Armies of Liberation

Yemeni President Saleh announced he would not present himself as a candidate for the 2006 presidential elections after 27 years in power. Some Yemenis are skeptical:

Sent : Tuesday, July 19, 2005 4:43 PM
To : arabtimesnewspaper@hotmail.com
Subject : The president is not running! What a joke

Dear Arabtimes,

These days joke wherever you go in Yemen: “I am not going to run for next year’s presidency elections!!!”
One of the jokes is that the president said what he said without realizing it (he was under the influence of chewing QAT).

A joke; I swear to everybody that it is a joke, but not a laughable one. People like the president and the entire presidents in the Arab world are not going to stop at any thing to keep in control, and to keep in power. They do not care about our feelings and emotions.

Feelings and emotions!! What the hell am I talking about?! It seems also that I am under the influence. These people do not care about anything other than themselves. They do not care about our basic needs, and I expect them to care about our feelings and emotions! What a joke?!, and again not a laughable one. It seems that it is not enough for them the pain and suffering that we are subject to on daily bases and it is caused by them, they want also to play with our feelings and emotions too.

I bet everybody, but not for money because it is “Haram” forbidden to bet, that next year he is going to run and he is going to win if not 99.9% it is going to be 95.5%. I will meet you here next year if Arabtimes will agree to publish this letter these days and next year when it’s time to run for presidency to remind you about what I said above.

It is a joke and propaganda. In one hand, the president is trying to gain the Yemeni people’s sympathy and support, and it seems so many Yemenis have already fallen in the trap (we are emotional people) as I read on your website that the president popularity has risen. In the other hand, the president, when he runs for the presidency elections next year, is going to be ready for whoever is going to oppose his nomination with a big slogan “I DIDN’T WANT TO RUN AND I ANNOUNCED IT BUT THE PEOPLE WANT ME TO RUN, AND I AM NOT GOING TO FAIL THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN ME”.

We are going to hear in the coming days how the people are going to go out on the streets asking the president to run again. Who do you think these people are going to be? I leave it for you to guess. It actually started already by the vice president announcing that the governing party (the General Public Conference (GPC)) is not going to nominate any body else other than the president. La President Ela Al President.

I do not need to direct everybody’s attention to what the president is trying to do. People are smart enough to figure it out themselves.
“The president is trying to imitate the late, honorable, dignified, poor president Gamal Abdulnasser after 1967 war, but as we say in Arabic “hai hat”: a big difference. Ayna althara mina althorya: Where the dirt from the stars.

Our president is, and I’m sorry to say that, sick and his illness is “chauvinism”. He thinks he is the one and only. In the last elections he said “If there is somebody who is better than me, come on in and be president”. The president forgot that he does not even have a degree, and I think he believed that he is a PhD because of the honorary PhD that he received from somewhere.

Mr. President, I ask you again, what did you do in 27 years? Compare what you did to what president Al-Hamdi did in a couple of years.Check on the status of most of the Yemeni people.

Let’s forget for a little bit about the miserable economic situation, and talk about how the Yemeni people are being treated everywhere they go inside the country or outside, and it is all because every body knows that there is no government to defend them. When I talk about treatment, I mean how other governments, sometimes people of other nations and also our government treat Yemeni people in airports, hospitals, hotels,… Also some people think that we are less than them. We are not educated, we still live in the mid centuries, and why is all of that?

It is all because we do not have people in charge who are supposed to change these ideas in other people’s minds. Not only that but these people in charge are themselves the ones who reflect and give people from other countries these ideas.

Wherever a Yemeni goes, he gets treated very badly because we are a poor country, and there is nothing wrong with being poor. Poor people have dignity and honor, and as long as you find behind you a government to protect you rights wherever you go in the world, nobody is going to dare step on your foot.

To all Yemenis, We need a president like president Al-Hamdi; a President to restore the honor and dignity of the Yemeni people everywhere; We are a honorable, dignified people, but we need a president who reflect on that. A president who, when a Yemen person gets inappropriate treatment from whoever wherever, does not rest until he gets this Yemeni person his/her dignity back. A president who works for the people not for himself, his family, relatives, and friends.

I can write and write and write about my expectations from the next Yemeni president, because there are so many things that need to be done and fixed in my country.

To all Yemenis and Arabs, remember always that our presidents do not choose to leave or step down. They die, get killed, or forced toleave, and when they die they try to hand it over to their sons.

Arabtimes, please if you are going to publish this letter this time, also publish it again next year when it is time for the presidency elections, and let’s see who is going to be running and who is going to win the presidency elections in Yemen. Ali or Ali

Thank you Arabtimes

If he doesn’t run, I really will have respect for him. It would be a momentous occurance for Yemen as well as the Middle East. He could be a pivotal figure of the 21st century, but that would require some altruism.

(MATERNIER GHERMEZ AHLIEH, GHORBAN. AUTO ARRAREGH DAVATEMAN MANO SEPAHEH-HAST.)