a break up), the aftermath of the war gave more reason for a desired divorce). In fact, one at that time relished the delicate balance of power that helped to create a modest aura of freedom and civil involvement in government affairs, which should be credited to the presence of our southern brothers in the merged regime that arose after unification from May 1990 to April 1994 (when the “Northern” forces attacked the “Southern” forces that were deployed in Amran as part of the redeployment of military forces of both North and South Yemen agreed to in the unification accord).
While it is not yet understood how the regime can claim that Yemen enjoys democratic rule with free speech and assembly, but when the Southerners try to enjoy this right, they are greeted by immediate firepower from the exaggerated security presence that usually greets any civil expressions of discontent in Dhale’a, Loder or Zanjibar. As if that was not enough, the security forces are unabashed at resorting to attacking any person who may have used symbolic expressions of discontent against particular elements of the regime, as if these people not only enjoyed immunity from displeasure by their “subjects”, but immunity from discontent by their subjects. This is tantamount to “shirk” and accords the rulers of the land a partnership with the Divine, which is totally unacceptable, no matter what rationale are given for this unholy assertion.
One wonders if the security organs have forgotten that it is their primary duty to protect the citizens of the country from any harm, even if they expressed an opinion that may not be favorable to any of the icons of the regime and even if these icons infringe upon the constitutional rights of free expression and assembly, in which case they should really side with the protestors. Certainly, state funds should not be allocated to such organs if they attack peaceful demonstrators in their homes and use houses of worship as staging points for their unholy bloody missions to do away with such protestors. Needless to say, those demonstrators were not even carrying armaments during the demonstrations.
It is time for the regime in Sana’a to seek more constructive methods of answering legitimate protest in both the North and the South if it has any hopes of keeping the unity of Yemen intact. The misdoings of icons of the regime are the reasons behind the obvious discontent in the North and the South and the latter will not fade away by machine gun fire from the minarets of mosques, which were constructed to call the people to come together and to remember that all are equal before God and the Law. The irrational spilling of blood in the South must end immediately if this union is to be saved. The regime in Sana’a has to come to terms with the people it purports to govern by their consent, for there is simply no excuse for continued failure to perform under the social contract and the shedding of blood of legitimate protestors does not hide any of the regime’s incompetence at all.
But wait folks, there may be ominous threats that Round Seven is looming in the horizon in the North as well. For sure the future is gloomier than ever.

Yemen Times Issue 1346 ?
Published 11/3/2010

Mr. Al-Baradei Returns Home: A Chance for A Real New Arab Renaissance?

2010-03-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published: 01-03-2010

The recent return of Dr. Mohammed Al-Baradei after having served the international community faithfully and professionally for over twenty years marks an important moment, not just for the Arab Republic of Egypt, but for the entire Arab World. This return was greeted rather unwarily to say the least by officialdom in Cairo and certainly the Egyptian official media considered the hopeful welcome accorded by the independent press and some partisan circles to Mr. Baradei as near treason. It is not so clear why the Egyptian people should entertain a fear or even caution of the return of a man who has been honored by the international community by a Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Baradei was a man who stressed that any military action by the international community against any nation of this planet should be based on factual and demonstrated proof of the danger that such a nation poses to world peace. We have seen how the minds of entire citizenries can be coaxed into believing that the actions of political leaderships can be misleadingly outside the context of a sincere application of the Social Contract. In fact there is enough evidence to suggest that such actions can sometimes be based on service to evil and an accommodation to narrow interests.

We have seen in the first decade of this Century that when narrow interests defined policies of nations, the consequences are deadly and costly, leaving a myriad of social and economic ills that are sometimes irreparable. We were told, for example, that the “removal of Saddam Hussein” provides sufficient justification for a war that has yet to see the finale of its ongoing devastation. However that was not the initial declared rationale provided by the promoters of one of the most costly military and legally dubious military coups in human history. This also does not take into consideration that the intended effort meant the elimination of a heretofore non-existent threat of terror, which was not backed by any substantive evidence to speak of from any legal or moral standpoint. Mr. Al-Baradei clearly understood this in his former highly sensitive position as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations and sought to try to diffuse the flames of war, even when the world found difficulty in rejecting the deliberate efforts to mix a seemingly genuine ant-terrorism global effort with latent devious intentions and a more obvious disruption of world peace.

But Mr. Al-Baradei stands for more than just the propagation of world peace throughout the world. This observer could not fail to remember that about a year or so ago, Mohammed Al-Baradei was in front of the official TV cameras of the Egyptian television network (there are still no independent Television radio or television channels to this day in Egypt or in the overwhelming majority of Arab states). Obviously, this interview was only permitted because the man had not then declared himself a candidate for the Presidency of Egypt in the upcoming very long overdue Presidential Elections of Egypt. Yet the significance of the interview could not be easily ignored and the hour or so chat with the internationally renowned public servant of the world told the audience that the man had more insight and more concern for the pathetic plight of not only the Egyptian people, but of the entire Arab World. This sad plight can be seen for obvious reasons, manifested by the failure of the political leaderships in the Arab countries to deliver their part of the bargain of the Social Contract. He mostly talked about the awesome failure of the Arab governments in taking advantage of the vast resources of the Arab World to upgrade the cultural and educational standards of the Nation to keep pace with a rapidly changing world that has no room or even respect for the educational and cultural retardation. Surely, such observation is obviated by the pathetic standing of the Arab World and its helplessness to confront the highly systematic and humiliatingly sophisticated hostility being unleashed by Israel against not only the Arab people of Palestine, but as can be seen now, against the entire Moslem World. Surely, the time has come for the Arab World to instigate tangible changes in its political and social frameworks that are more favorable to producing a more effective synergy of their vast resources and capabilities. What Mr. Al-Baradei conveyed in that enlightening interview was that he had a vision of where the Arab World should be and had a clear perception of what ills need to be overcome to realize such a vision. Mr. Baradei knew well that the Arab people; are sick and tired of exhaustive political and national rhetoric that serves only to inflate the pockets of the penholders and mouths that bellow all that empty rhetoric, which the Arabs have been hearing for the last fifty years. For this alone, I can vouch that Mr. Baradei will launch a highly warranted movement for most enlightened Arabs to start leading their people for a peaceful transformation of their political and social fabric. The Arab World must find a way of relinquishing the existent dead meat that has characterized our political frameworks and the establishment of more vibrant and interactive body politics that understand what the true aspirations of its constituencies are and how to go about realizing them.

Needless to say, the political establishments of the Arab World must recognize that they cannot regard public coffers as a free for all to rob and steal while they are protected by a political cover provided by the failing regimes that continue to hold the reigns of authority in the Arab World. The observer anticipates that the people of Egypt will indeed lead the way to this refreshing Arab renaissance. For this alone then we should welcome Mr. Al-Baradei home if he launches this momentary and called for true revolution in Arab political thinking.

Yemen Times Issue 1342
01-03-2010

A Respite or a Durable Blessing: A Peace for the Yemeni People?

2010-03-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, it seems quite now for a change in Sa'ada Governorate after six months of mainly guns doing the talking and undertakers operating ceaselessly, having to try to cater to human flesh that has lost its fine intricate and delicate engineering. For the undertakers this makes an already not so dazzling source of livelihood much harder to stomach even for the most hardened professional caretaker of human forms that have lost their meaningful contents and raison d'être – their souls. The mostly untimely passing away of all these souls that needlessly consummated their allotted time in this world much earlier than their bearers or even their killers might have earnestly pursued. Most of the parting human beings who lost their lives in the Sixth Round of a war that should not have had a Round I in the first place, were folks, whose death would most likely not have a determining factor on the outcome of the war anyway. But then the ugly thing about wars is that most of the casualties are never even asked why they should have to die so prematurely. In fact they do not have people determining what coordinates they should be on when the deadly ordnance that ends their existence per deadly chance should happen to land just when they trek on those coordinates. Their doom is written at that moment and their destiny is decided by men, whom they have never met, let alone have the least admiration for. This war in Sa'ada has not only been a war for people, who only sought to be free from religious oppression. It was a war that most of the combatants on both sides of the dogmatic divide would have preferred not to have started by the men who took on their leadership by bad fate more than by freedom of choice of the constituency. Ironically, when one views the leadership of the leading parties in the war, the people of Sa'ada were indeed fighting behind elected leaders, whereas the leaders behind dictating the orders for the firing of the most lethal ordnances were not freely elected at all. But then, one is not here trying to find the "right" side, if ever there was a right side in war; for the innocent dead there is never a right side. Life for them was the only right side. One is thus glad to see that the guns have for now stopped the talking and the leaders on both sides have betted on being able to win the hearts of people in more convincing ways than resorting to the gun that never won any heart for anyone. Needless to say, it is more likely that the end of the war may have come, because the more powerful player, who now decides the fate of the world at large, indeed found this war to be disturbingly unreal in their chess game of international conflict. Perhaps, the regime in Sana'a and perhaps their mentors in Riyadh failed to see that it is impossible for a country like Yemen, with its entire limited means to engage in three senseless wars at the same time! In fact, Yemen can't afford to engage in any war and the people of Yemen are already tired of thirty years of almost relentless warfare for a myriad of causes, none of which have brought the Yemeni people any clue as to when the country will ever see the light of day. In the arithmetic of war, in such a situation the main factors are power, greed and lack of faith in God and in the right of people to live in peace, so they can tend to the more urgent needs of fulfilling the needs of hungry children; hungry for food and hungry for learning! Wars do not solve the problem of feeding those hungry children, when the farmers that father those children are denied the most essential ingredients for producing their food and the access to the markets that will buy the output of one's labor. Wars will not help solve the problem of 55% of children in basic school age (whose number is now in the millions!) not being enrolled in schools at all, because there are neither enough schools or teachers, or even care for their future by those who should work night and day to try to remedy this serious of social problems and not the problem of how you pray while facing Mecca. Somebody should tell Thomas Freidman of the New York Times of the real facts on the picture of education in Yemen, because he left with the impression that there were only 5% unenrolled and only 15,000 in number. He also left with the idea that if schools could be found for these wrong numbers, Al-Qaeda would not have a chance to grow in Yemen. He does not even realize that the people who bring war to Yemen are the very same people who bring Al-Qaeda to the surface in Yemen and elsewhere. Mr. Freidman hardly cared about what is going in Sa'ada during his visit to Yemen. His main interests were taken up by the dirty underwear of a dubious Nigerian son of a wealthy man, who simply was deprived from some of the wealth of his father, or who simply found easier paths to glory in life. Thanks to the other breed of war merchants, who find in displaced human minds a good opportunity to extract wealth and fame by sending the former to their death or prisons like Guantanamo, the people of Sa'ada are of little concern to writers like Freidman, who probably does not have the faintest idea why there is Al-Qaeda in the first place. The people of Sa'ada know and are apparently not willing to have these contractors of death dictate their lives. That is what the War in Sa'ada really all about, isn't it?

Yemen Times Isue 1336 February 15. 2015

The Senseless Carnage Must be Stopped!

2010-02-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

When Moslems Are No Longer Moslems
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Many Moslems are quick to acknowledge that the religion of Islam left no stone unturned when giving the appropriate regulatory rules of conduct that governs the relations of not only Moslems and non-Moslems, but Moslems amongst themselves as well. Most Moslems are ready to also confess that the appalling spate of murders and bloodshed that have characterized many areas of the Moslem World recently are indefensible and inexcusable, when put to the test against Islamic belief and jurisdictional rules. Even those who erroneously call themselves Moslems and are known to be in one way or another behind such gruesome displays of sadistic behavior would never allow being associated with such indiscriminate killings of defenseless Moslems and non-Moslems. Even these deviates recognize that such morbid behavior is indeed anathema to Islamic teachings. In fact most truly devout Moslems are at a loss in finding anything in Islamic teachings that justify these indisputably horrendous violations of clearly set out rules of Moslem conduct. There is no question in the observer's mind that such deviates of fundamental Islamic teachings are deliberately seeking to distort proper Islamic conduct. This is more than just a result of a gross misunderstanding of Islamic dogma and jurisdictional teachings. Such would not be enough to explain the unusually strong institutional organization, political support and considerable financial resources that are clearly giving such degenerate so called Moslems relative ease to carry out their heinous crimes on an international scale.
The fact must be clearly pointed that all these gory displays of undeservedly torn bodies in worship houses or in markets or in hospitals have no legitimacy jurisdictionally or behaviorally. To put it simply, there is no pretext in Islamic legal text that would ever suggest that this is part and parcel of Islamic teachings. On the contrary, the Holy Qur'an, the sayings and examples attributed to the Prophet Mohammed (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon his soul) and his devout disciples and early followers (the real "good" Salafis) all render such unholy crimes as anathema to Islam and would strongly suggest that their perpetrators would undoubtedly be damned to hell! These are what may be considered as indisputable Moslem doctrine. Any so called Moslems who fail to uphold the sanctity of innocent human lives has deservedly cast themselves outside the fold of proper believing Moslems and faithful Moslems should be the first to reject such madness as being in line with any Islamic beliefs or statutes.
On the other hand, any true believing Moslem would not be oblivious to the fact that there is no meaningful purpose whatsoever from any "Islamic" viewpoint that can be used to make such behavior justifiable. Such behavior has done more harm to Islam than all the Crusades and wars that have been waged against Islam since the emergence of Islam as a "mercy to mankind" as portrayed by the greatest social reformer of all times, the Prophet Mohammed (PBAUH). Moreover, how can one find any service to Islam being fulfilled by such gory sadism, when for the most part its victims are actually innocent Moslems in worship or meditation? Sectarian differences have never been cause for bloodshed amongst Moslems until these deviates were allowed to implant their satanic corruptions of Islamic teachings amongst a vast following of misguided so called "Islamic" youth scientifically reared to carry out such heinous crimes. This only arose in the last couple of centuries when so called Wahhabi or incorrectly labeled Salafi dogma was given a chance to be propagated amongst misbred Moslems, who have lost all sense of themselves and of understanding of the true teachings of their faith. There is no way that Islam could ever sanction that a Moslem pack explosives all around his body and cause himself and those explosives to kill and maim hundreds of unarmed innocent human beings of any faith, let alone followers of Islam. There is no precedence to this in any behavior of our faithful predecessors who worked diligently and earnestly to insure that Islam is indeed always shown as a mercy to mankind. It was only because of this display of proper Moslem conduct that Islam was able to spread throughout the world, without ever having to be imposed on any population.
Therefore, it is imperative that Moslems be the first to make it clear that all this bloody madness one is now seeing in Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Algeria, etc, and which has also been seen in many non-Moslem countries before (New York, Spain, India, etc) is not the work of "Moslem extremists". The people behind such gross bloodletting are no more than murderers and corruptors of genuine Islamic doctrine. Islam is completely innocent of them. They are clearly a part of an obvious systematic and well organized deliberate effort to distort Islamic teachings. It would be misleading to lob the adjective "Moslem" on them. The time has come for all truly faithful Moslems of both Sunni and Shia affiliation to work arduously to defame and declare its sponsors, perpetrators and organizers as the real enemies of Islam. They are the hypocrites, of which the Qur'an clearly states, speaking to the Prophet Mohammed (PBAUH), and hence his followers: "They are the ENEMY! So be cautious of them!" [The Holy Quran, Al-Munafiquon (the Hypocrites)]

Yemen Times
Issue 1336
February 8, 2010

Breaking News fromI Sa'ada: The Cease Fire Is On

2010-02-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

Both President Ali Abdulla Saleh, President of the Republic of Yemen and Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis in the Governorate of Sa'ada have ordered their respective combatants (the Yemeni Army and the Houthi fighters) to cease fire as of 12:00 midnight last night. Both sides will remain stagnant for a while to see how will the cease fire holds and then carry out the remaining measures in the agreed truce. These include removal of road blocks, opening of roads and demilitarizing the access roads, government and public buildings, etc.

Sykes – Picot 2010

2010-02-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

In Yemen and Elsewhere: We Simply Let It Be

A very dear friend of mine (A Roamer of the World – as I call him) from the university days of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck (NJ) Campus sent me the following observation on the London meeting of last week on Yemen, which I would like to share with my good readers, as it came:

"near the former colonial offices
the major powers conferred:
what is to be done to deter
exploding underpants?
the south arabian gibraltar
could join the commonwealth
[dredge the harbour, chase pirates
practice amphibious landings on socotra]
each press release emphasized the theme
'not a failed state but a failing government'
a necessary disclaimer before pursuing
a lesser evil"

Christopher Seymour

My answer to Chris, who is the only one of the many friends I had at that time, who actually made it to this now Arabia Infelix, was as follows (with a feeling of nostalgia for the idealism filled days that arose out of the hip culture of the Seventies in the good old USA:

Nice to hear from you again with a delightful short treatise on the fallacy of our programmed lives by people who never give a damn about how much human suffering their interests must be served by just so they can satisfy their rotten egos and live high on the hog at the expense of nine-tenths of the population of the world. Twenty nations met to work out the future of Yemen, without even asking anyone in Yemen just what the hell is going on in this God-forsaken land?

Tyranny and oppression have once again been rewarded and the victims of it all have been told once again, go to hell!

We really had a whole different vision of what the world ought to have been like in the Seventies and almost believed nothing could stop us from making it so real. Naiveté surely overtook us! It is not that they outwitted us. We simply believed that evil would never find any grounds to be entrenched in anymore. We were fooled by the beauty of our dreams and overwhelmed by the goodness of our aspirations. We thought for sure we knew what God and all those prophets and philosophers really wanted to make of this world, only to find that we hardly knew ourselves well enough - our strengths have been turned into submissive apathy and non-chalance, while the bad guys of the world were slowly eradicating all desires for goodness in this world.

What do we do? Surrender and let them destroy the beautiful virgin island of Socotra? Hell no! We got to believe in ourselves again, otherwise God will forsake us for our reluctance to maintain our self proclaimed honorable mission. We must uphold goodness, fairness, equality and justice in their rightful position in our hearts and minds. Oh sure, it is not our fault, since the power in our voices slackened with our content with letting the heavy sounds of rock music and electric blues assure us that we have reached the fulfillment we should strive for. May the Lord forgive us!
For now the only consolation we have is the knowledge that God could never be on their side! Even if we have lost the momentum desired of us, and the guts to call a spade a spade, humanity's destiny must end at the end of the rainbow we pictured in our vision. If that is not God's will, then what the hell are we here for?
Keep the faith - we must be sure that we are right and they are dead wrong!

Yemen Times Issue 1334
February 1, 2010

In case anyone has forgotten: In Yemen, there is a real war up north

2010-01-31T04:39:00.000-08:00

by: Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:25-01-2010
Apparently, the “War on Terror” has sidestepped all other events in this world and all focus is on Al-Qaeda, especially since a suspected AQ peon managed to get on a plane headed for the USA with some dirty underwear. This latest escapade of AQ phobia, unsuccessful as it was, is a long way off from a number of airplanes being turned into explosive ordnances and ramming into the Wall Street Trade Center twin towers, the US Defense Ministry and the backwoods of Pennsylvania (9/11). God forbid that anything like that should find recurrence in our times or any other times. However, the question of “Has AQ lost its pants?”, is almost inescapable as a comparison of 9/11 and the “failed” post Christmas 2009 bizarre bombing attempt is forced upon the observer. Thank God, it was a failed attempt indeed. However, should all attention be diverted from real ongoing bloody encounters, in which scores of human bodies (civilians and combatants) are daily being torn to shreds, in the same country where the Nigerian bomber is alleged to have begun his long range bombing mission (the material must have been irritating to the underwear wearer on such a long journey).
Two states are currently pinned down in a futile project to eliminate a defiant adversary, who remains undefeatable despite the balance of means of the two states and this adversary tilting heavily in favor of the former. This conflict is resulting in high casualties amongst the civilian population of Yemen’s northern governorates. Many of these civilians are located far away from the “battleground” areas. It is also clear that Saudi Arabia failed in achieving its declared intention of turning back the “infiltrators” into their territory. Saudi entry in the conflict has given the once “local” conflict between the Houthi fighters and the Yemeni Government (which has managed to remain “local” for five increasingly bloody rounds) regional and international dimensions.
Recent efforts to associate the conflict in the north of Yemen to the Yemeni Government’s (and their Saudi counterpart’s) “War on Terror” are somewhat intriguing (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/6966691/Yemen-using-war-on-al-Qaeda-to-bolster-regime.html). This effort was given greater momentum at the start of 2009, when Saudi Arabia allowed some 200 of its own suspected AQ “dangerous and wanted men”, who were under the “watchful eyes of the Saudi security organs”, to momentarily escape those eyes and infiltrate to Yemen (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/05/starr.alqaeda.yemen/). This happened just a few months before the Yemeni Government decided to embark on a “scorched earth” campaign against the Houthis, at the behest and with all the backing and support of the Saudi Arabian Government. Is there some link between such questionable occurrences? This is apparent, especially since Saudi Arabia decided that the Al-Houthi job needs bigger and stronger boys to tackle it, as the Yemeni Government faced difficulties with its “scorched earth” effort. Of course, both the Yemeni Government and the Saudi Government, hardly consider the Al-Qaeda threat at par with the threat, which both, rightfully or wrongfully, view the Houthis as being. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden and the home of origin of Al-Qaeda and all manifestations of Salafi/Jihadi culture. Yemen has been an incubator of such a culture for a number of decades (since the early 1970s), on behalf of, and in consort with the Saudis.
Yemen’s war with the Houhis could have probably been managed locally and dealt with in the usual manner of a few engagements on the rocky terrain of Sa’ada and then a truce. Maybe, even a peaceful way out of the seemingly relentless conflict altogether could have been worked out. But it was obvious that this was not in line with the wishes of the neighbors to the North, whether due to ideological considerations or the Saudi perceptions of the regional manifestations of the conflict. The Saudis perhaps felt that they have invested far too much in this drive to eliminate the Houthi threat to have it halted and restarted again (like the five previous rounds). They may have also overestimated their own strength and military prowess. They have unleashed the AQ factor, probably to give them ample cover for the extensive use of all their various firepower capabilities and thus blanket the tragic civilian suffering that is now being witnessed. This civilian “collateral damage” was in addition to the already disturbing high civilian casualties that the Yemeni Government was inflicting. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and the ICRC) have all condoned the disproportionate use of force and the unnecessary civilian casualties with respect to both allies (including the direct hits on IDP camps).
Whether the AQ factor is indeed intended for this or not, both the Yemeni Government and the Saudis, individually or collectively have considerable leverage in influencing the direction of the AQ factor. Many observers contend that this factor is being used to take away public and particularly Western attention from the bloodbath in Sa’ada and surroundings, murkily projecting such tragic consequences as of the “War on Terror”. This kind of deliberate confusion was tried with the Bush Administration in the earlier rounds of the Sa’ada War. However, it appears that the former US Administration did not buy this mixed-up logic for too long.
Will the Obama Administration in the United States eventually catch on as well? The unnecessary deaths and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni civilians should not be added to those already inflicted directly or indirectly by the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The AQ factor, as dubious as it appears to be, does not justify further senseless and unreasonable suffering of helpless Yemeni citizens with the blessings of the United States, especially in a conflict that is really far away from the anytime callable “War on Terror/Al-Qaeda”.

Yemen Times Issue 1334

25 January 25, 2010

Sa'ada Update: An End to the Fighting Soon?

2010-01-29T05:09:00.000-08:00

The Houthis: The Saudis Continue Attacks

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
For the fourth day in a row the Houthis state that the Saudi Arabian forces continue attacking Yemeni territory with 17 air raids in various areas of Sa'ada Governorate and 148 rockets fired into Sa'ada.

There were some ground encounters in Harf Sufian as well with Yemeni Government forces where the Houthis claim to have detovated a bomb on a tank that was trying to relieve an incapacitated tank from yesterday's attempted ground advance.

On another note sources state that the brother of the Governor of Sa'ada, Sheikh Faris Manna'a, who is also Chairman of the reconciliatiuon committee between the Government and the Houthis in the Sa'ada War, has been taken from his house in Sana'a to an unknown destination. It was not clear what the reason for his arrest was.

In the meantime, a website of the Houthsi reported that the Houthis are negotaiating with the Government for an end to the ongoing conflict between the two parties. There is already agreement in principle on the need to end the fighting and the talks have advanced to the discussion of the instruments needed to implement the various conditions (exchange of prisoners; release of detainees, disengagement; etc.)

Houthis: The Saudis Have Not Stopped Their Shelling and Bombing of Yemeni Territory

2010-01-28T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Saudis are continuing their aerial and rocket attacks on Yemeni territory, according to the Media Office of Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi and with 21 air raids and 480 rockets directed against various areas of Sa'ada causing some civilian casualties and destruction of civilian houses.

The Houthis have withdrawn from all Saudi Territroy seized since the Saudi entry in the War last November 2009. This was based on a one sided declared truce by the Houthis, suggesting that if the Saudis continued their attacks on Yemeni territorey, then they will have no choice but to hit back with new fronts and an "open war". Prince Khalid Bin Sultan claimed that the Houthis are still a menace and suggested that the Houthis must be dealt with as rebels of their own Government. He also suggested that it was the Saudis who drove the Houthis back.

The Government forces also attempted some ground advances in Al Iqab and Harf Sufian, which the Houthis claimed to have repulsed after fighting from 0700 Hrs to Noon. There were also 9 air raids by Yemeni Government Forces in various areas of Sa'ada Governorate.

Houthis Withdraw and the Saudis Continue to Bomb

2010-01-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi

The Houthi fighters announced through their Media Office that they have withdrawn from all the positions they formerly occupied in Saudi Arabian territory and listed 44 positions including

outposts:
Al-Sabbah, Batul, Al-Irrah, Al-Mujda'a, Al-Jouf, Um Qam'a, Al-Gharisha, Jouf Al-Nuseiby, Al-Khaqaqa, Al-Jabiry Center, Al-Masayel, Qaim Al-Sayyab, Um Dahwah, Um Sharheil, Qarqa'iy, Ra'ashah, Al-'Aqam, Um Ruzmah, Dar Al-Nasr, Qam Qoub, Um Darmiyah, Qaim Sahah, Um Rasabah, Um Qaima, Al-Saibah, Al-Utaimy, Biyout Ahmed Hadi, Um Baisy.

Mountains:
Al-Qurhoum, Al-Hushkoul Al-A'ala, Al-Hushkoul Al-Asfal, Farisa, Al-Mudabba'a, Qumama, Malhamah, Twaibiq, Al-Sabadawy.

The recent battle grounds of Jabal-Al-Dukahn and Jabal Mudawwad were also withdrawn from.

In the meantime the announcement of the Media Office of Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi of Tuesday stated that the Saudis continued bombing and shooting rockets at villages inside Yemen with 9 air raids, one of which lead to the destruction of a house in which 5 were killed and 2 were injured in Mirran. there were 540 rockets shot at various districts in districts within the interior of Sa'ada Governorate.

The Saudi Arabian press did not disclose any official Saudi reaction to the offer made by Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, the Field Leader of the Houthis (see previous post), but attempted to impress upon the reader by quoting various "informed" sources that the Saudi forces have achieved the victory they have been pursuing, and that the withdrawals "actually occurred a month ago" (when Prince Khalid Bin Sultan, Assistant Defense Minister supposedly claimed that all Saudi territory had been liberated, without any confirmation from any independent sources, while the Houthis continued to claim ongoing air raids and failed ground assaults (with videos showing some of the battles, which the Saudis did not deny or falsify) against many of the outposts they were occupying long after the claim.
In addition, the Saudi prexs continued to try to establish some linkage between Al-Qaida and the Houthis, a claim that can not be substantiated by either ideological congruence or appraoach. In fact the Saudis are actually more closer to the AQ doctrinaire and methodology, since both are strong backers of Salafi/Wahhabi dogma, which is as far away from the Houthis as a bar mitzvah! In addition most financial support and personnel for AQ emanate from Saudi Arabia. But recently the Saudis have sought to show a disassociation between themselves and "terrorism" and for some logically inexplicable reasons to throw AQ with Shiites of Yemen, Lebanon and Iran, which most Moslems find rather intriguing. Even the Vocie of America wrongly makes this assertion in a picture caption in the Radio channels website (http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/-leader-of-a-six-year-insurgency-in-Yemen-announced-that-his-forces-will-pull-back-from-Saudi-Arabia-if-the-powerful-northern-neighbor-promises-to-stop-arming-and-fighting-alongside-the-Yemeni-government--82686477.html), which would seem puzzling.
There was no new announcement from the Houthis as of 0700 hrs Wednesday Morning.

A M Al-Houthi: Peace Initiative with the Saudis

2010-01-25T08:14:00.000-08:00

Breaking News

by: Hassan Al-Haifi

In a recorded statement posted on the You Tube and 4 Share, the Field Leader of the Houthis or Believing Youth Movement, Abdul-Malik Badr Eddine Al-Houthi announced an offer for peace with the Saudi Arabians with the following stipulations:

1) The Houthis will withdraw from all the bases, outposts and camps they took over in Saudi Arabian territory since the entry of the Saudis in the conflict and give them back to the Saudis.
2) The Saudis should stop all attacks on them and, "in particular", on the civilian populations of Yemen that are now daily victims of Saudi aerial, rocket and artillery barrages deep into Yemeni terrirtoy and "far away from the areas of the encounters" between the Saudi military and the Houthis.

He stated this after having given a brief background of the reasons behind the current encouters between the Houthis and Saudi forces. He reiterated that the reason the Houthis were compelled to attack into Saudi territory was because the Saudis allowed the Yemeni forces to use their territory, bases and facilities despite efforts to prevent this.
Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi said that this is the third effort to foster a peace deal with the Saudis and to show the formers' good intents. He suggested that the Houthis have no ambitions whatsoever in Saudi Arabia, but are purely acting in self-defense having only taken over outposts and bases in Saudi territroy that were used by the Yemeni forces against them.

He warned that if the Suadis do not acceot this third gesture for peace, the Houthis will then have no choice but to engage in an "open war" with the Saudis, in which several fronts will be opened and there will be no limits as to what that would entail.

The Saudis have been directly involved in the War in Sa'ada and other Northern Yemeni Governorates since November 2009, but have strongly backed the Yemeni Government effort to crush the rebellion of the followers of the late Hussein Badr Eddine Al-Houthi, who was killed in the First Round of what has now come to Six Rounds of heavy fighting with brief lapses of truces. The Saudis have only been directly involved starting from this current Sixth Round, claiming that they only want to stop the "infiltrators" and push them out of Saudi territory. Both the Yemeni Government and the Saudis have suffered setbacks against the resilient Houthi rebels in a terrain that is among the most difficult terrain in the world.

Al-Houthi made no mention of his adversaries on the Yemeni side in this offer.

Al-Houthis and Al-Qaida in Yemen: What, When and Why

2010-01-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Saudi unexploded bombs

dropped in Sa'ada

Victims of Sa'ada War

Alleged "underwear"
explosive powder

?
What is Next?

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

The first five rounds of the Sa'ada conflict were fought mainly between the Yemeni Government forces and the Believing Youth Movement founded by the late Hussein Badr Eddine Al-Houthi (killed in the First Round in September 2004). That was the only successful round for the Yemeni Government. Hussein Al-Houthi was the son of a very prominent Zeidi scholar (now in his nineties) and a scholar in his own right. The Yemeni Government, under prodding from Salafi and Wahhabi followers projected Hussein Al-Houthi and his followers as Shiites of the 12th Imam or Ja'afari persuasion, i.e., followers of Iran. There is quite a difference between the Zeidi sect and these other 2 Shia sects. The Zeidis may be viewed as predominantly Sunni in doctrine, except for the political view that the caliphate was to remain within the descendants of the House of Ali and the Prophet's daughter Fatima. The Government of Yemen accuses the Houthis; alias Believing Youth (No relations to the Somali group at all) of wanting to reinstate the Imamate. In an Abu Dhabi Satellite Channel interview Hussein Al-Houthi tried to show otherwise: "If I wanted a leadership position, I would seek the Presidency. The only requirement is the ability to read and write. There are 14 tough conditions in order to be an Imam, which most likely I could never fulfill". The Houthis insist that they are only preventing the systematic marginalization and elimination of the Zeidi sect, which many government officials of Salafi persuasion or Saudi linkage have vied to achieve. The former Governor of Sa'ada Yahya Al-Amry (now ironically the Governor of Dhamar, which is another former Zeidi stronghold) was doing all in his power to facilitate the political and spiritual empowerment of the Salafi/Wahhabi organizations. He also tightened restrictions on any cultural, educational and religious activities by Zeidi followers. The Governor tried to arrest Hussein Al-Houthi (an MP) on the premise that the latter was organizing marches in support of the Palestinians, who were then undergoing the worst treatment that Israeli right wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could inflict on the Palestinians in the "Second Intifada". Al-Houthi and some of his followers were stopped at a security checkpoint. Al-Houthi sensed that Al-Amry was trying to find any excuse to have him killed. Failing to negotiate his way out of the ambush, he shot his way to escape and Round One began (18 June 2004 - 15 September 2004).
Many observers warned then not to engage in any conflict with the proud and resilient people of Sa'ada. Historically, Sa'ada Governorate has never been forcefully subdued. In the Civil War of 1962 – 1970, Sa'ada and the nearby governorates withheld a modern Egyptian Army that reached 70,000 strong. Ironically at that time, Saudi Arabia was supporting the Zeidi backers of the Imam then, out of fear of the spread of Nasserite Nationalism. President Nasser of Egypt was calling for the overthrow of most traditional monarchies in the Arab World.
The Houthis managed to rebound after every round. The Government was compelled to make temporary truces with the Houthis after each Round. The Fourth Round peace agreement mediated by Qatar actually even called for the exile of all the Houthi family members and leaders. However, the Yemeni Government reneged on some of its obligations (releasing Houthi or suspected Houthi detainees), while continuing the tough campaign against the Zeidis in general.
The Sa'ada War became a profitable enterprise for many players in Yemen, who managed to commit both the Yemeni Government and the Saudi Government (the latter footing the bill for the most part, and probably not too pleased at the growing influential role of Qatar) to insist on the complete defeat of the Houthis. The Houthis grew stronger and more experienced. By the time the Sixth Round flared up last Ramadhan or September 2009, the Houthis had become (at least in their own turf in Sa'ada and Amran Governorates) well in command of the situation. Out of frustration at the Government forces not being able to make headway with the Houthis, the Saudis first provided logistical support to the Government forces: use of Saudi territory for movement or tactical maneuvering and use of facilities. The Houthis found this irritating and finally were forced into a showdown with the Saudis over borderline Mount Dukhan, which was mostly in Saudi territory. Probably the Saudis wish now that they stayed out of the fighting. Observers suggest that Saudi continuing involvement would present insurmountable security risks for the Saudi regime. Long engagements by the Saudis threaten the domestic security situation in the Kingdom, as well as bring embarrassment for the Saudis regionally and internationally. But the Saudis are now stuck with having achieved very little to bolster the Yemeni Government efforts or to regain their lost territory. With the Houthis projecting a David versus Goliath scenario, and the credibility of the Saudis and the Yemeni Government declining, the Al-Qaida factor mow comes to the rescue to bring in a third player: Uncle Sam.
Yemen Times 1330
18 January 2010

The illogic of American intervention in Yemen 3/3

2010-01-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:11-01-2010

This observer has often called on the parties now actively engaged in Yemen in one way or another to go back to the historical background of Yemen and try to figure out just how the current picture of Yemen emerged. This is specifically directed to the foreign entrants in Yemeni affairs, including some of the regional powers that have willingly or not put their feet in a very slow sinking quicksand that will surely represent the biggest challenge to confront them. Saudi Arabian role in the developments in Yemen go back to the First and Second Saudi State (1744 – 1818) and (1824 and 1891) respectively (see (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabism) and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia#History). The Saudi advance was deeper into Yemeni territory in the former and the Imam in Sana'a at the time was for a while compelled to abide by Wahhabi religious dictates (destroy domes and large and elaborate tombs). During the Second State, Yemen was mostly under Ottoman rule and the Saudi/Wahhabi alliance was bogged down in a struggle for power with their rivals the Al Rashid and Al Sabhan clans of Nejd.
After the Egyptian Army, which was backing the Republic after the September 26, 1962 Revolution, left Yemen in the wake of the defeat of the Arabs (Egypt, Syria and Jordan) in the Arab Israeli War of 1967, peace was arranged between the surviving Yemen Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republicans and the Royalists reached a national reconciliation with ease once foreign influence was minimized.
Saudi influence in Yemeni politics nevertheless remained strong and the Wahhabi Establishment in Saudi Arabia was beginning to send "missionaries" to spread the Wahhabi Salafi creed and to have the latter replace the traditional mainstream Shafer and Zeidi sects that prevailed in Yemen. This was done initially subtly and with little fanfare, as the Wahhabis started to first set up "Quranic Schools" and then Scholastic Institutes for the advanced stages of Wahhabi indoctrination, so that by the end of the 1970s and especially with the helms of authority taken over by the current President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Salafis or Wahhabis had an open mandate to expand as they wish anywhere in Yemen. These institutions also were even beneficiaries of state budget funds as the Wahhabi Scholastic Institutes and Quranic Schools became merged with the Yemeni public educational system. In addition, the religious syllabus of the normal public schools began to be infused with Wahhabi teachings. With ample funding from Saudi Arabia and now even the Yemeni Government, the growth of the Salafi Constituency was eminent. In addition, other sects were not given any further encouragement to educate future generations on Shafer and Zeidi, especially with respect to the latter. The old learning institutes of the Zeidi sects were either closed or faced obstacles that prevented them to teach, as informal as such schools were.
As the tensions between North Yemen and South Yemen grew and declined from time to time, the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, either through Saudi prodding or out of need, began to use the newly established Salafi constituency in Yemen as paramilitary units, which presumably were to come as Jihadist forces fighting against unfaithful radical or leftist guerillas. The socialist rebels had dug in heavily in the Central Highland extending from Ibb to Ta'ez and from Utuma to Al-Beidha. This of course gave most of the Salafis greater power than the rest of the citizens of the country and they were accorded more facilities (land, buildings and other assets). It was obvious to most Yemenis that the regime was going to give these Salafis, who eventually formed the Islah Party, all the liberty and maneuverability to make them the number one religious institution.
Yemen was able to give many volunteers to the Mujahideen fighting Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. This would enable these groups to gain considerable armament training. This is where Yemeni Salafi leaders like Abdul Majid Al-Zindani began to gain prominence and were used very aggressively to raise the number of volunteers.
With the ample real estate that the Wahhabis in Yemen were able to acquire, most of them were given to them gratis by the Government or sometimes "donated" by private citizens, foreign elements of the Wahhabi genre, were brought in to teach and train the followers of the faith on paramilitary tasks and further indoctrination in the Wahhabi creed.
With such a large constituency of Salafis, it is easy to see why more extreme radical Wahhabi groups can easily find nests to roost in as they escape from one hot spot to the next, either to avoid being caught or killed. After 9-11, Yemen was found to be a major contributor to AQ activities, especially in terms of personnel.
Despite all the foregoing it is for certain now that the US increased military presence will not bring an end to AQ or any other propagators of terror or religious extremism. While Yemen may have contributed many personnel to Jihadist activities, as long as there is ample funding available to Jiahadist activities, they will just continue to relocate from one niche to another.
On the other hand, to have American forces also engage against the Houthis is not helping one bit against the War on Terror, since the Houthis as the record shows have not engaged in any of the bizarre military and para military violence activities that the Salafi Jihadists engage in (kidnappings, murder, suicide bombings and all the other almost maniacal acts that Salafi gangs have been known to unleash. President Barack Obama should not be goaded by the likes of Joseph Lieberman, who is an extremist of the Zionist genre. Mr. Lieberman would not be serving the interests of the United States if he championed US involvement against the Houthis, since the Houthis have done nothing to undermine anyone's interests in the manner which AQ is suspected of having done so. What Jo Lieberman and the other pro Zionist lobbiests in the US are worried about is that the Houthis might be a menace to Israel (as they see Hezbollah as such). In other words, those who are vying for US involvement on the side of the regime in Sana'a are only serving the interests of Israel, notwithstanding the "newly tailored explosive underwear", which again the Houthis have nothing to do with.
The only reason the observer is pointing this out is that American involvement in Sa'ada on top of being suicidal, will lead to large numbers of civilians getting killed for no apparent reasons, with respect to the US. AQ would simply relocate and set up new domiciles, thanks to the ample funding they have access to, probably from the newly producing oil fields of the Empty Quarter Desert, which used to belong to Yemen, but now have been turned over to our gracious neighbors up North.
For more historical background see
http://www.watchinghistory.com/2010/01/context-in-yemen.html

Yemen Times Issue 1328
December 11, 2010

2010-01-11T01:09:00.000-08:00

COMMON SENSE
For the Arabs, it is the backseat

Hassan Al-Haifi

One is not baffled anymore by the mediocrity of Arab politics and the ungodliness of most of the leadership in the Arab World, with the word being used here more as a symbolic contempt rather than a real feeling of desire to be subordinate to most of the clowns that make up the roster of Arab leaders.
Yes, contempt would be an even kind reaction to the pitiful displays of Arab political and diplomatic maneuverings in a complex and intertwining world that our mostly aged leaderships have yet to even understand, let alone be able to wiggle through.
Thank goodness the Lord Al-Mighty made Islam a global affiliation and never guaranteed that the Arabs (at least in the Arab World) should be at its spearhead. For all the means and resources at their disposal, the Arabs have proven that they are the world's sloppiest and most narrow minded administrators of the bounties God has bestowed upon them.
Having said that, one cannot help but be reassured that the Lord Al-Mighty has bestowed alternative Moslems with intellect and culture to take on the banner and uphold the causes of the Moslem World. Yes, this is indeed reassured by the latest developments one is seeing in many a Moslem country, the leadership of which has learned that to go about life the Arab way is a freeway to failure and very likely doom.
Just by seeing the big concerns that bother the Arab leaders, the observer is aghast that the Arabs, for example can view Iran as a worse threat to them than Israel! But if one sees the current Arab media, one cannot help but notice the fallibility of our own emotions.
Israel has literally forced itself in the heart of the Arab World at the cost of an entire indigenous population of their very own loosing their homeland and becoming chronic victims of the most unholy occupation in history, while our Arab leaders have no qualms whatsoever about the Zionist menace and suffice by lip service treatment of the Palestine issue, while not finding any fault with Israel's doings.
It is really appalling that we only find great relief from fellow Moslems in Turkey, Malaysia and Iran who vehemently speak out against the Zionist menace and its evil doings in the Holy Land. On the contrary, quite a few Arab leaders look forward to the day when Israeli and American jets mount their blitzkrieg on Iran. Ask any Arab citizen about President Hugo Chavez, and they will come back with "God bless him".
But if you mention any of the Arab diehards, who like to call themselves leaders, who are constantly spoon fed by their overpaid media to their people, and all you hear is "May they burn in hell!" Mind you, this observer has no personal grudges against any of our great leaders, as the Lord Al-Mighty has spared me the agony of their wrath and the dubious nature of their displays of gratuity.
However, one cannot help but realize the overwhelming disapproval of the Arab leaders among their constituencies in particular or their nation as a whole. Better yet, all one has to do is ask these leaders why they do not put the love of their people for them to the test by instituting real and free elections and see how much favor they have amongst their constituencies? Then at least they will have some gauge to evaluate the lying cheaply bought pens and propaganda machines they have set up to keep their public image shining.
Of all the Arab leaders that strike most of the Arab citizens as deplorable, those who have a knack for keeping their countries in an unrelenting aura of war and violence are bound to be given First Prize for Horrendous Leadership.
In fact these leaders would not be able to shut their eyes at night if sound barrier breaking jet fighters do not continuously break the silence of the night or if the sounds of ambulances sirens do not scream as they try to break through the congested pot holed streets to take the dead and wounded to the nearest hospitals or to the Martyrs' Cemetery, where they would be honored with the whole slate of the national leadership, who would never dare to send their very own sons to do battle with their ever changing enemies.
May God bless Recep Tayyib Erdogan, Mahathir Mohammed, and yes Ahmedenjad for reminding us how true Moistens sshoudl act and rule.
The Sa'ada War Must End!
If there is any hope for Yemen and its Government getting back its sanity, this would only come if the bloody madness in Sa'ada comes to an end immediately. This is a war without purpose; a war without mercy; a war that will lead to the total deterioration of what ever is left of national pride as Yemenis and as Arabs.
One should also not forget to express one's appreciation for the remarkable mission from Egypt that came and went empty handed, but did not forget to cash in on some of the war funding being administered by outside watchers. The mission truly showed us how much the Arab World is now lacking in leadership. But then Amro Moussa has never been a favorite among news audiences from the Atlantic to the Gulf anyway.

Yemen Times 19 10 2009
Issue 1304

On the Murder of the South Korean Tourists: This is not the Islam the world has always Known

2010-01-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

by: Hassan Al-Haifi

Quite often the observer is bogged down by the absolutely horrendous renditions of Islam being displayed by no more than petty criminals and contractors of death, who are surely worthy of the curse of the Al-Mighty for their damnable corruption of the religion of Islam. Surely, most informed and even those majority of simple folk Moslems throughout the world, are now sick to their stomach for the ongoing displays of murder, sadism and masochism being exhibited by some very ill-informed and surely degenerate imbeciles, for whom one prays to be either eliminated or enlightened to return to the true Message of Islam. It is not difficult for most faithful Moslems of the world to know where this gory heretic rendition of Islam emanates from. No matter where one is in the Moslem World, one will find most of the faithful will be able to point to one place that has been responsible for spreading this hypocritical and inimical creed that disguises itself in corny lip service surface adherence to Islam. The theatrical extremism shown by these merchants of death is in itself already a far deviation from what the true faithful Moslems see in Islam. There is no question about it, all this gory violence and ugly images of merciless death, which we are witnessing almost daily is not simply a series of spontaneous impulsive demonstrations of acts unleashed by uninformed religious zealots here and there. This is indeed the work of well organized deviates, who are nurtured to partake in a scientifically and systematically raised culture, which is actually geared to return not just the Islamic world, but the entire human race millennia back to the Age of Ignorance.

For 15 centuries now, the religion of Islam has been a shining beacon of social and spiritual enlightenment and suffice it to say that the religion of Islam is perhaps the only spiritual creed that was never imposed on any of its adherents. Moreover, the religion of Islam produced great models for the reform and rehabilitation of human society, remaining always at the forefront of sound social and spiritual frameworks. There was never any need to impose Islamic dogma and there is hardly any record of human massacres ignited in the name of Islam. The existence of large non-Moslem communities in most of the Moslem World is undeniable proof that Islam lives by the immortal Qur'anic verse, which puts it as simply, yet as powerfully as it can be put for all mankind to understand: "There is no compulsion in religion!" In other words, let people first understand Islam. God is far greater than anyone to suggest that He is in need of anyone's worship or even their souls at the expense of annihilating four innocent Koreans, whose country has never harbored any animosity or antagonism towards any Moslems, either in Korea itself or any other country of the world. In Islam there is no reward for arrogance, for betrayal of trust, for the murder of one's guests, even if such guests are from a hostile country to Moslems and they are here at our behest. On the contrary, the true principles of Islam insist that any people that have entered Moslem homelands are under the protection of the state as well as all the people of the land and any harm against them is in full violation of Moslem codes of hospitality and protection of peaceful passersby, as is dictated in Moslem religious dictates that are not disputed by any Moslems – the Holy Qur'an. No one is naïve to believe that those, who are behind these heinous acts of murder, in Shibam, Mumbai, Karachi, Iraq, Spain, New York are guided by any Moslem dogma, jurisdictional ordinances and long established Islamic institutional pursuits. All these un Godly acts are, simply put, outright murder and a far cry from anything that Moslems for centuries have ever sought to espouse. The planners, the funders and the aiders and abettors of such crimes as the murder of four Korean tourists, the shooters of Indian hotel clerks, maids or waitresses, the blasters of office workers in New York, the murderers of Moslem worshippers in the mosques of Karbala or Baghdad and even the killers of unaware civilian trespassers in restaurants or theaters, in the stolen lands of Judaea and the Negev are accountable to the Al-Mighty and have distanced themselves from any prospects of winning the Lord's favor. The observer is at a loss in finding religious textual foundations that call for the baseless display of schismatic propagations, which work to engrain inter–sectarian hatred, all of which have no origin in the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed – the delivery that was to mark the final testament of God to man for the establishment of an international order, which thrives on tolerance, insists on social harmony and beguiles all source of senseless violence and uncalled for shedding of blood. Before we can hope for people of other religious persuasions to accept our faith or understand our causes – these death squads must be declared as public enemy No. 1 by all genuine believers in Allah and brought out of their covert cover. Otherwise, they will continue to reflect an unholy and God forsaken image of Moslems, which Allah never asked for and our forefathers kept out of touch with for well over fifteen hundred years.

Our sympathy go out to the families of the murdered 4 Korean victims and of their Yemeni guide, all of whom were killed in cold blood by these murdering buffoons. Our assurance also goes out to the entire world that Allah, the prophets of Allah (including Jesus, Moses and the prophets of the scriptures, as well as Mohammed never espoused any of this bloody madness. All genuine Moslems of all sects are innocent of such acts, which have no basis in any Islamic doctrinaire except those corrupted doctrinaire who are brainwashed to submit to an order that preaches and covertly propagates a mischievous dogma that thrives on blood and destruction. Every Moslem knows where this ugliness emanates from and can easily point to its point of origin, just as quickly as they can point to Mecca.

Yemen Times Issue 1243
March 19, 2003

On the murder of the South Korean tourists:

2010-01-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

This is not the Islam the world has always known

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:12-08-2009

Quite often the observer is bogged down by the absolutely horrendous renditions of Islam being displayed by no more than petty criminals and contractors of death, who are surely worthy of the curse of the Al-Mighty for their damnable corruption of the religion of Islam. Surely, most informed and even those majority of simple folk Moslems throughout the world, are now sick to their stomach for the ongoing displays of murder, sadism and masochism being exhibited by some very ill-informed and surely degenerate imbeciles, for whom one prays to be either eliminated or enlightened to return to the true Message of Islam. It is not difficult for most faithful Moslems of the world to know where this gory heretic rendition of Islam emanates from. No matter where one is in the Moslem World, one will find most of the faithful will be able to point to one place that has been responsible for spreading this hypocritical and inimical creed that disguises itself in corny lip service surface adherence to Islam. The theatrical extremism shown by these merchants of death is in itself already a far deviation from what the true faithful Moslems see in Islam. There is no question about it, all this gory violence and ugly images of merciless death, which we are witnessing almost daily is not simply a series of spontaneous impulsive demonstrations of acts unleashed by uninformed religious zealots here and there. This is indeed the work of well organized deviates, who are nurtured to partake in a scientifically and systematically raised culture, which is actually geared to return not just the Islamic world, but the entire human race millennia back to the Age of Ignorance.

For 15 centuries now, the religion of Islam has been a shining beacon of social and spiritual enlightenment and suffice it to say that the religion of Islam is perhaps the only spiritual creed that was never imposed on any of its adherents. Moreover, the religion of Islam produced great models for the reform and rehabilitation of human society, remaining always at the forefront of sound social and spiritual frameworks. There was never any need to impose Islamic dogma and there is hardly any record of human massacres ignited in the name of Islam. The existence of large non-Moslem communities in most of the Moslem World is undeniable proof that Islam lives by the immortal Qur'anic verse, which puts it as simply, yet as powerfully as it can be put for all mankind to understand: "There is no compulsion in religion!" In other words, let people first understand Islam. God is far greater than anyone to suggest that He is in need of anyone's worship or even their souls at the expense of annihilating four innocently Koreans, whose country has never harbored any animosity or antagonism towards any Moslems, either in Korea itself or any other country of the world. In Islam there is no reward for arrogance, for betrayal of trust, for the murder of one's guests, even if such guests are from a hostile country to Moslems and they are here at our behest. On the contrary, the true principles of Islam insist that any people that have entered Moslem homelands are under the protection of the state as well as all the people of the land and any harm against them is in full violation of Moslem codes of hospitality and protection of peaceful passersby, as is dictated in Moslem religious dictates that are not disputed by any Moslems – the Holy Qur'an. No one is naïve to believe that those, who are behind these heinous acts of murder, in Shibam, Mumbai, Karachi, Iraq, Spain, New York are guided by any Moslem dogma, jurisdictional ordinances and long established Islamic institutional pursuits. All these un Godly acts are, simply put, outright murder and a far cry from anything that Moslems for centuries have ever sought to espouse. The planners, the funders and the aiders and abettors of such crimes as the murder of four Korean tourists, the shooters of Indian hotel clerks, maids or waitresses, the blasters of office workers in New York, the murderers of Moslem worshippers in the mosques of Karbala or Baghdad and even the killers of unaware civilian trespassers in restaurants or theaters, in the stolen lands of Judaea and the Negev are accountable to the Al-Mighty and have distanced themselves from any prospects of winning the Lord's favor. The observer is at a loss in finding religious textual foundations that call for the baseless display of schismatic propagations, which work to engrain inter–sectarian haltered, all of which have no origin in the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed – the delivery that was to mark the final testament of God to man for the establishment of an international order, which thrives on tolerance, insists on social harmony and beguiles all source of senseless violence and uncalled for shedding of blood. Before we can hope for people of other religious persuasions to accept our faith or understand our causes – these death squads must be declared as public enemy No. 1 by all genuine believers in Allah and brought out of their covert cover. Otherwise, they will continue to reflect an unholy and God forsaken image of Moslems, which Allah never asked for and our forefathers kept out of touch with for well over fifteen hundred years.

Our sympathy go out to the families of the murdered 4 Korean victims and of their Yemeni guide, all of whom were killed in cold blood by these murdering buffoons. Our assurance also goes out to the entire world that Allah, the prophets of Allah (including Jesus, Moses and the prophets of the scriptures, as well as Mohammed never espoused any of this bloody madness. All genuine Moslems of all sects are innocent of such acts, which have no basis in any Islamic doctrinaire except those corrupted doctrinaire who are brainwashed to submit to an order that preaches and covertly propagates a mischievous dogma that thrives on blood and destruction. Every Moslem knows where this ugliness emanates from and can easily point to its point of origin, just as quickly as they can point to Mecca.

Yemen Times Issue 1243 19 3 2009

The illogic of American intervention in Yemen (2/3)

2010-01-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:04-01-2010

In the wake of recent American concern about the rather dubious recent jump in the presence of Al-Qaida in Yemen, one cannot help but ask, what factors raise the contention within the Barack Obama Administration that Yemen is now indeed the new home base for AQ's "menacing" activities throughout the world? Most knowledgeable observers are inclined to suggest to President Obama that his understanding of the real situation in Yemen needs a lot of reinforcement. It is not a rare occasion to see a US Administration sometimes pursuing a policy that is reliant on questionable events and circumstances almost aimed at misdirecting that policy to make it conducive to interests that are not necessarily at par with US interests. In Yemen, there are a multitude of problems that would rank the AQ threat as actually being among the lowest in ranking amongst these problems. This comes notwithstanding the many apparently orchestrated events here in Yemen and elsewhere which prompted this recent US rush to show its tough muscles again with little hope for success.
Needless to say, AQ is a menacing evil that Yemen could do well without. Many Yemenis inside and outside the political spectrum and who have a broad view of the overall scenario that is looming over Yemen are looking for the plausible solution to this menace. However these Yemeni observers would have to suggest that the course of US policy for Yemen as being promulgated by the US media and as announced by Barack Obama himself raise more questions and dig more unwanted graves than would be welcome at this moment. Surely, this AQ threat is indeed a malleable irritant that seems to find its rightful niche whenever the covert masters of this highly suspicious phenomenon find it suitable to shift locale, tactic and victims.
However, before embarking on another highly costly military and security operation and bringing more sources of tragedy and pain for the overwhelming majority of Yemeni citizens, we suggest again that the United States Government make a careful assessment of what AQ is really all about and what allows it to continue its menacing and irritating presence in the world arena? This is not to say that an increasing American presence in Yemen is viewed with disfavor because of a "hatred" of Uncle Sam (does anybody still remember him?). On the contrary, increasing American attention for Yemen can be healthy and even welcome, if channeled properly and is based on the real mutual interests of both the American people and the Yemeni people. The vibes emanating from Washington these days continue to suggest that the US Government considers all the solutions to the problems of the world as resting on expensive and complicated military/security operations. Thus the inputs are fed into a computer and within a few minutes, hours or days the blue print is drawn out for the appropriate military and security steps to be taken and the initially modest needed funding to fuel the effort, that will soon increase manifold to accommodate for increased needs or changing tactics. This kind of strategic and tactical planning ignore the all important factor of the human cost, whether in US (and allied) personnel or the thousands and eventually millions of innocent civilians that are eventually killed wounded or rendered homeless, poor, destitute and perpetually hopeless. One is quite convinced that such monumental costs hardly result in accomplishing any advances against terrorism, in all its manifestations, especially the dubious AQ version. All one has to do is retract over the last decade and attempt to draw up a scorecard on the "War on Terror". If the Iraqi example can be used in this context, the inescapable conclusion that one can draw is that terrorism of the largely ineffective AQ, suicide bomber and the miscalled Jihadi genre entered Iraq with the US invasion of Iraq.
President Obama promised in his campaign for the Presidency that he would eventually get to the root of the "terrorist" mobs and uproot them once and for all. As such, they would not continue to pose a threat, etc. to American security, American interests (overseas) and to "western civilization", as some extreme right wingers in the US and other "western" countries would like to suggest. This promise was made on the pretext that the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan was obviously not the home of origin of AQ and other forms of so called Islamic fundamentalist dogma and the alleged terror that comes with it. Yet, the Taliban and their AQ allies did manage to wrench control of Afghanistan from a moderate Government, thanks mainly to substantial tactical, reconnaissance support mainly from the Pakistani intelligence service. PIS were (by the latter's' own admissions) were actually working under contract for Saudi Government agencies and Quasi Government "religious" agencies and institutions towards this purpose. It has always struck the observer with awe, how the very capable Pakistani intelligence organs (thanks to American training and logistical support during the Cold War), turned their eyes away from the strong growing seeds of a Taliban culture that were simultaneously also being planted in Pakistan as well.
Will the elimination of AQ in Yemen actually be realized as the Obama Administration hopes? If so, will it end the AQ and Jihadi terrorism that is now dealt with by Barack Obama by following a merry-go-round approach lead to any ultimate success of eliminating AQ and its irritating bogus threat to the US and to a considerably greater extent to the Moslem World? The ramifications of this new American intervention in Yemen will be the focus of next week's Common Sense.

Yemen Timea No. 1326 5 Jamuary 2010

Conflict in Yemen Intensifies As More People Flee

2009-12-31T22:33:00.000-08:00

Lisa Schlein | Geneva 31 December 2009

Photo: AP
A Yemeni refugee woman washes clothes at the Mazraq Refugee Camp in northern Yemen, 11 Dec 2009

The International Committee of the Red Cross reports conditions are continuing to deteriorate in northern Yemen where fighting between the government and al-Houthi rebels has been raging for the past five months. A Red Cross official tells VOA large numbers of civilians continue to flee the conflict zone in search of safety.

The Red Cross says civilians trapped in conflict in northern Yemen are finding it hard just to survive. It says many people leave their homes and their belongings behind in a desperate attempt to find safety.

ICRC spokesman, Marcel Izard, tells VOA in just the past two days about 2,000 new people have fled to Saada city. He says such a large exodus indicates a lot of fighting is going on.

"You have some people who are fleeing, obviously who are coming now into these huge camps that are centered in Saada city and outside the city and other places as well. And, you have other people who are too scared to flee because fighting is really taking place very close to the villages and who do not know what will happen to them if they flee," said Izard.

Fighting between the government and al-Houthi rebels has been going on since 2004. This latest wave of fighting erupted in August. Since then, aid agencies have been urgently appealing to the international community for support in assisting the civilians caught in the middle. But, the response has been very poor.

Since the recent aborted terrorist attack on a Delta airliner, worldwide attention has focused on Yemen because of the alleged al-Qaida connection.

While this issue is separate from the fighting in northern Yemen, Izard says he hopes some of this attention will be paid to that conflict. He notes people are in desperate need of assistance. They lack water, food and other essentials.

He says all of northern Yemen is a combat zone. He says the fighting keeps shifting from one place to another adding to the uncertainties and instability in the region.

"People have been displaced four, five times in a row. People cannot even resettle in an area because once they are in one camp in one area, it might happen to them that fighting reaches this area as well and suddenly they have to move again, which is one of the solutions," he said. "People see what they are facing and they are on the constant move and they do not really feel safe anywhere where they are. And, now it is winter. Even in Yemen it is wintertime. It is cold in the nighttime, so it is also a very difficult time for them."

The International Committee of the Red Cross says dozens of civilians reportedly have been killed or injured in attacks in several parts of Saada governorate. It says it has not been able to verify this information because of lack of access to the areas.

Since mid-August, the Red Cross says at least 150,000 people have been affected by the armed conflict. It says around half of them are internally displaced.

Copied courtesy of Voice of America (See this link):

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Conflict-in-Yemen-Intensifies-As-More-People-Flee-80414422.html)

The illogic of the American intervention in Yemen

2009-12-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:28-12-2009

Has US policy in the Middle East witnessed any significant changes from its stale and fumbling ways, which many said characterized the erratic policies of the Bush Administration? The keen observer would be inclined to suggest that, if anything, the Obama Administration may be under greater pressure to fall into misguidance and ill conceived purposes, since it apparently lacks clearly defined ideological foundations to guide it in the formulation of its foreign policies. In this context then, it was easier to rationalize the policies pursued by the Bush Administration, although their justification is open to great questioning. Furthermore, the Bush Administration never made suggestions that they are pursuing a do good policy that is enamored with ethics and respect for human rights. On the contrary they stubbornly held on to a determination to use any means possible to achieve their objectives, regardless of the consequences of their tactical approaches. So, it was clear that "collateral damage" and the suppression of civil liberties and the untold human suffering that went with pursuing the objectives of the various tightly netted institutions that staunchly stood behind the Bush Administration were of little concern to former President Mr. Bush and his staff.

When Mr. Barrack Obama was aggressively campaigning for the highest office in the United States, he sought to portray a forthcoming Administration that would put the United States back on to a course that would make its leadership constructive in bringing about world peace and ceasing unnecessary bloodshed, especially for the mostly discontented peoples of the Third World. Realistically speaking, it would be foolish to think that Obama was a miracle maker who could take his wand and point to a map or a chart showing one of the predicaments facing his Administration and move it right or left to remove all the issues pertaining to the location in question or the report under discussion. Moreover, it would not be fair to suggest that Obama was insincere in his campaign pledges or promises or even the image he was seeking to project of himself.
It is for the American people to judge President Obama on his accomplishments at the home front, in terms of delivering on his promises of controlling government spending, rehabilitating the economic and financial environment, reforming the health sector and raising the standard and quality of education in the United States, among other issues of pertinence to the American people.
However, as far as his foreign policy agenda is concerned, the Obama Administration should begin to score itself on the achievements made since taking the oath of the Presidency of the United States and determine if it is on the road to turning his promises of engagement and rapport with the Moslem World into a tangible reality, which the Moslems of the world have yet to see. The progress in the Middle East has yet to be contemplated, let alone realized. The Israelis are not even proceeding with caution as they aggressively carry out their designs for turning the idea of a Palestinian entity beside them into no more than a rapidly fading dream buried by continuing construction of Israeli settlements. The dire situation of the Palestinians in Gaza is reaching tragic proportions, with a severe siege, now even bolstered by neighboring Arab states – with Washington's prodding.
On the anti-terrorism war front, it appears that the forces of terrorism are indeed actually gaining ground as the United States beefs up its efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Needless to say, even if Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are both erased from the maps, this would still not bring the end of terrorism as a continuing international phenomenon. That is not where terrorism began, nor from where it obtains its continuing generous funding, which the opium trade alone would not be enough to support. Having said that, one would think that the Obama Administration would first of all seek to be familiar with the background of this mostly theatrical phenomenon of Al-Qaeda and how and where it first developed and how it spread dramatically throughout the world. One thing that is for certain is that it is safe to assume that the hundreds of civilian casualties (around 400 civilian fatalities this last month alone, including 120 Government prisoners of war being held by the Houthis) that are now dying in Sa'ada Governorate, to which some have alluded to US bombardment or rocket/drone attacks, are innocent of any form of terrorism – and especially of the Al-Qaeda genre. In addition, the recent attacks on so called AQ elements have been no more than theatrical works of tragic consequences for the mostly innocent Bedouin civilians that were hit instead of the AQ operatives the Yemeni Government claimed were targeted by the Abyan and Shabwa attacks (some claim to have been carried out with direct US involvement and not just blessing). The so called AQ operatives presumably targeted actually showed up on television the next couple of days promising their revenge on the "Americans, but not the Yemeni forces", as they stated (See also this link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-yemen-awlaki26-2009dec26,0,6789406.story) .
Another disturbing aspect of US policy vis a vis the current situation in Yemen, is that there is some suggestion that the US assistance to the current Yemeni and Saudi drives against the Houthis in Sa'ada is meant to allow the Government a free hand to deal with the AQ, once the Houthis have been subdued once and for all. The observer is baffled by this kind of logic, since the AQ and their like have been having a relatively free hand in Yemen (and of course Saudi Arabia, the original homeland of all extremist Jihadists cultures now thriving all over the world) to grow and multiply with little interference from the Yemeni Government, when both of its hands were for the most part untied for more than thirty years. Surely, this was not without the knowledge of US intelligence then and now. So why the innocent people of Sa'ada should be the victims of a misguided US policy, which was lobbied for, but apparently rejected by the former Bush Administration, is certainly worthy of further study.

Yemen Times
Issue 1324 dd 28 12 2009
_________________________

Unhappy Arabia: Where the Hot Wind Blows

2009-12-14T04:16:00.000-08:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

The War in Sa'ada has now practically turned into a full blown regional confrontation with the balance of power seemingly in an awkward position. It is now certain that the leaders on both sides of the "international" divide that represents the de facto border between the Republic of Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have stumbled into a fiasco that reflects their poor intellect at knowing their own strengths. Time and again, this observer has warned that this kind of spontaneous decision making only leads to disaster and more chaos than both of the regimes in Riyadh and Sana'a have ever conjured up throughout the years of their unholy existence and they have indeed been the source of havoc in more than one region and not just country. It is inescapably unforgivable to sit and watch these two regimes plunge the good peoples of both Yemen and Saudi Arabia into relentless warfare that satisfies the drives of no one except the ever hungry warlords of both countries, who never seem to have enough of anything. It is easy to see that these warlords have eaten a lot of the good resources of this bountiful peninsula and shed the blood of its inhabitants and the inhabitants of other lands in fruitless adventures from New York City to Kandahar, not to mention the Wars in Iraq, Chechnya, Somalia and every little niche where so called Al-Qaeda and other corny named clandestine operatives are unleashing their blood poisoning verve of hate, sadism and masochism. One cannot help but wonder at the might of the Al-Mighty as he has turned this sanctified Peninsula into a graveyard for those who seek to turn it into a bastion of evil when the Lord Al-Mighty had ordained that it should be a land of holiness, spiritual respite and eternal peace. No, this is not an attempt to cry wolf in support of any particular ideology. These are inescapable observation of the facts of life that are unfolding daily to show that those who forget the true might of the Divine and seek to arrange an unholy partnership of their scheming with the wonderful workings of the Lord have no place in the destiny of mankind as the Lord Al-Mighty had laid out when the First Man laid his feet on this Earth after ignoring the Early warnings of the Al-Mighty to those who set aside God's warnings of the evil inclinations of Satan and their own ignorance.
Now that the War in Sa'ada is beginning to penetrate to the inner depths of the Saudi Kingdom, it is time to recall that reason is better than the reliance on spontaneous whims driven by narrow-minded interests that have no regard for the right of human beings to live in peace. These vagabonds have ignored the rights of all the inhabitants of this richly endowed peninsula to enjoy the unlimited wealth and bounty the Lord has exclusively granted to the Holy Land where His prophets trekked and toiled as they strove to bring humanity onto the right path He has solely ordained for humanity to trek on. It is sad to think that these misfits have thought that they can bear the banner of Allah Al-Mighty and kill and plunder in His name without being subject to accountability by their very Creator. But the ignoramuses who have been spreading the evil work of the devil far and wide have always been the worst victims of their own undertakings as the wrath of the Al-Mighty is unleashed upon them from where they least expect it.One is bound to keep one's eyes open wide as the events of the next few weeks and months unfold as one watches the folly of human judgment reap its unholy harvest against those who have forgotten that mankind deserves to be spared the horrible renditions of running the affairs of their own kind, which they have adopted for no one's sake except to fulfill their ego driven inclinations of infidelity to the teachings of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Holy Quran throughout this world. Yes, the War in Sa'ada is proving to be more than just a mere rebellion of a gang of "Believing Youth" or "Infiltrators". Whether they liked it or not, the instigators of this most phenomenal of confrontations have dug their own inescapable pits of the folly of their doings as they suffer defeat upon defeat by unusually highly skilled heretofore unknown masters of the Art of War, which the rulers of Sana'a and Riyadh are the last to know about mastering, although they purport to be its sole masters and propagators.

Yemen Times Issue 1320 dd 14 December 2009

Mohammed Abdul-Wahhab Jubarri: Tribute to A Great Yemeni Achiever – A Great Friend

2009-12-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:2-12-2009

This observer often finds that it is difficult to share feelings about someone who meant so much to him. For thirty-three years Mohammed Abdul-Wahhab was a very important part of this observer’s life that it would be difficult to ascertain what course life would have taken had not the life of Mr. Jubarri crossed paths with the life of this humble observer. For sure it could not have been anywhere near surpassing the great realm of culture and scholasticism that spewed from this great Yemeni thinker, scholar, politician, economist, businessman, philanthropist, innovator, organizer, father, brother and friend. In all the latter, Mr. Jubarri was unequalled in presenting novel contributions to the lives of all the people that were touched by his deeds and he was unequalled in the finesse by which he translated his ideas into a functioning reality that reflected the broad outlook and wide horizons that were so much an indivisible part of his intellect.

Mr. Jubarri was someone whose achievements as a public servant favorably touched on a wide variety of people from the complex demographic and social mix that make up the Yemeni people, guided only by a desire to serve and turn ideals into a discernible reality that reflected the genius of the man as an exploiter of all the social, economic and political venues to turn these ideals into working social institutions that enriched lives and improved standards of living, not to mention making economic resources accessible to all those who desired to improve their lives.

Jubarri was one of the first modern technocrats that Yemen produced – a product of grinding traditional learning that only the once unequalled Zeidi schools of Dhamar and Sana’a could produce, before developing all the elements of modern scholastic achievement that Egypt was unequalled in achieving in the Early 1950s.

Concentrating on economics and law, his modern education led Mohammed Jubarri to become one of the best organizers of private and public enterprises in Yemen and almost three fourths of the active economic and social institutions that exist today were in one way or another touched by his inputs and ideas, if he himself was not the finder of such institutions.

On the social and political front, Mr. Jubarri was at ease with all the elements that make up the Yemeni socio-political fabric and was a mover of several institutional frameworks that could have been great initiatives have they been allowed to go their normal unobstructed course. His relations with all the people that worked with him or with whom he dealt were always marked with a strange aura of charismatic affinity that almost made one feel that this man simply cannot go wrong.

That is when one looks at the renown public figure that Jubarri had inescapably become as the Chief Executive Officer of several economic institutions and an active member of the Board of Directors of several others, not to mention the most successful Minister of Economy and Trade that Yemen ever had and other leading senior political responsibilities, such as the Mayor of the City of Sana’a. But to those who were close to Mr. Jubarri all of that was second billing.

Mr. Jubarri to the latter was more of a father, a teacher, a model of good and an outspoken defender of truth, human rights and freedom. A man of faith, Mr. Jubarri never let his great power in the political and economic environ overtake any of his down to earth humility, remembering that the power of the Al-Mighty surpassed all human power by leaps and bounds and that indeed mankind is beholden to the Lord for all their attributes and fortunes in life.

Moreover, Jubarri often considered that misfortune is more a product of the evil of men than the blind wrath of the Lord against those who have lost touch with the awesome powers of the Devine. He had a profound merciful outlook on the follies of human power and never let his stature among men get to his head. He vocally spoke his mind and never tried to brown nose any figures of leadership to advance his own cause. He often had to face disappointments in standing up for the most humble of the oppressed against the mightiest of political and social figures, who have forgotten that they are also weak human beings in the end, no more - no less.
But to those who were his friends, Jubarri was the faithful friend, who would never turn down a friend in need and he was always there to the rescue whenever any of his friends were in the most difficult of situations, often without such friends even knowing the source of their liberation from despair.
May God bless the soul of this most phenomenal of Yemeni public leaders and Yemen will never be the same without him. For sure his friends will not be either.

Yemen Times
December 2, 2009

Amnesty International: Saudi Arabian Authorities Must Investigate Reported Killing of Civilians in Yemen

2009-12-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

2 December 2009
Amnesty International has urged the Saudi Arabian authorities to investigate the reported killing of seven civilians in an air raid attack in the Sa’da region of Yemen.The Saudi Arabian Air Force reportedly dropped three bombs on a family home in the vicinity of Mithab on Monday, in what may have been a deliberate attack. It is unclear whether armed fighters were present at the house or in its vicinity at the time of the attack.Three children and four women from the 'Amer family are said to have been killed in the explosions, which also injured at least nine other civilians. Fighting between Yemeni government forces and supporters of the late Shi’a cleric Hussein al-Houthi spilled over into Saudi Arabia in November, leading Saudi Arabian forces to become directly engaged against the Yemeni rebels. "It appears that the ‘Amer family house may have been deliberately targeted by the Saudi Arabian Air Force as it was struck three times in quick succession," said Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director, Malcolm Smart. "In the absence of information indicating that armed al-Houthi rebels were operating inside the house or in its vicinity, we are seriously concerned that civilians may have been directly attacked." Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabia’s Defence minister Prince Sultan bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud to ensure that Saudi Arabian forces take all possible steps to ensure protection of civilians caught up in the conflict in Sa'da."We have asked the Saudi Arabian government to indicate what steps they are taking both to investigate this reported incident and, more generally, to ensure that all possible protection is afforded to civilians caught up in the conflict area in Yemen and along Saudi Arabia’s southern border," said Malcolm Smart.The three children reported to have been killed in the attack have been named as Hussein ‘Amer Muthana ‘Amer, Ameen Muthana ‘Amer and Hussein Hadi ‘Abdullah ‘Amer.In addition, four women from the same family - Nashra Hadi Zaid, Fatima Muthana ‘Amer, Ramia ‘Ali Muthana ‘Amer and Hindah Muthana ‘Amer – are reported to have been killed by the three bombs that struck home in Sa’da’s al-‘Ammar District. The conflict in Yemen’s Sa’da region began in 2004 and has continued intermittently since then. Fighting intensified last August since when thousands of the region’s predominantly Sh’ia population have been forcibly displaced and scores, possibly hundreds, of people have been killed.

Read More
Saudi Arabian and Yemeni forces must protect civilians in Sa’da conflict
(News, 11 November 2009) --------------------------------------------------------
West Gulf TeamMiddle East and North Africa Programme
Amnesty InternationalInternational Secretariat
1 Easton StreetLondon WC1X 0DWUnited Kingdom

Soccer is More Important than Real National (Arab) Issues: The Pathetic State of the Nation

2009-12-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi

All this incomprehensible raucous about the Soccer games between Egypt and Algeria cannot help but make the observer wonder at the real pathetic state of the Arab Nation, as a whole and as individual states. This entire silly tic for tat on the claimed superiority of local “national” soccer teams makes the observer wonder if there is any more reason to display any semblance of pride in being associated with this helpless nation of demagogues for worthless causes, which it has become. But what can the latter do, except hope that the Al-Mighty cleanse the capitals of the Arab World of its impotent leaderships. It is not enough that most of these leaderships are hardly possessive of any education beyond the substandard level, let alone any taint of culture breeding. Even at the collective level, we have an Arab League that has been immersed into the abyss of failure, thanks to the ineffectual and remote controlled guidance of Amr Moussa, who has to date not produced any degree of bringing the organization to any level of regional recognition or even allegiance to national causes, which the Arab League is supposed to sponsor. Moreover, the Arab League has become weaker in speaking out for the issues that are most troubling to the Arab people as a whole: Palestine, Somalia, North Africa (Polesrios), the War in Sa’ada (despite six rounds of bloody warfare that has brought on the rise of over two hundred thousand “internally displaced persons”), and the Sudan and all its internal conflicts. This is not to mention that the Arab League has not shown any suggestion that it is even seeing what is going on in Iraq now for close to a decade. Even this current stupidity over the World Cup Elimination Playoffs, for which no one hardly expects any of the fierce combatants – either Egypt or Algeria - in this recent brawl to ever reach as a contentious team for the world title anyway.When one looks at the map of the Arab World, whether as shown by Google Earth or as the Sykes-Picot and the Balfour Promise and all the other international or regional agreements have laid out the Arab World, we see rivers of blood flowing in all the valleys and rivers that crisscross this make-believe jigsaw puzzle of nationhood. However, thanks to greater communications and easier access to the various channels for information exchange, the people of the Arab World are slowly become more informant about the follies of their leaders across the Arab World. Moreover, it is more easier to see that most of the leaderships in the region are closed narrow-minded societies that mainly work for the enrichment of their bona fide members, who have either reached their positions by means of their clan association, or for acting as agents of other regional or international cliques, and have no sense of the real implications of government of the people, for the people and from the people. In fact they hardly recognize that leadership means delivery of certain tangible and intangible results for their peoples, ethical and professional performance at all levels and in all sectors of public administration, freedom from the influence of traitorous military establishments or dubious partisan associations that have for the most part brought more hell to their people than meaningful governance.This is the only hope that one has for the future, for the current situations throughout the Arab World are no indications at all of any hope to rest with the existing quagmire of impotent leaderships now riding on the necks of their people without even paying any fare! However, there is still the disconcerted state of the Arab “masses” or the “people of the street”. These people have lost their balance, as a result of all the state machineries of oppression and persecution, which have been reoriented to serve the selfish aspirations of the incompetent leaderships that hold the helms of authority throughout the more than twenty “states” that make up this weak and powerless nation.But with this nation itself being a part of a greater Moslem Nation that is composed of emerging powers, such as Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and eventually Pakistan, one is comforted that Allah’s real impression of justice will prevail. In this context, the observer is inclined to suggest that so far most Arab States have no sense of the real values that Islam should espouse, mainly justice for all, the elimination of poverty, the sanctity of life and private property and freedom from all forms of political oppression and religious persecution, not to mention the removal of fictitious borders among fraternal states within the entire Nation of Islam (of course not Elijah Mohammed’s fictitious nation of Islam in America).

Yemen Tines
Published:23-11-2009

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT: Yemeni Government Tortures

2009-11-29T00:36:00.000-08:00

27 November 2009 Index: MDE 31/017/2009
Yemen: Government should announce commitment to tackle ‘widespread’ torture Amnesty International today urged the Yemeni government to publicly announce its commitment to implementing the recommendations issued last week by the UN Committee against Torture, following its regrettable failure earlier this month to show up to the Committee’s examination of what was described as the “widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment” in Yemen. The Committee published on 20 November its provisional conclusions and recommendations on Yemen’s second periodic report concerning the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It had examined the report on 3 November, but, in an unusual development, the Yemeni government did not attend the session. The Yemeni authorities have an opportunity to respond to the conclusions and recommendations before the Committee next meets in April and May 2010. Amnesty International calls on them to do so, but also to implement without delay and as a first step a key recommendation of the Committee that they “announce a policy of eradication of torture and ill-treatment”. Such action would help to signal the authorities’ will – currently being called into question – to deal with one of the major areas of human rights concern in the country. Torture and other ill-treatment are widespread practices in Yemen and are committed, generally with impunity, against both detainees held in connection with politically motivated acts or protests and ordinary criminal suspects. Methods of torture and other ill-treatment are reported to include beatings all over the body with sticks, rifle butts, punching, kicking, prolonged suspension by the wrists or ankles, burning with cigarettes, being stripped naked, denial of food and prompt access to medical help, as well as threats of sexual abuse. Torture and other ill-treatment are often carried out as a means of obtaining “confessions” during interrogation. Such “confessions” are generally accepted by the court without being investigated adequately, if at all. This is despite constitutional guarantees and provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure which prohibit the admissibility of such evidence. Most torture and other ill-treatment take place during the initial period of detention by security forces, when detainees are generally not provided access to a lawyer or to their families. Criminal sanctions which violate the absolute prohibition against torture and other cruel, inhuman and or degrading treatment or punishment, “such as floggings, beatings and even amputation of limbs, are still prescribed by law and practiced” in Yemen, as the Committee noted with concern. In addition, Amnesty International receives reports of prison authorities resorting to torture and other ill-treatment as a form of non-judicial punishment against political prisoners. Dozens of detainees arrested in May 2009 following a peaceful protest calling for the release of political prisoners held in connection with the Southern Movement, a coalition of political groups seen by the Yemeni government as calling for the independence of the southern part of the country, have reportedly since been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment in the al-Mukalla Central Prison, in the south-east of Yemen. Seven men who were suspected of having led the protest, including one named Salim ‘Ali Bashawayh, had their wrists and ankles handcuffed to fixed bars and were suspended from them for several hours. Others were reportedly tear-gassed, subjected to beatings with sticks, punched and kicked in order to stop them from chanting demands for the independence of the south of the country and for their release from prison. Torture and other ill-treatment are facilitated by what the Committee described as “a widespread practice of mass arrests without a warrant and arbitrary and prolonged detention without charges and judicial process”. In Amnesty International’s experience, detainees are generally not allowed to notify a relative or lawyer of their place of detention, despite the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulating that they should be afforded this right “immediately”. In some cases the authorities deny for weeks that they are holding a detainee in their custody in response to requests from their family for information on their whereabouts. Such cases constitute enforced disappearances. Amnesty International has recorded dozens of such cases over recent years; many have involved individuals arrested in connection with the conflict between the army and followers of Zaidi Shi’a cleric Hussein al-Houthi in Yemen’s northerly Sa’da region, which has been raging intermittently since 2004, or with recent anti-government demonstrations in the south of the country protesting at the perceived discrimination by the authorities against the people of that region. One person who remains disappeared is Muhammad al-Maqalih, a Yemeni journalist and member of the Yemeni Socialist Party who was abducted from a street in the capital Sana’a on 17 September by a group of men who arrived in an unmarked white minibus. There has been no news of Muhammad al-Maqalih since. He is suspected to have been arrested because of his public criticism of the army’s killing of civilians in Sa’da. At first Muhammad al-Maqalih was believed to be detained by the Central Organ of Political Security in Sana’a. However, in October the Attorney General told Muhammad al-Maqalih’s family that the Central Organ of Political Security had denied that he was in their custody. It is now believed that Muhammad al-Maqalih is being detained in the al-Qal’a Prison in Sana’a. Amnesty International wrote to Yemen’s Minister of Defence on 21 October to ask about his place of detention and to raise concerns that he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, but has received no response to date. To combat such practices, the Yemeni government should follow the announcement of “a policy of eradication of torture and ill-treatment” by implementing without delay a key recommendation of the Committee against Torture to “take immediate steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country”. As recommended by the Committee, they should, in particular, “ensure that all detainees are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention. These include, in particular, the right to have prompt access to a lawyer and an independent medical examination, to notify a relative, and to be informed of their rights at the time of detention, including about the charges laid against them, as well as to appear before a judge within a time limit in accordance with international standards.” They should also “establish a national system to monitor and inspect all places of detention and follow up on the outcome on such systematic monitoring”. Background The UN Committee against Torture is the expert body established by the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to monitor countries’ compliance with that treaty. It is composed of 10 independent, impartial members who are elected by the states parties to the treaty. Governments must submit periodic reports to the Committee which in turn make recommendations to further the State party’s implementation of the treaty. --------------------------------------------------------

Miscalculated Saudi Policy: Peace is Much Cheaper Than War

2009-11-09T03:08:00.000-08:00

Miscalculated Saudi Policy
Peace is Much Cheaper Than War

By Hassan Al-Haifi

The last war that Saudi Arabia engaged in independently was the Yemeni – Saudi War of 1934 and it might be worth recalling that it was the King of Yemen then, who appealed to the wisdom of King Abdul-Aziz to end the war on a temporary truce, lest the foreign forces that were prying for power and influence in the region close all the channels for fraternal Arab brothers to make peace. Incidentally in that war, Prince Ahmed Bin Yahya, the Imam’s son and commander of the Yemeni forces had advanced beyond Najran and was already on his way towards cutting the supply lines of Prince Faisal (later King of Saudi Arabia), who had already advanced to near Hodeida. The war would have been a disaster for the Saudis then, because Ahmed was a military genius beyond dispute, as many of his companions have quickly attested. Thus, when Imam Yahya rightly or wrongly called for a truce, it was out of conviction that Arabs should not be fighting Arabs, especially if both were Moslems and surely should not fight wars for the sake of foreign powers. Many of those accompanying Prince Ahmed would be quick to point out that this moment was the first time they saw Prince Ahmed cry, when his father ordered him to retreat back to the agreed truce lines. Ahmed is well known for never having to lose any battles or wars he was engaged in and was unequalled in military genius in his times. He knew well how to handle and lead Yemeni tribesmen and make a formidable force out of them, even if they were meagerly equipped. He was so confident that the Saudis were easy game then and was ready to march to Taef City after cutting the lines of supply to Faisal. King Abdul- Aziz knew this well and saw good wisdom in agreeing to the truce suggested by Imam Yahya. Whatever the case, any war between the brotherly nations of Yemen and Saudi Arabia is never good for any of the adversaries involved. Thus, it was with surprise and total disagreement that this observer finds it nec3essary to suggest to our Saudi brothers that if the Egyptians with a force of 70,000 troops could not break the back of the resistance they met in Sa’ada during the war to save the Republic (1962 – 1969), how can they expect to do better, when the force they are confronting is far more resolute and apparently well adapted to durable combat. The Saudis are also causing much more anger to reside within the hearts and minds of many Yemenis, who really expected that their Saudi brothers would look with greater affinity towards their southern brothers and invest in the development of the country, so that Yemenis will be less contemptuous (not jealous, mind you) of their Saudi brothers for enjoying the lavish splendor they are living under, while turning the other way when they realize how destitute are the lives of their southern brothers. One surely does not think that the counsel that the Saudis are getting to carry out a meaningless and surely fruitless war against any Yemeni faction is actually counterproductive and not in the interests of the Saudi family at all. Never mind that the Saudis will only enflame the anger of Yemenis, who are already saddened by the ungrateful attitude of the Saudis towards the Yemenis, who played a major role in the building of modern Saudi Arabia during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The recent fighting in the Yemeni – Saudi border, even if it has the blessings of the Saleh regime, is absolutely contrary to the interests of both the Yemeni and Saudi people, and surely counterproductive, as far as the Saudi regime is concerned. The Saudis are not only arousing the anger of the majority of Yemeni citizens, but causing great disfavor among most of the Arab people, who will tend to view the battle north of Sa’ada as a David – versus Goliath encounter. With the Houthis regarded as the David in this battle and with the Saudis not looked upon very favorably already in most of the Arab streets, for many reasons, which one would not like to delve in now, the observer believes that it is time to let wisdom prevail in determining the course of Saudi policy towards their brothers in the South. Fired up emotions and misguided arithmetic are not the ways to handle relations with neighbors, who have been tested many times in battle and the support of the regime in Sana’a to Saudi intervention may have its own undesirable outcomes from the Saudi viewpoint as time will soon show.
On the other hand, instead of wasting countless billions of Riyals in a seemingly unwinnable war, the Saudis could consider investing a quarter of the money to be wasted on the development of their southern neighbor, who God has left under the hands of a government that has for all practical purposes missed out on the performance of the Social Contract to which they have been committed to for well over a quarter of a century. One important question remains to be answered: Should the regime in Sana’a compromise the sovereignty of Yemen because it could not overcome what began as a minor security issue and eventually turned into a full scale rebellion, because of the way the regime confronted the Houthis at the start of the conflict up to these trying moments?

Yemen Times Issue 1310
November 9, 2009

2009-11-09T03:06:00.000-08:00

Iran and Turkey (And Maybe Pakistan, Malaysia, etc.):
Maybe the Beginning of a New Era for the Moslem World

One of the most phenomenal characteristics of Islam is that it is indeed a universal message and its adherents have an understandably strong affinity (a feeling of fraternal association) towards each other that is perhaps unequalled by any other form of religious human cohesiveness. An English historian (and politician) once remarked that one of the most peculiar things about Islam is that it could go down to the bottom of the pit in terms of taking on a respectable prominence in this world. However, and all of a sudden, one is bound to see the Moslem World rebound back into a robust and powerful culture that takes on the banner of Islam to new heights of cultural and economic progress. This would be in addition to a healthy and viable display of an international movement that has a strong influence in the affairs of humankind in all spheres of human development. Unfortunately many people, who have never taken a close and objective look at Islam tend to view Islam as merely being a religious movement that is prone to violence, materialist plunder and voluptuous harems as Hollywood and many misinformed or prejudiced historians or chroniclers tend to picture this most dynamic of all spiritual inclinations. One is not interested in delving into the background causes of the current pitiful state of the Moslem World, while not ignoring that Moslems are not entirely free from any responsibility for the sorry state the Nation of Islam is in. On the latter, it is pathetically sad that many Moslems, as individuals as well as states, have forgotten that they themselves are actually causing great harm to their nation, either by outright acquiescence to foreign powers or out of their poor comprehension of the expectations that come with belonging to the universal Nation of Islam. Mainstream Moslems of the world have become appalled by the behavior of the many Moslem (and especially Arab Governments) as the latter worked diligently to kill the institutionalization of mainstream Islam in all its sectoral manifestations. They also fail to understand why many Moslem leaders actually seek to distance their constituencies from a proper understanding of their own faith. They either have introduced horrendous distortions of the religious principles that have always put Islam in the forefront of modern theological and dogmatic human attachments. They are of course not doing this for any misunderstanding of their religion. They are quite aware that had they are vulnerable if their constituencies were to enjoy the appropriate civil liberties and human rights now deemed standard of all modern progressive nations. One should not be misled by the Taliban or Wahhabi renditions, which have tended erroneously to capture media attention, more because of their bizarre heresies and misinterpretation of the very progressive social implications of the message delivered by the Prophet Mohammed (PABAUH)[1] some fourteen hundred years ago. Notwithstanding the lip service most current Moslem Governments try to project to show their attachment to the religion of Islam, the truth of the matter is that their application of Moslem teachings, on the social front leave a lot to be desired.
The current display of strong Moslem states like Iran, Turkey, Malaysia and belatedly Pakistan of efforts to bring back the Moslem World to its rightful place in guiding this world to a better climate of human cohesion and international justice and equal opportunities for all inhabitants of this planet (as well as non-Moslems) is very inspiring and healthy indeed. The observer could not escape from noticing that there are indications that all hope is not lost for the Moslems of the world and the rest of humanity, who have been left out of the vast progress that has been made in most of the significant fields that can bring greater well being and prosperity to all people of the world.
It is understandable why Turkey should do the only possible thing to save its face and keep its international stature, especially with the leading players in the European Union simply not finding it acceptable for Turkey to be regarded as one of their peers. The former have sought to put every obstacle to keep Turkey from joining this agglomeration of modern nations and now Turkey rightfully turned to the Moslem World for a better chance at expanding its economic and political prospects. The experience of Turkey as the leader of the Moslem World and holder of the Caliphate for four hundred years would certainly enrich the prospects for all the Moslem World to come out of their subservience to the Western masters of their governments. To follow a greater course of independence would certainly be welcome by most Moslems of the world and sooner or later, most Moslem constituencies would get on the bandwagon. Iran has shown that it can be done and no matter what obstacles and hindrances a Moslem nation faces, as it seeks to become set on a proper course of development, as long as one plays by the book, the barriers can easily be overcome.
For sure this is causing great worry in Israel, but then again so what?
[1] Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him

Yemen Times Issue 1308
November 2, 2009

The Humanitarian Situation in Sa’ada: By All Standards, Unforegivable

2009-10-26T03:28:00.000-07:00

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
October 26, 2009
The Humanitarian Situation in Sa’ada
By All Standards, Unforgivable

(Photos courtesy of UNHCR)

It is simply deplorable that 23 million people should sit idle and apathetic while a sizable number of their Yemeni brothers, sisters and children have no shelter over their heads, stand to lay down for the night with their stomachs empty of any nourishment to keep them warm on these cold mountain winter nights or even blankets to keep that cold away from their shivering cold pale skins. No way can the Al-Mighty be forgiving of a people who have been blinded by the fairy tales of politicians and thugs, who have forgotten that they will be accountable eventually to their people for not fulfilling the minimum requirements of the Social Contract they have forcefully captured from their people. Never mind that the latter’s capture of the reigns of authority is not driven by any sense of national responsibility or even care as for the social welfare of the people they have held it upon themselves to be divinely blessed with the right of perpetual authority over their necks. On the contrary, it has become apparent as the decades go by that the people of this land are the last thing in the frigid minds of these thugs and war lords. It is the latter, who have filled the valleys and plateaus of this once happy country with the blood of its very own people, using the very resources that God Al-Mighty has bestowed upon the people of Yemen to further their livelihoods. How can one remain silent when even the icons of the Arab cinema (http://weekly.alahram.org.eg%202009/969/re62.htm) are absolutely appalled by the unforgivable plight of the IDPs (internally displaced persons of the Sa’ada War. How can a government that allows its people to face such inhumane conditions have any credibility among the international community, let alone among the rest of its own people, who themselves are the victims of the most horrible manifestations of governance in existence today. When the ICRC – or the International Committee of the Red Cross - (which is supposedly working in partnership with the Yemeni Red Cross – a supposedly local civil society organization under the tight control of the political security organization, as most of the so called civil society organizations that are supposed to safeguard the public interest are) is complaining that its much appreciated humanitarian work is being hampered by local government red tape, intentional obstacles or Saudi Arabian Government reluctance, the observer cannot help but wonder in awe: “What has this world really come to?”.

It is no mystery to the observer that there are now close to 200,000 IDPs (why the number remains stuck at 150,000 – which is the same number at the end of Round V – is in itself a mystery most of whom are out of the care of any reasonably acceptable humanitarian assistance and a substantial number of whom are on the borderline of death from the menacing negligence of government officials, fed by greed, selfishness and sheer contempt for any sense of human justice.

Time and again, most of the people and pens of conscience of Yemen and elsewhere have sought to remind the President of the Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh, that it is he who can restore some semblance of sanity to those, who are seeking to tarnish his record with incompetence, repression and misgovernment and all the ugly traits that have made this country the classic example of failure in governance in all manifestations of public administration. Moreover, it is the President who will in the end be accountable to history and the Lord Al-Mighty for every transgression that arises in his administration of affairs of state.
It should also not be forgotten that anyone here and abroad, who views all the melancholy of governance one is witnessing coming out of Sana’a, and the tragedy unfolding in Sa’ada are bound to be also accountable to history and to their siblings for the inexcusable apathy they displayed as this tragedy in Sa’ada continues to unfold.

The sooner this war in Sa’ada comes to an end, not necessarily as others want it, but in a way that reminds us that the Yemeni Government understands the awesome responsibility it shoulders under the Social Contract, the better for all concerned, especially those who insist on not relinquishing any of the tight helms of authority at their disposal, led by the President of the Republic himself.

Yemen Times Issue 1306, October 26, 2009

For Israel: It Is A Changing World Indeed

2009-10-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi

The most unusual phenomenon cannot be overlooked these days as the forces of evil and human domination seek to impress upon us that their logic is the only acceptable logic even if it defies all acceptable norms to humankind. This is the case with the International Zionist Establishment and its right wing backers throughout the world. Never mind that the latter have brought the entire world to a state of ridiculous disharmony and confusion over the last century; death is all right as long as it serves their cause. What that cause is, is not really relevant. All that matters is that it satisfies their lustful whims for power and domination and fills their pockets with the spoils of the toils of others. Never mind that they have forgotten that this world is made for all to enjoy and to reflect God's righteous will and testament. It does not mean that the Promised Land is a free turf to be meted out to the worst of mankind to spoil its spiritual aura and impose their dogma of hate, repression, chauvinism and sheer arrogance on the entire region, directly or indirectly. This is how the Zionist Establishment of this world view Palestine. The IZE will serve contempt on anyone who dares to speak his conscience and his mind on the horrors of this criminal establishment even if the IZE seeks to destroy any hope of humankind living in peace and harmony and ending all reasons for human conflict. On the contrary, this Zionist Establishment seeks to twist all the truth that mankind should be entitled to know and impose a world reality that is to their liking and in conformity to their lustful inclinations, as evil and gorily bloody as these inclinations maybe. They will twist the words and tell one that Semitism entails only what applies to them or its anti-thesis, anti-Semitism is directed against them. If that was not enough they will tell one that even if God-fearing conscientious Jews of the likes of Judge Goldstone, Jennifer Lowenstein, Rabbi Weiss and so many others state Zionism is not in harmony with human instinct, they shall decide what is best fort all Jews and non-Jews alike. Even if the likes of Uri Avenery (author of Israel without Zionism) dares to condemn the evil doings of this Zionist Establishment, whether in the Holy Land or elsewhere in this world, they must be prepared to be labeled misfits and criminal outcasts that deserve to be crucified 9 meters high for their blasphemous sayings against the Chosen People who are giving deeds of authority and a mandate to reek havoc anywhere, if it serves the Zionist cause. So many other Jews and Gentiles have sought to point out that there are limits to human greed and arrogance, no matter what clout it covers itself with. Ask Rachel Corrie what a Zionist tractor-shovel did to her for trying to say: "You can't destroy people's homes to be able to steal their land!" They answered rather mercilessly: "Yes we can and we will destroy you along the way as well". They even had the audacity of mockingly calling Rachel a pancake for laughs [For "promoting Israel, and Zionism" and "presenting Israel's side of the conflict," LGF (Little Green Footballs, a por Zionist blog, which called Rachel a pancake) won the "Best Israel Advocacy Blog" award from the Jerusalem Post in 2005]. These inhumane degenerates have no place in this Earth, if we are to see a brighter world for our children. Other Gentile victims of this hatemongering include the late President of the United States, Jimmy Carter who they have forgotten had given the Israelis Camp David and of course one cannot forget the authors of the Israel Lobby study, Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who to this day are the targets of witch hunting tactics as can only employed by the AIPAC crowd in Washington and other academic and political circles.
Just read some of the hoax that this ugly demonic establishment seeks to make of the truly conscientious effort of Judge Goldstein and his United Nations Commission on the Gaza Raid by the Israeli Military late last year, early this year. The first one that hit me as classic twisting and turning of the facts as only the IZE could put on print; "Goldstone report: the rebuttal". It can be found here: (http://samsonblinded.org/blog/goldstone-report-the-rebuttal.htm) and it is just amazingly Zionist that one would rather not add any further comments lest the English language become saturated with innuendos and uglyspeech (a new 1984 syntax phrase) as only the Zionist Establishment could come up with. This is how the rebuttal characterized the Commission: "The UN commission was composed of professional human rights advocates, none of whom were experienced in military or anti-terrorism realities. To cover that glaring gap, the commission included one Colonel Travers, a human rights activist with no meaningful wartime experience." Of course by such a saying, the rebuttal authors are telling us that they have all the experience and expertise in the world and are in a position to tear down any heavenly sent mission sent to deliver the world from Zionist intrigue and chauvinism. To these people, who is Rabbi Weiss, Jennifer Lowenstein, Judge Goldstone and anyone who dares to speak such things as truth, facts and show all the pictures and videos that confirm every word in their report?
In addition we have this great taste of hogwash: "The Goldstone commission takes for an axiom a highly debatable point that “Israel continues to be duty-bound under the Fourth Geneva Convention… to ensure the supply of foodstuff, medical and hospital items and others to meet the humanitarian needs of the population of the Gaza Strip without qualification (page 10).” Despite certain unresolved technicalities, Israel ended her occupation of Gaza four years ago, and like any other sovereign state is under no obligation to open her borders for cargo transit to any other country." Israel is never under any obligation to do anything it does not want to do! That is permanent Israeli logic. Never mind that all the entrances to Gaza are controlled by the devilish IDF and never mind that the Israeli Navy or Coast Guard prevented all humanitarian assistance from reaching Gaza from the sea, to which Gaza has a sizable outlet. This observer suffices with this leaving the rest to the reader to pass judgment on the most dangerous criminal establishment that has reigned in this Earth. One should however point out the sadness that our very own Mahmoud Abbass, PLO Chairman, the Saudi Government and many others on "our side" stressed for delay against any further action by the United Nations for immediate criminal proceedings as requested by the Commission against the violators of human rights indicated in the Goldstone Report. How sad that our very own are driven by their own greed for money, power without popular mandate and sheer impotence

For Yemen: Suffering Is The Rule, Not The Exception

2009-09-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hassan Al-Haifi (commonsense@yemen.net.ye)

This War on Sa’ada has clearly shown that a war by contract is the only offer of hope our leaders can deliver to their subjects, when everything else that the people have to contend with is already taken them to the bottom of the abyss. How much sufferings can one stand? Those were the words of an old man finding it difficult to cross the street, because the people who designed the “60 Meter Road” that almost circles the Capital City of Sana’a never thought that pedestrians should also be able to cross that road with ease and SAFETY. Safety has been a forgotten element in everything that the Government does, because a Government that contracts a war on its people could never find cause or profit in allowing the citizens of this country to enjoy any semblance of peace and quiet. This war in Sa’ada has been going on for five years now and the Government wants to turn it into a permanent element of life, even if it means that there will be thousands who will not sleep because those Mig-29s make so much noise as they are going to wherever they are to deliver their payload of all kinds of incendiary ordnances. Their intended or unintended target: a poor child barely of walking age left alone in some makeshift tent from all the rags and pieces of cloth his mother and sister were able to scrounge in the debris that their house has turned into some five miles away. Little did this mother know: why do these ugly looking metal birds love to kill children? In the Sa’ada War, the Government finds it more useful to kill children rather than build schools for them. Never mind that Yemen already has the highest illiteracy rate this side of the Red Sea, for the simple reason that all the resources of the land go to weapons manufacturers far away, who never give a damn where you drop the ordnances you buy from them land, as long as Yemen’s dwindling reserves of foreign currency lands in their pockets.. The countries where these arms manufacturers are located are seeking to come out of a severe economic crisis, as they are trying to shift from a Communist regime to a capitalist regime, so their people can live like the people in California. They do not know that now even capitalists can taste bankruptcy and see their forests burn helplessly, without a clue as to how to keep those scorching fires out of the plush residential areas of movies stars and wine distillers.

The observer felt sorry for the old man and took his right hand and inch by inch helped the old man cross the eight lane wide road.

At the end of the crossing, I asked the man where he came from. He said he came from Sa’ada to see his daughter. He married her to a son of a retired driver from the Army. The driver’s family is a good family, but simply could not find ways to make it in the dog eat dog world that Yemen has become as the weak and the discontent simply take a back seat while the scavengers and parasites of the society gobble up everything and marry their children off in big extravaganzas that would make Haroun Al-Rashid turn in his grave at all the waste and unnecessary flair that weddings have become in Yemen. The people of Sa’ada do not understand these sickening signs of modern times or what they call “progress and development”. The people of Sa’ada this man tells me marry their daughters of for just YR 9,000, whereas the dowries in Sana’a are for the luckiest going for YR 1,000,000. The people of Sa’ada find such exaggerations unhealthy and unforgivable with the Lord. The people of Sa’ada still believe that God’s ordinances should be the prevailing guide to social cohesion and governance. They see that the people of Sana’a have forgotten that God will take them to account for killing so many children for no apparent reason except to fulfill the agenda of some regional power players, who think their money, can buy off whole governments to do their dirty work for them. It is hard to believe that the people of Sa’ada should be a cause of worry for oil rich neighbors, who continuously try to tell the world that the Shiite menace is worse than the Zionist menace, while professing to be the Custodians of the Two Holy Mosques! What has the Moslem World coma to when killing fellow Moslems is actually seen as Jihad for the cause of Allah? Surely this would not be in keeping with the stipulations of the Quran, which taught Moslems that killing a human being – any human being – is like killing all of humanity! Any human being here means just that – any human beings: Christians, Moslems, Jews and even pagans, if they have not transgressed on your rights or brought war to your turf. Yet our Arab leaders find it more fulfilling to kill fellow Moslems by the scores, by tendering out ugly death contracts financed by petrodollars, which could have been used to eliminate poverty throughout the Moslem World. Yes, contractors of death are now to be found everywhere in the Moslem World. Even governments have turned into this disgustingly lucrative trade of bloodshed for bloodshed’s sake and nothing else. What morons find this kind of business sound economic thinking that the entire kind and innocent population of Sa’ada should be obliterated for the simple reason that they insist on praying with their hands on the sides rather than in self embracing hug that never seems to find a place in the chest to place their hands. What difference does it make anyway? If the people of Sa’ada find it more God pleasing to wed off their daughters to poor young men whose fortunes did not collide with the rich contractors of death that have taken over the higher echelons of society.

When the mother returned to the makeshift tent, all she could find was the right hand of her son still intact. The rest of the body has been fragmentized to little pieces that now could easily fit into a table spoon.

The mother just stared into the sky and cried: “this simply cannot be agreeable to You Al-Mighty. Please, Lord. End this mad carnage and do something for Your believers in Sa’ada. The hypocrites of the Earth have had enough of the world to themselves now and let your faith shine again as it shone once to be the only glimmer of hope for all Mankind". Where was she to go? She already lost her father. She has lost her son. She took her daughter’s hand and her face, already half-smeared with her young son’s blood, returned that stubborn tight jaw that reflects that natural instinct of real true believers in the Al-Mighty: "Life must go on and God will in the end have it His way, no matter what these murderers blindly think".

Happy Holidays (Posted on 19 - 9 - 2009)

Yemen Times Issue 1298 September 28, 2009

hated war in Sa’ada:Outside the context of good governance!

2009-09-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi
It is really difficult for the observer to hear the sound of screaming Mig-29s and F-5s as they take off from their nearby base round the clock and not think of the very strong possibility that these screaming vehicles of death and destruction are about to kill some innocent child, somewhere in the hills and valleys of beautiful Sa’ada. Never mind that this child and his entire family have already been forced to flee their original home, where they once lived peacefully trying to make an eager living growing some of the best pomegranates anyone can find in the world and not just in Yemen. Never mind also that there is a possibility that the Government would have to bear full responsibility for taking the life of an innocent Yemeni child, who is already deprived of all the peace and quite that a child needs, in order to grow of sound body and mind. As it is the people of Sa’ada are already faced with the unadulterated deprivation of sound health facilities and fruitful educational facilities that will breed future generations of productive intellectually inspired Yemenis. It is this kind of breeding that normally produces loyal and God-fearing citizens, who would certainly be expected to be grateful if the Government would stop insisting that the population of one of the governorates of Yemen should be at the mercy of mercenaries of death, who the Government depends on to unleash the payload of its deadly fighter jets. A friend of this observer once opined, it would be more fruitful if the Yemeni Government channeled all the money used to buy these useless weapons he was seeing on parade in the TV to build schools and health clinics in the remote areas of the country, some of whom have never seen electricity. The observer reminded this friend that now even the not so remote are realizing that electricity can also be a luxury for only those who can afford to buy their own generators as the utility has failed to provide electricity for more than half of any given day. The public utility has been at a loss to be able to meet its mandate; the Government has forgotten that electricity is a very important essential service that has more priority than wasting the Government’s scarce resources for the elimination of an entire region of the country. He also noted that the arsenal at the disposal of the Government were originally purchased to safeguard the homeland and its citizens from any outsider who would dare violate the sanctity of life and freedom, which all Yemenis are guaranteed to enjoy by their Constitution. He further noted that not once have we seen these fancy weapons directed against any foreign enemy, or pirates who continuously violate our marine territorial rights. Even when a foreign enemy took possession of one of our islands in the Red Sea, we did not send any jet fighters on a “scorched earth” blitzkrieg that would have easily sent the Eritreans back to their barracks in Musawa’a or Diredawa. Yet the Government, now surely a candidate for a “failed state” status, insists that it is looking after the interest of all the people of Yemen. Even if it launches its deadly ordnances, cluster bombs and what have you against already fleeing war refugees, which is also for the interest of the Yemeni people. One truly wonders if the logic that it is better to look after a dead person than a living one has become prevalent within officialdom, especially in these days when austerity is considered sound official thinking. After all, dead people do not incur any expenses to be paid for out of the Government budget. In fact, for all intents and purposes, the Government has ceased to function as a viable institution, on whom the citizens can look to in order to rest assured that their interests AND THEIR LIVES are truly safeguarded. As it stands now, the Government is the biggest taker of human life in Yemen and there are quite a few of them loose in the street, not to mention the victims of traffic accidents. Whether Government troops, Houthis or the helpless innocent civilians of Sa’ada, the blame lies with the Government for their untimely death, unfortunately uncalled for broken limbs and of course their broken tongue, of which now all Yemenis seemed to be victims. The Government insists that if you know anything, presume anything or suggest anything about the Sixth attempt of the Government to eradicate the people of Sa’ada, then your name will be added to the 55 most wanted men by the Government. Incidentally if one is already announced “dead” by the Government, how could that person still be put on a “wanted list”? But then the media war is really proving that those who are “wanted” by the Government are showing more credibility in their communications with the public than the representatives of Reuters and Agence France Presse not to mention the fumbling Government media. The latter are at a loss for words trying to justify an unholy war against the population of one of the governorates of the Republic of Yemen. This war in Sa’ada is not at all popular with the Yemeni people. Even amidst cries for secession by some of the regions of Yemen, we find many of our brothers in the South, East and West of the country even understanding when it comes to explaining the revolt of the Houthis. Some are watching in amazement as they see their brethren in Sa’ada defiantly shouting, “Freedom is rightfully ours and we are ready to give our lives for it, for there is no more joy in life, if one is to live without freedom.” That is the crux of the struggle that is ensuing in Sa’ada, notwithstanding all the gibberish the official media blares out to the contrary.

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

2009-08-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

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

Amnesty International Urges President Saleh of Yemen Not to Repeat the "Gross" Human Rights Abuses in Sa'ada

2009-08-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International issued the following statement in the wake of the obvious large scale suffering by the civilian population in Yemen's Northerrn Governorate of Sa'ada. The province is the theater of a Sixth Round of fighting between Yemeni armed and security forces which resumed almost a month ago with a marked increase in intensity that rekindled some 10 days ago. More on this later.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index: MDE 31.001.2009
20 August 2009
Yemen: Renewed violence in Sa’da threatens human rights

Amnesty International has written to President ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Saleh urging him to take all possible steps to ensure that the recent upsurge in clashes between government forces and supporters of the late Zaidi Shi’a cleric Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi do not result in a repeat of the gross human rights abuses which occurred during earlier unrest in Sa’da governorate.

Since armed clashes resumed some four weeks ago, thousands of inhabitants of Sa’da and surrounding areas, are reported to have been displaced from their homes and now to face difficulties in accessing humanitarian assistance as the area has been largely closed to journalists and humanitarian organizations by government forces. Reports suggest that dozens of civilians have been killed, some as a result of aerial bombardment by government forces. Meanwhile, security forces are reported to have rounded up suspected supporters of al-Huthi in Sa’da and to be detaining them incommunicado, raising fears of torture or other ill-treatment. Dozens of people are said to have been killed in armed clashes, including government soldiers, but the circumstances in all cases are currently unclear.

In its letter to President Saleh, Amnesty International said it fully recognized the government’s responsibility to protect public safety and to punish crimes, but when doing so must abide at all times by the requirements of international law, including the prohibition of torture and respect for the right to life. In particular, it urged the President to ensure that all members of Yemen’s security forces are instructed to abide by key international standards such as the UN Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms and the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, and that those who commit unlawful killings or other breaches will be held to account.

Amnesty international also requested information about the number of people being detained in Sa’da and where they are being held, urging that they be safeguarded against possible torture or other ill-treatment and either brought to trial promptly and fairly or released.

Earlier clashes between government forces and al-Huthi supporters, which began in 2004 and have continued since then interspersed with periods of relative peace, caused significant loss of life and were accompanied by serious human rights violations, with government forces accused of using excessive lethal force and carrying out deliberate killings.

Since 2007, protests in Aden and other towns such as al-Dali’ and al-Mukalla against alleged government discrimination against people living in southern Yemen have resulted in a government clampdown in which dozens of protesters have been killed by the security forces in highly questionable circumstances and the arrests of many others.

Background
Long-standing tensions between followers of the al-Huthi family from the Zaidi Shi’a community and the Yemeni government were heightened by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. During and after the US-led invasion, followers of al-Huthi carried on the protests after Friday prayers every week outside mosques, particularly the Grand Mosque in Sana’a, during which they shouted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans. The protests were invariably followed by arrests and detentions. In June 2004 the government called on Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi, one of those leading the criticism of the US-led invasion, to hand himself over to the authorities. When he refused, tension between the two sides escalated into armed clashes. In September 2004, Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi was killed and there was then a truce until March 2005, when the clashes again erupted. In September 2005 the government issued a presidential amnesty for al-Huthi followers which was followed by the release in March 2006 of dozens of those detained during the clashes. Most of them had been held without charge or trial. The exact number of those who remained in detention was never disclosed by the government, but local human rights workers suggested that they could number several hundred. They included at least 37 who were convicted by the Specialised Criminal Court after an unfair trial and sentenced to prison terms or death. In January 2007, the clashes again resumed, continuing until August 2008 when the government announced an agreement to end the fighting had been achieved through mediation by the Qatar government. Hundreds of prisoners were then released by the two sides.

Peaceful protests in the southern part of the country began in 2007 with demonstrations by mainly retired soldiers from the army of former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Following the unification of the country in 1990, both armies of the PDRY (South Yemen) and the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) (North Yemen), were merged into a single army force for the new Republic of Yemen. However, following the civil war of 1994, many of the soldiers of the former PDRY were dismissed from the army. These, as well as those who remained in the current army, complained of being subjected to discrimination when compared to soldiers originally from the North. The protests have since grown into a movement campaigning on issues of discriminations beyond employment and retirement in the army for southerners to other aspects of political, economic and social life.

END

Al-Houthi's Death Disputed!

2009-08-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

There are commentators who suggest that the news leaked out about Abdul Malik Al-Houthi is a mere ploy by the Government and that the website that issued the news is a disguised Houthi website, as it states that the news came from "one of the Houthi leaders" and that the Government has vowed to "eradicate the remaining leaders" since it has discovered "all of thier hiding places". With the news blackout as tight as it is, it si difficult to tell right from wrong. No one really knows if Al-Houthi is in Jabal Marran or not and there are cases where the Government has claimed the death of Houthi leaders only to find their names later on newly issued Wanted List. This War in Sa'ada is really getting to the nerves of alot of people, as there is so much misinformation being thrown about. At present the planes are still carrying out bombing raids while the news was put at the website around 9:00 AM.

Abdul Malik Al-Houthi is Said to Be Dead!

2009-08-19T04:12:00.000-07:00

One of the websites used by the Houthis announced that Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi is saidd to have been killed on a raid on Jabal Marran in Sa'ada Government after the Government forces discovered his hiding place. More to follow.

The Tragic War in Sa’ada: If at First, You Do Not Succeed, Try Again and Again and… (6X)

2009-08-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Yemen Times Issue 1286 August 17, 2009

The PLO: A State or an Outdated Organization

2009-08-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi

The death of the former brave Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was really a symbolic sign that indeed the Palestine Liberation Organization had breathed its last breath as a purposeful organization with effective realism. It is also apparent that the PLO is finding it difficult to prove that it can actually convincingly claim to be a refection of the feelings and aspirations of the Palestinian people. For sure, the dynamic and sincere character of Yasser Arafat proved to be an awesome unforgettable influence in maintaining the recognition of the PLO as a viable representation of Palestinian political inclinations both locally in the Palestinian arena and internationally.
One obviously feels the charismatic void left by the absence of the boisterous and gutsy voice of the late Yasser Arafat, whose death remains a mystery to this day (http://enduringamerica.com/tag/farouk-al-kaddoumi/), when listening to the current PLO leader of the PLO and the Secretary General of Al-Fath (Al-Fatah), Mahmud Abbas, making the closing statement of the Sixth Conference of Al-Fath, the leading body politic in the now fragile PLO. It is now almost useless to think that Fath can carry on as the leading voice of the Palestinians and the claimant to represent the effective wing of Palestine resistance, not to mention the body politic of the Palestinian people When taking into consideration what Farouk Kaddoumi revealed about a month ago (see previous link), the observer becomes more inclined to think that the current PLO leadership has lost purpose altogether for their existence as a force to be reckoned with in determining the fate of the Palestinian people. Surely, the death of Yasser Arafat should have been a clear symbol of the lack of faith in its own platform, if it worked for the removal of its founder and last holder of the flag of resistance in its nationalistic manifestation.
At the same time, it is clear that the Palestinians have indeed found the alternative to the void left by the passing of Yasser Arafat and the ineffectiveness of the national resistance movement without a dogmatic appeal to fulfill the spiritual vacuum that the PLO is facing. Hamas has proven itself to be a dynamic force in the body politic of the Palestinian people. More importantly, this dynamic political organization has proven to the world that indeed the Palestinians alone are actually able to stand steadfast against the might of the Israeli Offense Forces (the IDF has always been a misnomer for this terror machine, which outranks all terrorist organizations). For the second time in a decade, an Arab force was able to keep the Israeli forces from any effective incursions into Arab territory. Relying on the same perseverance and adherence to faith previously shown by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas with even less of the wherewithal possessed by the former withstood the Israeli forces for more than three weeks late last year/ earlier this year. To this day, Fatah or the PLO has never shown any strength in holding back Israeli forces, since the brave stance shown by Arafat in his besieged enclave in Ramallah, in which Yasser Arafat bravely withstood every effort by the Israelis to drive him out of the West Bank altogether, let alone out of Ramallah for more than half a decade.

The US Congress and Palestine
One is not sure whether US Congressmen and Congresswomen (in both the House of Representatives and Congress) have caught up with the times, when evaluating the true nature of Israeli intransigence and obstinacy. This is made the more apparent by the inability of US politicians to learn to override the pestering lobby of organizations like the American Israeli Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC). For what reason does the US Congress find itself compelled to determine where the still illegitimate occupier of Jerusalem should have its capital?
For sure, most of the US Congressmen and Congresswomen are still insisting on viewing the Israeli lobby as the foundation stone for American national political prominence, a myth that was proven wrong by the lack of reliance (at least on the surface) of the prominence of Barack Obama in his quick rise to the American national political theater. Surely, the recent decision by the US Congress to tell the world that the Israeli capital should be in Jerusalem, etc does not lend credence to the US national policy of remaining "impartial" in promoting peace in the region, or at least help the US Government in projecting such an image. This only helps to reinforce the general contention amongst the Arab and Moslem populations of the world that the US is not going to succeed in its efforts to bring a "just and lasting peace" in the region. In fact it seems that the US Congress sis more swayed by the Israeli right wing than the desire to fulfill what is more appropriate for the national interests of the United States.

Yemen Times Issue 1284 August 10, 2009

Palestine and World Peace: Where Terror Has Reigned for A Century

2009-08-03T05:45:00.000-07:00

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It is no mystery to the observer that the stability of the world and the hopes for international peace hinge on the achievement of a JUST AND LASTING PEACE in the Holy Land. This would mean dispelling the notion that Israel is a bastion of peace, harmony and regional cohesion. On the contrary, keen observers of events in the region, since the unholy creation of this Spartan chauvinistic enclave amidst a region blessed by the Lord Al-Mighty as the birthplace of the most important and advanced spiritual missions, tend to underscore the fact that Israel is indeed a dangerous and backward human experience that relies on maintaining an international disorder as a clear rationale for its unholy existence. Observers know that Israeli Zionist dogma would not have a chance to thrive in a peaceful world, as for example, American taxpayers would then question the rationale of continuing to provide Israel with US $ 10,000,000 per day (as suggested by former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with Larry King Live on CNN). Not only that, but it would be clear that the whole essence of an arrogant policy of embezzlement and arm-twisting tactics does not provide for a peaceful coexistence amongst the nations of the region, in particular and for world peace in general. It is no secret that the people of Germany are still paying for the crimes of their former Fuhrer many times over, although they and their parents did not even have any part in the crimes that this madman that were perpetrated against many sizable ethnic communities throughout the world, for which no group enjoys a monopoly thereof.

The recent situation in the Holy Land bespeaks a nation vent on seeking the complete annihilation of what remains of the indigenous inhabitants of the Land of Galilee and surely is further proof that Israelis, whether as politicians or Kibbutz settlers are in no mood for the establishment of a permanent peace for the Middle East. The continuous intimidations against the Lebanese, through ongoing violations of Lebanese airspace, and other forays inside Lebanese territory underscore the Israeli penchant for ongoing conflict as raison d’être for their continuous Spartan inclinations for a highly militarized society, in which all are taught that “to survive, you must kill, kill, kill … or be killed!” Surely this is not fitting for a people, who seek self incrimination from the rest of the international community, for their “long history of oppression”, as manifested by, for example, by the Dreyfus Affair, amongst other exaggerated portrayals of human repression. Yet, this is how settlers of the Holy Land are instructed and grilled to view their existence and the only way to give such existence any chance of sustainability.

Israeli extremists of the likes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his even more “militant” Deputy PM and Foreign Minister, Avigdor (alias Evet) Lieberman are in no mood for any idea that President Barack Obama and his Secretary in the State Department might have of trying to establish a lasting removal of a major chronic headache for the budget that the American taxpayers are already overtaxed to continue resourcing. They are also not inclined to believe that there should be any compromise of any of the wishy-washy claims to total hegemony over the Holy Land from the Euphrates to the Nile, as shown by the projected Zionist State pictured high in the walls of the Israeli Knesset. People like Lieberman and Netanyahu (and even the likes of Israeli “doves”, Ehud Barak and Shimon Perez) know that Israel has gotten to where it is now by the sheer power of the gun and not any other means of peaceful coexistence. Their own political rise in the ladder of Israeli officialdom is mainly the product of how they have been able to represent Israeli Zionist dogma behind the barrel of a gun.

The funny irony that one is now unable to ignore is how Israel is crying wolf to an imaginary nuclear Iran, whereas to this day Israel is a persistent rejecter of any efforts to make it become a party to any international convention on nuclear armaments or even nuclear power and has been a strong backer of Indian nuclear attainment. Iran to this day has not been proven to have any means of nuclear armament stockpiling or even testing, whereas Israel possesses at least 200 nukes at its disposal. Surely there is ample room for questioning the legitimacy of Israel’s gripes against Iranian nuclear attainment or even threat. Dogmatically speaking, it would be against the Fatwa of the former Ayatollah Khomeini, the creator of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for Iran to possess any nuclear armaments, as also suggested by Mahmoud Ahmednejad in an interview also in CNN’s Larry King Live. It is indeed a fact that Islamic dogma prohibits the killing of innocent civilian populations “en masse”, a rule which any Islamic regime of any standing must uphold if it wishes to have a claim to upholding Islamic jurisdictional doctrinaire.

As a further testimony to the fallacy of the “civilized” goodness of the Israeli cancer, which has disrupted the peace of the region for nearly a century now, one cannot remain oblivious to the ongoing desecration of any religious landmarks of non-Jewish persuasions, such as the ongoing violations of the Holy Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem, not to mention the recurrent violations of the sanctity of Christian Churches that have been present for some two millennia in some cases. One can only ask the many thousands of Christian Palestinians as to what happened to the churches in the Palestinian villages from which they were uprooted.

The Yemen Times Issue 1282 August 3, 2009

Mr. Al-Beidh was much better with tighter lips

2009-08-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

I must say that I really had an extremely high respect for the former President of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY – Former South Yemen) and Vice President of the unified (now and forever) Republic of Yemen. I was almost convinced that he had a genuine patriotic rhetoric that truly had a sense of how the Yemenis in the street felt about affairs of state in Yemen used to wait vehemently for his speeches, especially during the tense days of the political squabbling that led to the unfortunate Civil War of 1994. I am still convinced that he surely would have favored that the war did not occur and that he may have been railroaded into the war, by both the wily Northern ruling establishment led by the current President of the Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh (may he recover soon to tend to the urgent security collapse of the country with a better realization that the current situation calls for drastic sincere and serious steps that would start with better accountability and transparency in the management of affairs in the Republic), not to mention the selfish opportunists that surrounded Ali Salem, who actually advised Al-Beidh that he could actually confront the more militarily experienced Saleh in a military showdown, in which he was outclassed and outgunned. When you add to that the sucker the Saudis made out of Al-Beidh with the belief that the Gulf States were right behind him, one can see that Al-Beidh was not oriented towards making wise and rational critical political decisions. Actually he should have known better that the Saudis (and the Americans) wanted nothing more than to see a former puppet state of the former collapsed Soviet Union fall down like its counterparts everywhere else in the world.

Mr. Al-Beidh is indeed commended for introducing democracy into the Republic, something that the Northern elite in the tight net regime of President Saleh (and their Salafi allies) were intellectually and politically not willing to fall into with much flare. Nevertheless, Mr. Al-Beidh erroneously thought he could still salvage his crumbling state machinery, even though many of his colleagues and friends have advised him strongly not to go the path of secession. That may have been his suicide as a Yemeni leader, notwithstanding his somewhat convincing rhetoric against the corruption and the gross mismanagement that has characterized the Saleh regime almost from the start. However, his first declaration of secession completely took me by surprise. I really thought that he would not forget that he really had a lot of support among the population in the Northern governorates and thus would carry on the fight (in 1994) for all Yemenis, many of whom (North and South) had gripes about the Saleh regime. From the very beginning of that regrettable and somewhat naïve call for a secession, this observer knew full well that the futile declaration for the reinstatement of South Yemen as an independent state was - simply put - foolish and far from ever being desirable in the hearts and minds of most Yemenis. Oh sure, one could not help but wonder how such a call may have actually been the reason for the doom of the remaining elements of the fledgling South Yemeni regime. What one hoped for was that THE formerly popular Al-Beidh would try to maintain what ever elements of power he had then to keep an erstwhile fragile balance of power within the political configuration that made up the newly established Republic. That would have been more challenging for the Saleh regime to live with than what turned out to be a failed secession, which thank God never got a chance to get anywhere beyond the microphone by which the declaration of independence was made.

Having said all that, one would think that Mr. Al-Beidh was intellectually more mature than to be railroaded into a lost cause politically, militarily and historically. Perhaps this (http://www.yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1257&p=opinion&a=1) would help make it clear that, historically and politically, there is simply no such thing as a Northern Yemeni identity or a Southern Yemeni identity (as the callers for secession are claiming) . Moreover, nothing would been more helpful to the regime in Sana'a than the same foolish recent statement by the former Vice President of the Republic. One really feels astonished at the logic that such foolishness emanates from. How can Al-Beidh actually expect to achieve now at a distance, what he could not achieve when (in 1994) he had all the machinery of a state at his disposal and at close range?

It is very difficult now to see how Al-Beidh can salvage any political hopes he might have had, either in the Republic of Yemen or in his hallucination that the PDRY could ever see a revival again, even given the almost failed state situation that the Republic of Yemen is now sadly enduring. It is also very difficult to see how President Saleh and his colleagues in the regime in Sana'a can hope to proceed with business as usual unless he carries out a serious and sincere program of REAL reforms, including the axing of several of the icons in his regime that have turned his regime into a pathetic state of failure in all facets of statecraft, considering

Yemen Times Issue 1282 27 July 2009

Senseless carnage (Mumbai, Iraq, New York, ... Jakarta): What purpose does all this blood spilling serve?

2009-07-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

Hassan Al-Haifi (commonsense@yemen.net.ye)

It is hard to believe that after so many years and so much senseless bloodletting, that the people who are behind such gory displays of bloodshed and destruction, last manifested by the Jakarta Ritz-Carlton Hotel bombings, and the ongoing suicide or remote controlled bombings of Iraq have not seen that such attacks are first of all unholy, second of all frivolous and third of all self-defeating. Moreover, those who profess to regard such barbarity as being motivated by the unbending adherence to Jihad or the struggle for the sake of Islam or Allah are no more than ignoramuses, who have lost all spiritual sense of their religion and who do not have the faintest idea of the powerful and meaningful conscientiousness that the belief in the Almighty must encompass. In all respects, these fanatical misfits have become an element of social degradation and are more resourceful to those who may find it in their interest to hinder the progress of the Moslem communities of the world. It goes without saying that such gross misrepresentations of dogmatic belief keep the Moslem World out of touch with the true dictates that underscore the true moral implications in the rhythmic prose of the Holy Quran. This Salafi/Wahhabi unforgivable waste of human life is anathema to any spiritual attachment to the Devine, Whose attributes include the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Rejuvenator of the Dead, the Giver of Life, the Taker of Life, etc. Indeed, those who profess to be taking human life so recklessly are the real danger that confronts the God-fearing Nation of Islam that centrally extends from Mauritania to the Eastern periphery of the South Seas with sizable pockets spread throughout the world.

Having said that, it is safe to assume that most Moslems throughout the world have come to realize that this Saudi Arabian exported non-genuine rendition of Islam, with its obvious Wahhabi extremism and sadistic lust for blood is unacceptable notwithstanding the billions of US Dollars the Wahhabi Establishment has invested for disseminating this horrendous distortion of Islamic dogma. Yet the merciless killings go on, as if the Wahhabi Establishment actually wants Moslems as well as non – Moslems to continue to look upon them with fear, as if fear is their only means of acceptance among the truly God – fearing innocent believers of Allah, who stand helpless against the well organized and well resourced linchpins of the Wahhabi Establishment that are now well entrenched in most places of the world, in both the Moslem World and the non-Moslem World. The propagators and organizers of this vicious brutality count continuously count on considerable funding and guidance from the not so credible mentors of the Saudi Wahhabi Establishment.

If one looks back at the record of these unholy activities of largely innocent civilian deaths one is bound to confront an ugly background of bloody incidents starting some two hundred and fifty years ago (see this link for a well detailed history of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi), in particular this segment:

"Saudi sponsorship

Beginning in the last years of the 18th century Bin Saud and his heirs would spend the next 140 years mounting various military campaigns to seize control of Arabia and its outlying regions, before being attacked and defeated by Ottoman forces. The invasions were justified as the destruction of the villages of polytheists as authorized in the Qur’an, even though they were attacking fellow Muslims (see Beliefs below).

One of their most famous and controversial attacks was on Karbala in 1802 (1217 AH). There, according to a Wahhabi chronicler Uthman b. Abdullah b. Bishr:

“[Wahhabis] scaled the walls, entered the city ... and killed the majority of its people in the markets and in their homes. [They] destroyed the dome placed over the grave of al-Husayn [and took] whatever they found inside the dome and its surroundings.... the grille surrounding the tomb which was encrusted with emeralds, rubies, and other jewels.... different types of property, weapons, clothing, carpets, gold, silver, precious copies of the Qur’an.”[15]

Throughout their early history, the Wahhabi penchant for blood was manifested by the robbing of pilgrimage caravans going to Mecca sanctifying the lives of faithful Moslems as well as their property on account of their being non adherents (“infidels”) to the Wahhabi Creed, which they misguidingly represent as the only form of acceptable Islam, notwithstanding that the Prophet Mohammed (PBAUH) had forewarned that for the Moslems, Najd is “… where the devil’s horns emanate” and the fact that the Quran has warned of the real enemy of Islam being the hypocrites (those who claim adherence to Islam, with mainly surface dressing and nothing at the core of dogmatic belief).

Yemen Times Issue 1278 20 July 2009

In Yemen, "the Rich Get Richer …". How Long Can this Mayhem Continue?

2009-07-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

The insistence of the governing regime in Sana'a to continue to deal with the various forms of opposition it is encountering, through the bloodthirsty military security apparatus of the regime being the only answer the government finds in dealing with the discontent being felt in the northern and southern governorates, defies explanation. After so many years in power, and so many trials and tribulations, President Ali Abdeulla Saleh and his most senior partners in the regime, who supposedly have gone out of their way to ensure the longevity of the presidency of Ali Abdulla Saleh, should start asking themselves to what do they owe this "lack of appreciation" by their ungrateful subjects? After all, aren't these officials working night and day looking after the interests of the Yemeni people? In the meanwhile, the icons of the regime have no qualms about how they take their share of the looting of public and even private property, which has mushroomed their wealth beyond any anyone's ability to measure such wealth, even if by the closest of staff to these icons of the regime. One is bound to be astounded by the ability of these unorthodox civil servants to manage so much personal wealth, while hardly finding enough time to tend to their public duties with the minimum reflection of any sense of responsibility they have for the welfare of this poor country of Yemen. As for the protection of the interests of the good citizens of this unfortunate land, that would not be within the context of the public service which they understand, as these icons have become the most likely perpetrators for which protection is needed. No one can deny that the visible assets these horrendously evil civil servants have collected are beyond anything that any of the most knowledgeable about public corruption would care to admit to knowing about, but if one also considers the laundered or invisible assets these people have squandered, the devil himself would claim Yemen's corruption to be the best that he has accomplished in this Earth, since God threw Adam out of paradise. This was attested to by several of Yemen's great late literary personalities, who were brave enough to echo their concerns about the plight of Yemen under what one of them called "the most corrupt regime in history" (Abdullah Baraddoni), not to mention the pleadings of many of them who urged the President in many public occasions to "feed them from hunger and secure them from fear" (Mohammed Ali Al-Rabadi ), as Allah has bestowed upon Himself to do for mankind.
There have been many efforts to try to get the regime in Yemen to see the light that the current situation is slowly getting the country to the abyss of despair, poor economic performance and unequal access to natural and public resources, not to mentions the rise of an ugly monopolistic commercial establishment that has been allowed to develop, which has closed the doors to any potential Yemeni citizen, who wishes to show some flair for commercial or financial enterprise (except of course for the elements of the regime, who have decided to make inroads into the world of "capital investment". It is safe to assume that such inroads to private enterprise come about through horrendous laundering schemes of stolen public assets, or embezzlement, or sheer open business enterprises that have sought to deliver honest seekers of meager livelihoods out of the way. Such vehicles include "investments" in mass transit for example, which has driven several independent taxi drivers and truck drivers out of the ability to provide livelihoods for their families . Having said that about these and other obviously suspicious enterprises, this observer has come to learn that the companies that "share" out the taxis to drivers who wish to operate the "company taxis" must pay the almost impossible sum of YR 5,000 per day to the company and the drivers must bear all the expenses etc., which would mean that the poor drivers would have to work from dawn to midnight to be able to eke out the funding needed to meet the formidable cost of living for their families. Some drivers have admitted to this observer that there are some days they are unable to achieve the needed revenue to meet these due daily payments, unless they include Friday, the Sabbath Day of the Moslems).
That is just one area in which senior officials from within the regime's closed family and tribal establishment have found niches for directing their "hard earned" capital towards the further exploitation of the people of Yemen in all their various walks of life. Then of course there are the glossy well organized "investment companies", such as petroleum service companies. These laundering enterprises work night and day to make sure that their monopolistic owners get their share of the meager oil wealth of Yemen. Accordingly most citizens have given up hope a long time ago that the petroleum resources and other natural resources of the land would provide a useful capital base that would launch Yemen towards promising equitable economic and social development, which most economic experts suggest is possible if Yemen enjoyed proper and ethical management of these resources, which are now depleting faster than the public servant hordes can scavenge them.

Yemen Times
Issue 1276
13 July 2009

In Yemen, One Finds An Abominable Security Situation

2009-07-11T04:03:00.000-07:00

By Hassan Al-Haifi

No person in his right mind would like to see things return to the way they were back in the "Good old days" when sending the ـkfa, or special security police of the Imam to bring any disobedient citizen to justice was enough to bring anyone to their sweat. However, it goes without saying that the current security situation in Yemen certainly is at best not applaudable and in fact almost unbelievable. Surely, one can not help but wonder if the ineffectiveness of our highly elaborate and most of all expensive security budgets is still a poor match when compared to the ükfas of the Imam, who singlehandedly were able to drag any violator of public or political perpetrations back to the Court of the Imam without fail, or obstruction. The latter were armed only with a rifle and the uncontested authority of the Imam Ahmed, not to mention the charisma, which the Imam projected among his small security apparatus and the general subjects that pledged allegiance to the "crown" almost gladly, since they were assured the safety of adherence to law and the comfort of the prevalence of stable order throughout the land (Qadhi Abdullah Al-Shamahy, the late famous chronicler and well-known patriot, made note of this in many public interviews and in his historical writings).

Even the Imam's own troops could not help but fall prey to this feeling of general public acknowledgment of the Imam's ability to insure the safety and will being of his subjects. Muhsin Al-'Ainy is a former Prime Minister of Yemen on several occasions and is also a well known patriot of prominent standing among the revolutionary heroes, whose role in the struggle against the archaic monarchy of the Hamid Al-Din dynasty is without any doubt. The latter could not help but categorically admit in his memoirs, "Fifty Years UnderShifting Sands " that the attempted coup of 1955 against the Imam was not really inspired by a genuine desire to bring down the monarchy (two of the Imam's brothers were hurriedly recruited to join in the coup as a frantic effort to give the coup some hopeful public support). He relates that the coup actually began when some of the troops of the Imam (who then had already made Ta'ez the de facto capital of Yemen, as he made it his permanent abode) went around annoying some of the civilian residents of the Houban area of Ta'ez, who threatened to go and complain to the Imam of this annoyance. The fear of the Imam amongst the troops inspired them to seek the leadership of Ahmed Al-Thulaya to lead them to a coup against the Imam before the latter has a chance to take lawful action against the troops, who were behind the complaints echoed by the people of the Houban area. It goes without saying that the coup of 1955 was quickly and singlehandedly overturned by the Imam Ahmed in the matter of days and his Imamate was guaranteed for another seven years. His 2 brothers were subject to the same repressive justice that was meted out to the other attempted coup leaders, even to the astonishment of the Imam's son and then aspiring Crown Prince Mohammed Al-Badr (who became Imam for just 1 week after his father's death in September 1962). When the latter asked the late Yemeni literary personality, Ahmed Al-Shami how could his father have the nerve to execute his two brothers, the latter answered: "You should know your father by now. Would he accept anyone saying that he did not mete out the justice of law as expected of an Imam? No, your father insisted that people recognize him for the application of law against all, notwithstanding how close they were to him." The latter citation can also be found in the Memoirs of Ahmed Al-Shami "The Years of Turmoil".

The point to be made from all this is to show that the people of Yemen indeed have the right to see the equal application of law on all citizens, not to mention the accountability of all public officials who failed to abide by the most basic of public service ordnances and ethics.

While taking note of the above, one should not be surprised at the apparent lack of disrespect at the almost total disregard for the most basic standards of public service, which one sees by the most senior of public officials and military brass and thus it is easy to understand that in such a venue, all kinds of lawlessness would be allowed to characterize this once peaceful land under the most despotic of regimes (the Imamic regime and the colonial rule of Aden and the former South Arabian Protectorates). No one is calling for the return of Imamic rule, but surely the people of Yemen cannot be expected to stand in abeyance while they see the application of Law nowhere near the senior officials, who are getting away with the most heinous of public crimes and literally getting away with murder, as they placate the foreign forces that are now more than beginning to have a dominating effect on directing the political directions the country proceeds on, not to mention their refusal to leave the Treasury and public property intact. The reliance on the motto that the "public be damned" should never be expected to guarantee the longevity of any regime.