Today at
Townhall Foreign Policy Issues: Saleh’s Jihad in Yemen, OpinionEditorials.com
Actually Townhall liked it so much they posted it again under National Security Issues. This article is also at Middle East Transparent. I like Pierre. He decided to bold out the following sentence: There’s a jihad in Yemen? By the government?. Also at BNN. and EIN, and World Press a/k/a Yemen11
This is the article:
Saleh’s Jihad in YemenNow that Iraqi Shiites and Kurds are in power after decades of repression, perhaps some other regional governments will embrace the concepts of pluralism and equal rights. Recently the Shiite religious establishment in Najaf, Iraq, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said the Yemeni government is waging “a kind of war” against Yemeni Zaidis.
There’s a jihad in Yemen? By the government?
Zaidis, one of three main Shia branches, are found almost exclusively within Yemen and historically have been isolated and distinct from other Shia sects. They practice a moderate form of Islam and enjoy good relations with their Sunni co-patriots. So why would the highly respected Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani tell the world that Yemeni President Saleh is waging a war on the Zaidis?
Perhaps the Iraqis are referring to a civil jihad that uses the powers of government against the Zaidis. President Saleh recently began closing 4000 “underground” Zaidi schools serving 330,000 children. Yemeni public schools propagate Sunni doctrine. Officials of Saleh’s Sunni government have characterized Zaidi teachings as “blasphemous,” “backwards,” and “deviant.” The curriculum of some hard core Wahabbi schools, the greater threat according to analysts, was not addressed in their statements.
Perhaps Ayatollah Sistani is drawing the world’s eye to President Saleh’s current military attack on Sa’ada, a Zaidi region. Chasing a small band of Zaidi “rebels” through Sa’ada, the Yemeni military has left behind a wide path of death and destruction. Residents claim that 65,000 people have had their homes destroyed.
In a replica of last year’s bloody siege, journalists are prohibited from Sa’ada, supplies are withheld, houses destroyed, and numerous civilians injured and killed. In a propaganda ploy similar to the Sudan’s, Saleh says he is fighting a rebellion as his war planes bomb civilians.
Amnesty International noted that many innocent Yemenis were reportedly killed by heavy artillery fire and missile attacks. It cited reports by witnesses that a helicopter gunship attacked civilian targets and a number of people were killed. The region is under strict lock down, with parts closed off for months and international organizations excluded.
A recent pamphlet from Sa’ada residents describes an ugly scene: “The military (is)…using the different heavy and middle weapons like the air and ground missiles, military tanks, planes, and surface- to-surface missiles. They are besieging those areas from all directions; houses inhabited by elderly people, children and women were demolished and whoever could leave them is now homeless with those injured people without medicine.”
When some opposition parties said, “This bloodshed, destruction of homes and assaults on people are truly regrettable and a cause for sorrow,” Saleh threatened to take them to court. It was not an empty threat.
Yemen is noted as one of the world’s most corrupt states by Transparency International and President Saleh is the also head of Yemen’s judiciary. Perhaps the Ayatollahs are pointing to Saleh’s use of the law as another weapon against the Zaidi people, who make up nearly forty percent of Yemen’s population.
Thousands are in prison without charges after mass arrests in Sa’ada, and more are taken daily. A Zaidi judge, Mohammed Luqman, was sentenced to ten years in prison after ruling against one of Saleh’s political cronies. A Zaidi editor, Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, was jailed after a series of articles on governmental corruption. Both men were convicted of sedition for speaking against the bloodshed in Sa’ada.
A deft master of propaganda, Saleh knows all the buzzwords to feed the West. He called the 4000 Zaidi schools “extremist” and said their closure was educational reform. He announced that imprisoning the respected judge was an anti-corruption campaign. He said the outspoken editor was flaming sectarianism by denouncing the violence.
As he attacked Sa’ada, Saleh implied the few hundred rebels are allied with Iran. (Actually, first he said they were supported by Jews, but he retracted that. Next it was Bahrainis, and then Kuwaitis that were financing them. Then the rebels were monarchists. Now its Hezbollah.) The Jamestown Organization calls the likelihood of Iranian influence “questionable.”
Saleh says the attack on Sa’ada is over as it continues. And life goes on in Yemen with Zaidi civic leaders targeted and libraries closed, internet cafes monitored by undercover security thugs, and Zaidi religious celebrations prohibited by military force. With presidential elections scheduled for next year, one can reasonably predict that Saleh will be the big winner. After all, he won 96 per cent of the vote in 1999.
The Jamestown Organization forecasts a bleak future for Yemenis: “While Salih grooms his son as his successor, Yemen threatens to become a replica of the hereditary Ba’athist presidencies of Iraq and Syria.”
Who better than Iraqis to recognize another Saddam? President Saleh has stolen the liberty of an entire country including the Sunni majority, but his jihad against the Zaidis includes artillery, mass arrests, and forcing children out of school. This is the war in Yemen that the Iraqi Ayatollahs mean to show the world.
Citations follow.
Works Cited:
(al-Shawa is the paper of the Sunni Islamist Reform Party, Islah. The Yemen Observer is a government tool. Al-Saba is the official government news agency. The Yemen Times is independent but operating in a highly restricted atmosphere.)
Massive sweep of the region: http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/e_default.asp
Clashes and bombing http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/e_default.asp
Yemeni election 2006: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=835&p=local&a=7
Extremist school closure: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=835&p=local&a=8
Schools blaspheming: http://www.yobserver.com/news_6002.php
Ongoing violence against Shiites: http://www.yobserver.com/news_6018.php
Iraqi Shiites denunciation: http://www.sabanews.net/view.php?scope=f9129&dr=&ir=&id=91563
Jamestown, foreign influences, moderate Zaidi: http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=61
Amnesty International: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/699/re5.htm
Govt statement homes destroyed, resident claim of 65000 displaced, residents pamphlet: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=833&p=front&a=1
Use of tanks and artillery, international orgs prohibited, Shiite parties pressured, foreign influences blamed: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=832&p=front&a=1
Blaming Hezbollah, opposition statement, deviant ideology: http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=24539
Iranian backing claim: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453473.0125.html
US State Dept: Judge imprisoned, mass arrests, blame the Jews for rebels, 96% of the vote: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41736.htm
Shiite Eid celebrations banned: http://www.yobserver.com/news/article_3617.html
(article no longer available on line, copy of text available)
