Yemen in the Spring
(also known as Yemen 6) was actually published in …Yemen by the Yemen Observer. (The article is also up on Middle East Transparent a very interesting site with the latest thinking from Arab liberals. I’ve gotten lost there for hours reading some of the articles.)
The strategy for success in Iraq, that people will reject extremism when a hope of freedom exists, should be employed in Yemen now, in advance of the arrival of Al-Qaeda from Iraq next spring. The press, which acts as a watchdog against corruption and governmental improprieties, is essential for democratic progress. The targeting of the opposition and independent media in Yemen indicates a disturbing new trend toward authoritarianism in Yemen which is best opposed at its onset.The death sentence handed down in Yemen to two Al-Qaeda operatives convicted in the bombing of the USS Cole may indicate a new intolerance for terrorism by the Yemeni government. Flourishing democratic institutions, specifically the free press, may strengthen that intolerance in Yemeni society as well.
Not that I submitted it to them, they just found it on the web and published it. Iran Daily,which Memri refers to as a “the Iranian reformist newspaper Iran Daily, which is close to Iranian President Muhammad Khatami,” did the same thing with Yemen 7 (The Power of the Pen).
