RE: Overreaction? Nope.CVI may soon wish they were in Egypt. Yemen is as close to a failed state as you can get. Al Qaeda is active very close to CVI's concessions and if they bring down the gov't, the place could erupt in yet another Civil War like they had in the '60s and '70s, and 90s..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yemen_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_civil_war_in_Yemen
Strife in Yemen
Jan 13th 2011 |
SANA’A| from PRINT EDITION
AFTER prayers on January 7th jihadists ambushed a military convoynear the town of Lawdar in the troubled province of Abyan some 240km(150 miles) south-east of Sana’a, the capital. They usedrocket-propelled grenades and machine guns to kill at least ten soldiers.Later that day the group hit another military convoy in the same area.Two days after that masked men on motorcycles attacked a governmentvehicle on its way to deposit cash at a bank in Zinjibar, Abyan’scapital, killing three electricity workers and a guard.
The nebulous nature of al-Qaeda’s Arabian franchise makes it hard toassess the group’s strategy or even to be sure which attacks it isbehind, unless it publishes a claim for responsibility. But recenthit-and-run attacks on government forces and the greater care it istaking to avoid civilian casualties suggest cannier tactics, withlessons learnt from the experience of al-Qaeda branches in Iraq andAfghanistan. Like them it is trying to weaken resolve by targeting thesecurity forces on which the government depends.
Many Yemeni jihadists want to overthrow the country’s seculargovernment and replace it with an Islamist caliphate. That is unlikelyto happen soon, but the threat of it has put Yemen in the internationalspotlight. Since a botched Christmas bombing of an American passengerjet in 2009 by a jihadist trained in Yemen and a foiled plot to plantexplosives in a cargo aircraft there last October, the United States hasincreased military aid from $70m in 2009 to a planned $250m this year.
Barack Obama has ruled out direct American intervention. But thecountry has become a testing ground for the Pentagon’s counter-terrormethods. American-funded units are trying to tackle jihadists in theirheartland, where government control is minimal, notably in the provincesof Abyan, Shabwa and Marib.
But American aid is not always used for its intended purpose. In 2009a Pentagon-trained counter-terrorism unit was diverted to Yemen’s northto fight Houthi rebels who are not generally jihadists. Recently it wasreported that boats donated by America to Yemen’s coastguard were beingrented out for commerce.
On January 11th America’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, showedhow worried she is about Yemen by making the first visit by a holder ofher post for two decades. No doubt seeking to calm the waters afterAmerican diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks exposed details ofsometimes stormy relations with President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The leaksdisclosed that he had allowed American air raids against al-Qaeda inYemen. Mrs Clinton said that the country needed more than military aidto combat al-Qaeda and stressed the urgency of economic and politicalreform. For Yemen is the Middle East’s poorest country, illiteracy ishigh and corruption rife.