Yemen’s Representatives at Centcom Withdrawing
Response from Centcom (in the comments): “Actually, there are a significant number of countries which participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom which don’t have representatives in Tampa at USCENTCOM headquarters, so it’s not unprecedented or unique.”
Me: Thanks for the helpful information. Please come back and correct me anytime. I am striving for accuracy. But I still find the timing odd with Saleh in the US this week, among other things, like the international pressure on top Yemeni military leaders to stop smuggling guns via the Yemeni Air Force, weaponry which on more than one occasion has been used against US personel and which always seems to wind up in the hands of the jihadiis.
Also I did detail in my last article the coordinates where the chemical weapons were supposedly used. I *am* hoping someone checks that out.
Original Post:
If we put this article which goes backwards through time into a forward chronology, it seems to say: A US official said to al-Sharq al-Wasat that Yemen was withdrawing its military liason from Centcom’s Tampa Command Center which hosts representatives from 62 countries.
The media spokesman at the Yemeni embassy in the US responded that Yemen’s two representatives are still on active duty at their posts at Centcom.
Moreover, the officials will naturally return to Sana’a once their terms are over, according to Albasha. “This does not mean in any way that Yemen is withdrawing from the global alliance against terrorism,” he concluded.
The article fails to note if new representatives will be appointed to liason with Centcom in Tampa.
So the Yemeni regime is potentially withdrawing from the command center but not the alliance. Otay. The regime has recently issued repeated statements in support of Iran (and its nuclear program) and Syria. And bi-lateral ties with Iran have increased markedly in the last months. Trade relations with North Korea are good. Salah is the one Arab leader who sided with Saddam in Gulf One resulting in billions in economic losses for the Yemeni economy.
Maybe some one at Centcom asked to take a peek into the Suleiman caves where Yahya al-Houthi said General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar used chlorine gas against the Houthis, which if true contravines the chemical weapons convention the regime ratified in 2000, regardless of all other circumstances. But I’m *sure* the regime would welcome inspections by any parties concerned about the chemical weapons allegations and thus dispel the rumor once and for all. So that cant be it.
Maybe it is an money saving measure after all. I mean after they closed one embassy (Romania), what else is there to cut but the military liason with the US?
After all Saleh just said in a major speech: “We, in the Republic of Yemen, re-emphasize our insistence and determination to continue exerting efforts in order to consolidate our partnership with the international community to support efforts to confront terrorism and add to the tangible successes that our country had achieved in this regard with the cooperation with our brotherly and friendly nations.”
So naturally in Saleh-land the way to consolidate the partnership is to withdraw the liason.
