Armies of Liberation

Jane Novak's blog about Yemen

One by one they trickle out

Filed under: Al-Qaeda, Judicial, Somalia, Yemen — by Jane Novak at 2:10 pm on Friday, November 10, 2006

amid confusion. how shocking.

SMH:

ONE of three Australians being held for suspected gun-running has been released from detention, a well-placed Yemeni government source says, but the Department of Foreign Affairs says it knows of no release.

The men, from NSW, were arrested last month in a crackdown on arms smuggling to Somalia, but it took almost two weeks for Yemen to make details of the arrests public, and the fate of the three remains confused.

The source said yesterday that an unidentified Australian and a German were freed two days ago, but a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said one of its officials had visited the detainees on Saturday.

Last night the department said it knew of no such release, while the Yemeni source would not provide any details – except to say that the Australian was released after Australian Government assurances of “his character”.

There were unconfirmed reports last week that one, Malek Samulski, might be released, and that a German had already been released.

Two Australian brothers, Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub, were among eight foreigners arrested by the Yemeni authorities last month on suspicion of weapons smuggling and links to al-Qaeda. No formal charges have yet been laid.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the men its official visited – after twice being refused access – were in good health, but still did not know the nature of their charges.

“The purpose of the visit was for the consul to provide normal consular services to the arrested men, which includes monitoring their welfare and seeking to ensure their cases are being handled appropriately and in accordance with local law.

“The consul is maintaining close contact with the men’s families in Yemen, and consular officials in Canberra are in close contact with the families in Australia.”

The Foreign Affairs parliamentary secretary, Teresa Gambaro, said Yemeni officials had assured the Department of Foreign Affairs official who visited the men that they would not be transferred to another country.

“Under Yemeni law the Yemeni public security office, which is detaining the men, can hold them for up to three months without charges,” she said. “The Yemeni authorities have assured us that they’re not going to be moved to another country. They assured the consul of that, so there is absolutely no chance of that happening.”

The Yemeni source said the investigation was continuing, and two remaining Australians, a Briton, a Dane, a Somali and one as yet unidentified foreign national, remained in jail.

5 Comments »

1

Comment by John Konop

11/10/2006 @ 9:01 pm

A Conservative Plan for Iraq

Anyone who questions the lack of a realistic and comprehensive Iraq strategy is labeled a friend of fascism by the Republican leadership. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recently said, “I wonder if [Democrats] are more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people.” Republicans are paralyzed with the fear of being thought ineffective on national security and the war.

Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership cannot seem to accept that—regardless of how we got there—we are in Iraq. They have not made a convincing case that an arbitrary phased or date-certain troop withdrawal is in the best long-term interest of the United States. Rather, they seem to think that withdrawal will undo the decision to have gone to war. Rubbing President Bush’s nose in Iraq’s difficulties is also a priority.

This political food fight is stifling the desperately needed public discussion about a meaningful resolution to the fire fight. Most Americans know Iraq is going badly. And they know the best path lies somewhere between “stay the course” and “get out now”.

Some Truths

1) Iraq is having a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. The Kurds will certainly join, if attacked. It may not look like a civil war, because they don’t have tanks, helicopters, and infantry; but they are fighting with what they have.

2) Vast oil revenues are a significant factor behind the fighting. Yes, there are religious and cultural differences—but concerns about how the oil revenue will be split among the three groups make the problem worse.

3) Most Iraqis support partitioning Iraq into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish regions. (Their current arrangement resulted from a pen stroke during the British occupation, not some organic alignment.)

4) Most citizens of the Middle East who support groups that kill and terrorize civilians—such as Hezbollah, Hamas, or al Qaeda—in part because of their aggressive stance against Israel and the United States, but also because they provide much needed social services, such as building schools.

5) Both Republican and Democratic administrations have spent decades doing business with the tyrants who run the Middle East in exchange for oil and cheap labor. This has been the one of the rallying calls of Bin Laden and Hezbollah—that we support tyrants who abuse people for profits. In fact, our latest trade deals with Oman and Jordan actually promote child and slave labor; it’s so bad the State Department had to issue warnings about rampant child trafficking in those countries.

6) Iran is using the instability in Iraq to enhance its political stature in the region. Leaving Iraq without a government that can stand up to Iran would be very destabilizing to the region and the world.

From the U.S. perspective, this is all mostly about energy. As things stand, a serious oil supply disruption would devastate our economy, threaten our security, and jeopardize our ability to provide for our children.

New Directions

Success in Iraq and the Middle East in general requires us to work in three areas simultaneously: (1) fostering a more stable Middle East region, including Iraq, (2) pursuing alternative sources of oil, and (3) developing alternatives to oil. To these ends we must:

1) Insure that the oil revenues are fairly and transparently split among all three groups: Shiite, Sunni, and Kurds based on population.

2) Allow each group to have a much stronger role in self government by creating three virtually-autonomous regions. Forcing a united Iraq down their throats is not working. Our military would then be there in support a solution that people want, rather than one they are resisting.

3) Become a genuine force for positive change, thus denying extremist groups much of their leverage. Driving a fair two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian problem should be our first priority. We should also engage in projects that both help the average Middle Easterner and Americans, such as supporting schools that are an alternative to the ones that teach hate and recruit terrorists. We should also stop participating in trade deals that promote child and slave labor by insisting on deals that include livable wages and basic labor rights.

4) Declare a Marshal Plan to end our Middle Eastern energy dependency with a compromise between exploring for new sources, reducing consumption, and developing of alternative energies. For example, we should re-establish normal relations with Cuba so we can beat China to Cuba’s off-shore oil. We should also redirect existing tax breaks for Big Oil into loan guarantees for alternative energy companies.

Once we no longer need so much oil from the Middle East, we can begin winning over its people by using our oil purchases to reward positive and peaceful behavior from their leaders. This would ultimately reduce tensions and encourage prosperity in the region.

We will have to live with the threat of Islamic radical terrorism forever; but these solutions are a start to reducing the threat. Both parties have to put politics aside and put together an honest and reasonable plan that the American understand.

2

Comment by Purple Avenger

11/11/2006 @ 3:07 am

Dood — post your screeds (comment#1) on your own damn blog and link’em. All you’re doing here is spamming.

That being said.

Jane, do you know anyone who might be able to pull the port of call plans for MV Rose? Seriously, Somalia seems like a more likely destination for the containers of goodies than Yemen. If MV Rose were to make a port call in Somalia prior to heading to Yemen… A bit of load switcheroo on the docks, reseal the bins, and go on your way with nobody the wiser. Somali ports are basically in the hands of the Islamists, so that’s a much easier bet than landing stuff in a dictatorship where Yemani govt agents would be crawling all over the ports.

Just pondering out loud here.

3

Comment by Jane

11/11/2006 @ 7:53 am

Hey PA! Unfortunately no navigational contacts (yet). But I do know one blogger who might….hmmmm Beyond the possibility you suggest, there’s oodles of ways to move the cargo once its in Yemen. Smuggling to Saudi Arabai and Somalia is well established via organized gangs operating for both profit and ideology. Also the regime has already transported weaons to Somalia and elsewhere via military aircraft. I’m wondering if this is the ship the news reported was being tracked after leaving North Korea. The fact that its a Chinese ship doesn’t preclude that possibility I think. Also the regime reported it was opening a munitions factory and hoping to boost production to 24 million bullets a year, I think it was, among other products. There really is lots of construction going on in Yemen so it could be an innocent shipment. But like you said before the fact that they didn’t acknowledge it as legit at once casts a bit of doubt there. cheers

4

Comment by Jane

11/11/2006 @ 8:48 am

Ok here we go: for oil exploration

Ministry of Defense:

26 Septemper News

Informed sources said the ship which was seized by Indonesian forces in international waters loaded with explosives own to a company operating in Yemen.

The sources exclusively told “26 Sep.net” that the Ministry of oil and Minerals, sent a memorandum to the Interior Ministry confirming that the cargo of the ship is legal and belongs to an investment company in Yemen and this cargo will be used for peaceful purposes in the oil prospecting operations carried out by the company in the concession areas.

5

Comment by Purple Avenger

11/11/2006 @ 12:18 pm

Their govt agencies moves as fast as ours do ;->

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