Letter to President Obama from (Southern) Yemeni-Americans
January 20, 2009
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Honorable President Barack Obama
Greetings
We, Southern Yemenis, are extremely happy with your election as our new president. On this day of your inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America; in truth, the president of the entire world; it is our honor to send our warmest and most sincere congratulations to you, and to us, on this historic occasion. We would like, also, to wish you success and strength in your tremendous and challenging tasks.
Mr. President,
You are the first and the best one to know, that you have reached the mantle of the presidency lifted by the powerful slogan of change. The hearts of all Americans, and probably every man on this beautiful planet that deserves preservation and protection, have carried you to the presidency because their hearts resonate whenever they hear this great slogan of change.
Mr. President,
As you probably realize, the people of the world were quicker to decide on whom to place their hope for change; they have overwhelmingly decided on you “the skinny man”, even before the American people became clear on who is going to be their next president. This “skinny man” will undertake the most difficult and challenging burden of responsibility, at this critical time, at both the American and international levels.
As we see the overwhelming success of your campaign, the tremendous trust and hope that the American people gave you as well as the awesome power of the United States; we have no doubt that you will be able to achieve the desirable changes both domestically and around the world with the support of other nations.
The United States of America is capable of leading a radical and positive change in human history. It can spearhead the eradication of injustice, oppression and dictatorships. It can spread the values of liberty, freedom, justice and democracy all over the world. This change would represent the true realization of the great ideals advocated by the founding fathers of the great American system of democracy, such as Patrick Henry who said “Give me liberty or give me death”.
Our people in the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, as known previously, is one of those peoples suffering under occupation and tyranny by the regime of the Yemen Arab Republic. This oppression started when the regime of president Saleh betrayed the unification agreements and subverted the peaceful nature of the unification of the two Yemens in 1990, by launching a war on southern Yemen in 1994. Thus, Mr. Saleh has aborted the new emerging democracy and persisted, together with his generals, tribes and extremist Islamic allies, in all kinds of corrupt practices in Yemen. He has met all peaceful protests with arrests, shedding blood, batons and live ammunition.
We call upon you, Mr. President, to stand by our people in our quest for freedom and independence and the right to self-determination.
Finally, we would like to express our thanks and gratitude to the great American people and to the American government for giving us the opportunity to live a dignified life, enjoying equal treatment under the law and the constitution.
The undersigned Southern Yemenis in the United States of America send their warmest and most sincere congratulations to Mr. Barack Obama for being our 44th President of the United States of America.
1 – Ambassador Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Abbadi
2 – Colonel Awad Ali Haidarah
3 – Colonel Ahmed Omar Mohamed
4 – Colonel Mohsen Saleh Al-Abbadi
5 – Colonel Mohammed Saleh Belaïd
6 – Colonel Mohammed Saeed Al-Hariri
7 – Colonel Ali Saleh Al-Matari
8 – Colonel Mohamed Abdullah Mohamed Mansour
9 – Colonel Ali Asaad Mus’ad
10 – Colonel Musa Hussein Al-Ruobaidi
11 – Colonel Mohamed Mosaad al-Shaaibi
12 – Colonel Omer Saleh Magari
13 – Consul Mohammad Hussein Moqbel
14 – Lieutenant Colonel Omar Abdullah Salem bin Hilabi
15 – Lieutenant Colonel Najeeb Ahmed Qassim
16 – Major Ahmed Nasser Bin Zaid
17 – Captain Haidara Saleh Nasser
18 – Captain Hussein Salem Aljassari
19 – Dr. Fadl Saeed Gibran
20 – Dr. Abdullah Mohamed Saleh
21 – Dr. Nasser Ahmed Saeed
22 – Dr. Mohamed Suleiman Ahmed
23 – Ghazi Ali Ahmed
24 – Saeed Mus’ad Soror
25 – Yahya Qasim Al-Muflhi
26 – Abdullah Hassan Nasser Sherry
27 – Mohammed Hussein Al-Jaradi
28 – Awad Ali Awad
29 – Badr Abdou Salem Al-Zeher
30 – Faisal Abdullah Belaïd
31 – Ahmed Saleh Ahmed
32 – Hussein Mohammed Al Khulaifi
33 – Ali Ahmed Saleh
34 – Izz Aldeen Mohammed Al-qadi
35 – Salah Saleh Al-Azzani
36 – Hussein Saleh Faddel
37 – Ali Mouthanna saleh
38 – Suleiman Awad Ali
39- Mouthanna Hassan bin Hassan
