Armies of Liberation

Some brainwashed teenager pays the price as AQAP tries to burnish its anti-regime credentials as they are being paid by the Saleh family. The perception is so widespread, USS Cole bomber Fahd al Quso had to deny it in an interview, but he’s been Saleh’s boy for a long time, a lot of give and take there.

Mareb Press: Likely another false flag attack, as the explosive was in one of the cars in the convoy, although the regime immediately blamed a suicide bomber of al Qaeda: General al Souma

CBS: (AP) SANAA, Yemen – A suicide attacker driving an explosives-laden car blew himself up Tuesday next to the passing convoy of Yemen’s defense minister, who escaped the attack unharmed, security officials and witnesses said.

The assailant detonated his car as Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed’s convoy passed by on the coastal highway in the southern city of Aden, witnesses said. The ministry confirmed the attack and said in a statement that Ahmed, who survived another attempt on his life last month that killed two of his bodyguards, was unharmed.

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said at least 10 were wounded in the blast. It was not immediately clear whether senior military officials were among the wounded.

“Comprehensive Agreement” Within Reach says VP Hadi The next phase of stall tactics begins.

President calls for presidential, parliamentary and local elections Its nearly funny, but lives are at stake. The GPC stalled on the electoral reforms they agreed to after the not free or fair election in 2006, delaying the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2009. The voter rolls are a mess, and Obama’s statement at the UN calling for quick elections is either uniquely uninformed or just plain duplicitous.

King of Peace resumes shelling Arhab villages.

Protesters Committee CCYRC Daily Report 9/26, protesters reject all deals with Saleh, and demand his trial, as is their right since they are his vicitms.

Lie #32,836,

Yemen Post: Only a day after his surprise return to the capital, president Saleh announced through the state news agency that he had ordered his troops to retreat from the streets of the capital, as well as the dismantlement of the many military manned checkpoints. ….Despite the government claims that it had sent out the withdrawal orders, nothing has changed. If anything, there are more Central Security forces out of on the streets, machine guns at the ready.”This is typical Saleh, he says one thing and does the opposite” said a resident in Beit Buss, a popular district of the capital. “In Yemen, nothing is as it seems” he added.

The “dove of peace” line, as soldiers opened fire on the protesters, really should be enough for anyone to catch on.

Mr Democracy can’t stand free speech; its been an ongoing problem:

Yemen: The freedom of opinion and expression still under security attack
ANHRI condemns blocking “Yemen Nation” news website, Cairo, 26 September 2011

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned today the publicly ongoing repression of the Yemeni authorities against the Freedoms of press and media. Yemeni security forces blocked the independent news website “Yemen Nation” yesterday, without providing any reasons or justifications for this repressive behavior.

It is worth noting that this is the second time for “Yemen Nation” website to be blocked, the first time being last March following the massacre of “Friday of Dignity” in Al-Taghyeer square, in front of San’a University.

Freedom of expression in Yemen is seriously deteriorating since the public protests and demonstrations began last February, demanding ousting the regime of president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been dominating the country for over 33 years. However, all border chick points changed into a machine for confiscating newspapers and preventing its distribution. Simultaneously, news websites are not in a better condition, for many of these websites were blocked and hacked.

“The repressive practices of the Yemeni authorities such as: confiscation, blocking, targeting journalist and media professionals will lead to nowhere and will not kill the dream of freedom of the Yemeni people” said ANHRI

“The Yemeni regime is still not aware that it is facing a public movement and is still behaving the same old way which is based on repression, suppression and confiscation of freedoms” ANHRI added

Saleh meets with Salafi clerics and asks for fatwa against protesters. Lately official TV channels have aired a number of shows with Salafi clerics who are asking people to side with Saleh. Yemen Tribune. YAATC: Saleh said in at the “scientific conference of the Association of Yemen, “opponents have conduct inconsistent with our religion of the Islamic Sharia, which has made ​​the sanctity of Muslim blood, more privacy and provided to ward off evil to bring the interests and there is no evil greater than the payment the country into civil war, destroy crops and cattle and eat everything and everybody.”

Its an Orwellian nightmare

UNITED NATIONS—Yemen’s foreign minister says the opposition movement’s refusal to accept the results of the 2006 presidential elections are to blame for the country’s current crisis—one that could escalate into a civil war.
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi also told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh is committed to a U.S.-backed Gulf Cooperation Council initiative as a means to ending the crisis in the beleaguered nation that has left hundreds dead.

Al-Qirbi says Saleh’s government is committed to democracy and reform, but the opposition has co-opted the youth-driven protests as a way of trying to oust Saleh after he won a resounding victory in the 2006 elections.

A bright spot, women protest

Obama!
Thank you for not having lost all your memory yet
But, your ambassador in Sanaa
Still chews Qaat greedily in Ahmed Ali’s divan
You consider us more closely, the African-American noble
Meanwhile Gerald Frankstein believes that
We do not deserve to live
And it is easy to be shot by snipers
So, Obama
We are not Indians
But we have a dream
And we are changemakers
You always should not forget that
The weapons which kill us are American-made and shipping
Our friend, Obama! Shame on you!
Also, We would like to inform you that
A homeland in Ali Salah’s existence is another Guantanamo.

9/22/11 Change Square Sanaa

via email, this is an excerpt that deals with tribal mediation efforts last month in Abyan with top AQAP leaders. Sheikh Hussain is one of the local dignitaries that attempted to convince al Qaeda to lay down their arms and withdraw. Another section regarding evolving concepts of jihad, US counter-terror tactics and other related topics will be published later.

Q4: I learned from XXX you have contributed in mediation between the al-Qaeda, which controls parts of the south, and the tribes. Can you explain to us what kind of mediation and what resulted?

A4: Yes, I mediated after some tribal and other notables asked me, including some leaders of the ruling party in the province of Abyan. I responded to the request and was accepted in the tribes in the city claiming in the province of Abyan. Despite all the good that I do, our efforts are still ongoing, and the most important thing for us is to convince the young al-Qaeda to withdraw from the provincial capital of Zanzibar and return the situation as before, then arrange the return of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Our efforts are underway and there were some obstacles, the most important of which is that there are parties in the State and others that struggle to serve its interests and the achievement of its objectives, but there is no shortage of God’s solution.

Q5: There is a lot of talk that some of the devices of the Saleh regime are in favor of al-Qaeda taking control of some areas of the south. Are you able to confirm that?

A5: The role of the leaders of the brigades of the Saleh regime in Abyan and Aden was clearly evident on what happened and is happening in Zanzibar, the capital of Abyan province. The city was handed over entirely to al-Qaeda. Security pulled out of the military forces that were stationed there, including the central security. The sudden withdrawal from the city sparked surprise among all observers.

The modern Yemeni street and the south know of the existence of a conspiracy by the Saleh regime to deliver Abyan into the situation as it is now. We are accustomed to such policies from the Saleh regime which uses and always used al Qaeda fighters in any internal conflict between him and his opponents. The regime used them in the summer 94 and used them in wars on the Houthis in Saada. It is no secret that those who blew up the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on 17 \ 9 \ 2009, were some military officers and they used a military vehicle and hired al Qaeda fighters giving them military uniforms. The Saleh regime is not to be trusted on anything, it is the cause of all problems of the country.

I think that the situation worsened for Ali Saleh when he learned that the southern movement has almost complete control of the province of Abyan, after control of Lahj, and the young Qaeda fighters were planted there by Saleh, as it is known that Abyan province is representing the South.

Q6: What is your view of the U.S. role in combating terrorism in Yemen?

A6: I welcome the U.S. role in the fight against terrorism through dialogue and scientific discussion rather than violence and military intervention. As I said before, violence only begets more violence, we welcome that any role of the U.S. put an end to violence and terrorism and that is peaceful.

Most Yemenis believe that AQAP operates as an arm of the Yemeni intelligence and security services. There are substantial indications of the relationship. With the revolution in full swing, defectors are starting to come forward with details.

Judge Hamoud al Hittar is the head of Yemen’s now defunct Koranic Dialog Committee that “rehabilitated” 342 hardened al Qaeda operatives. A former Minster of Endowments, al Hittar said recently that the Saleh regime is “supporting a number of al Qaeda members in Abyan to frighten the West, and to suppress the Yemeni revolution.”

Judge Hamoud Al Hittar said many of the top al Qaeda members who he met during dialog sessions are, “dealing with the Yemeni regime and receiving financial rewards.” A well established system of communication and payments to al Qaeda militants is headed by three security officials, “one in a Presidential Guards, the second in the National Security and the third in the Interior Ministry.” (The Central Security forces are within the Interior Ministry and contain one of the counter-terror units.) In essence, the same counter-terror commanders the US is relying on for its national security are paying al Qaeda to engage in violence, foster insecurity and heighten the US’s threat perception.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah al Asnag wrote in June about the conflict in Abyan, “Although the government has declared the dead as terrorists, a substantial number of these supposed terrorists have turned out to be on the payroll of the National Security Agency (headed by Ammar Saleh). Many families of the deceased and supposed terrorists have reported that their sons were employed by the National Security Agency and some families even presented NSA ID Cards belonging to the deceased.”

Over 100,000 Yemeni civilians have fled the violence in Abyan, and are sheltering in schools in Aden. A military brigade that refused to surrender to the terrorists was left stranded by the Defense Ministry and under assault by al Qaeda for two months without reinforcements or food. The US ultimately resupplied them by air. About 1500 local tribesmen came together to fight alongside the besieged unit against al Qaeda, and in late July, the Yemeni air force “accidentally” bombed the tribesmen, killing dozens.

Saleh rarely varies his routine, it was the same pattern with the Southern Movement and the Saada War as it is now: lies, propaganda, empty promises, fake dialog, violence which he blames on the victims and then he accuses everybody of being al Qaeda. Saleh said in 2004, “Democracy is the rescue ship of all regimes,” and then he cracked down on the media. Every statement, I mean every statement on all topics, since then has been propaganda. The Saada War broke out six times because the regime kept violating its own cease fire terms. There’s not one promise he’s kept, including not running for office in 2006, for the third time (1993, 1999 & 2006.) Just like reneging on the GCC plan four times and all his BS about supporting US CT ops and goals.

Taipei Times: The president has repeatedly refused to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council according to which he would hand power to Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution. However, he said on Sunday he had authorized Hadi to sign the deal on his behalf. (Read on …)

Lightly armed tribal fighters seize 40 tanks from the “elite” RG. The protesters will throw Saleh out again if that’s what it takes, but the idea bringing him and his relatives to trial in Yemen is really starting to fill the imagination. And Saleh lied in a speech about being willing to transfer power but he literally hasn’t told the truth in a decade, so its not worth posting or even reading. (The Regime’s social media strategy: lie, liable and infiltrate

VOA Forces loyal to a Yemeni tribal leader have captured a presidential guard base north of the capital Sana’a, as forces loyal to President Ali Abdallah Saleh appear to be suffering a slow erosion. (Read on …)

whoa, thats it. it would be lovely if this is an official position as well

President should know he can no longer be part of the solution to the problem

Yemen is burning all over again. Protesters in Sanaa are preparing for a long, messy revolt. Opposition held mass protests yesterday, escalating demands for the immediate departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Earlier, a general was killed and 30 other troops loyal to Saleh were taken hostage when tribesmen overnight attacked their base north of Sanaa.

The world community, Arabs in particular, expected Saleh to learn from his mistakes and make a fresh start to bring peace and stability to his wounded and long-suffering nation. Clearly though the Yemeni leader seems to have learned no lessons from his own experience or the developments in the neighborhood. All attempts and appeals by the Arab and GCC leadership to make him see reason have so far fallen on deaf ears. Addicted to unlimited power of the past four decades and hubris that comes with it, he remains singularly blind to the havoc his intransigence has wreaked on Yemen and its people. He says his future should be determined at the ballot box.

When Saleh left Yemen after being grievously injured in an attack on the presidential palace in June, people had burst out on the streets in spontaneous jubilations celebrating his departure. Alas, their rejoicing proved premature. They are stuck with someone who genuinely seems to believe he’s indispensable. Nobody expected Saleh to return to Yemen after those unprecedented celebrations on the day of his departure. If he had any love for his people, Yemen wouldn’t be in the mess it finds itself in today. And now with this military crackdown led by his son and use of mortar and heavy weaponry against peaceful protesters, he has crossed all limits. Totally unarmed civilians including women and children are getting killed by their own troops. Not even young people squatting in the Change Square and singing national anthem are spared.

What will it take to persuade a ruler that his time is up? How many innocents have to die before the world community decides enough is enough? Today, the demand for Saleh’s departure is no longer the demand of the Yemeni people alone. All Arab, Muslim and Western countries have been urging him to leave immediately. The Gulf Cooperation Council has come up with at least three initiatives to resolve the crisis. In fact, a peace accord brokered by Gulf states offering him a dignified exit and a fresh start for Yemen has been ready for months. Saleh twice came close to inking it but opted out at the last minute. He simply refuses to see that he cannot be part of a solution. He is the problem.

Clearly, the world community needs to take some bold and effective steps — and fast — to break this impasse in Yemen and bring the much-needed reprieve to its people. The silence and inaction of the international community only emboldens the discredited regime in Sanaa. The United States must stop treating Saleh with kid gloves. Unfortunately, it has been more concerned with the “war on terror,” building its military bases and expanding drone attacks and military campaign against Al-Qaeda. But the longer the world remains silent over the brutality of regimes like that of Yemen and Syria, the more innocents are killed. Silence kills — literally.

CCYRC Daily report English sept 25 2011 – Yemen

arabic link: http://pdfcast.org/pdf/25-9-2011

The US has taken no punitive action for eight months as the Sanaa regime slaughtered hundreds of protesters because “counter-terror cooperation has never been better.” However al Qaeda has only grown stronger, the streets bloodier and the nation hungrier, with the international community’s appeasement of Saleh et al.

al Sahwa:
SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 24 (UPI) — Government forces killed at least 40 protesters in Sanaa Saturday, the day after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia, activists said.

Voice of America reported the deaths occurred as Saleh’s military forces clashed with student protesters. The U.S. network said government troops inflicted many casualties when they fired live ammunition and mortar shells at a protesters’ encampment overnight.
(Read on …)

Coupled with Fahd al Quso’s interview, its is abundantly clear that the Obama administration policy had failed on all fronts in Yemen. The solution, as trite as it may sound, is to take a principled stand. If the current plan is to let Saleh hang on until the US has had a chance to drone all the al Qaeda leaders, it will certainly fail because AQAP has infiltrated the security and military and the regime has an incentive to keep the group strong.

AJE: Al-Qaeda linked militants severed the hand of a 15-year-old boy after he stole electrical cables in a southern Yemeni town, witnesses who had been summoned to watch the punishment said Sunday.

The militants cut off the boy’s hand with a sword in front of dozens of residents of Jaar, in the troubled southern province of Abyan, on Saturday evening before taking the limb around town for all to see.

An AFP correspondent spoke to four witnesses at the scene who confirmed the incident took place. They all requested anonymity due to fears of reprisals from militants.

The witnesses said the militants announced they would also cut off another man’s hand later on Sunday. He too had been caught stealing electrical cables, they said.

all the week’s brutality at one link, Warning: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, click here.

Fahd tweaks western fears by expressing support for the rev

Interview with Sheikh Fahad al Quso discernible al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen, tells the details of the battle in Zanzibar

Sheikh Fahad Bowl III Regulations required the U.S.: Yemeni tribes did not turn against us, and Saudi Arabia’s position of the revolution shameful Mujahid bin Laden and died a martyr … And ‘base’ part of the fabric of society

Interview by Gamal Abdul Razak

09/19/2011
Bowl interview, Sheikh Al-Qaeda leaders

We had to cut a long distance through the bumpy mountain road to reach the region selected by the required third in the American Bowl Sheikh Fahad to conduct an interview with him. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: As Yemen is living through its worst spell of violence since the beginning of its popular uprising, with several hundred casualties awaiting medical treatment, the Red Cross is accusing the Yemeni government of theft and abuses.

According to Valerie Petitpierre, the deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s delegation in Yemen, government forces would have physically assaulted some of her staff as they were trying to confiscate their medical supplies.

“The ICRC delegation is receiving very worrying reports of armed confrontations taking place in Al-Gomhori Hospital and placing many innocent lives at risk,” she said.

Eye witnesses within the hospitals confirmed the allegations, saying that several members of the Red Cross staffs had been beaten and threatened of further reprisals if they insisted in helping the wounded.

Petitpierre went further in her declaration mentioning that “in some cases they have had equipment confiscated, and there have also been incidents in which they were denied access to people in need of first aid.”

She stressed that it was the government’s moral duty to ensure and facilitate medical treatment to all, beyond prejudice or feelings of revenge. “Anyone injured or wounded must be able to receive life-saving health care without undue delay.”

CH: Anti-government protests in Yemen are complicating Nexen’s efforts to renew its licence for the country’s Masila oilfield.

Nexen may lose its licence for Yemen’s Masila oilfield to a local operator, officials in Yemen said, as the Canadian company’s efforts to renew the deal are hindered by political turmoil and the government’s urgent need for cash. (Read on …)

Taped just prior to Saleh’s return but covers many issues well.

Houthis statement – Saada 23/09/2011 Tazahria mass demonstration was the morning of this day, Friday, 24 / October / 1432 e roamed the streets (Saada), attended by tens of thousands of people of the province who have flocked to it since early morning. In the march chanted the masses (you rebel you are free, America, behind the scenes) (Say to the silent or Nam, will participate in crime) (whatever is spilled or kill, any initiative would not accept) (forward ahead of the change, and God is our best advocate) (Felthna spirit of the martyr , he lived the life of the new). Presented during the demonstration a number of rhetorical words and paragraphs of poetry and Message Board.

As expected. CNN reports a dozen deaths since midnight. Its going to be a long bloody night and week.

Unfortunately the Libya option is among the few remaining to safeguard millions, ie- downing the Yemeni Air Force, including the new Hueys. As Saleh refused to resign with immunity and a palace, four times, it is abundantly clear that negotiations are not going to work. Maybe its time for all those symbolic steps the US and international community failed to take until now, but its late for symbolism, half measures and statements.

Al Qaeda suicide bombers moving?

The following could be outright regime propaganda, and maybe al Fahdli never said it, I’m looking for the interview. (Here the report at the Yemen Observer the regime’s stooge paper that sometimes publishes real news.) If al Fahdli did say it, then there’s likely some real al Qaeda movement toward the capital, unless he is back in the pro-regime camp. If its true, its another despicable plot by Saleh. There’s only a remote chance the AQAP moved without approval by somebody. We must recall the long history of very good relations between Saleh and Zawaheri. But this story smells like a typical diversionary tale by Saleh to distract from the carnage. Frankly, AQAP is not that stupid, sending 50 suicide bombers to Sanaa would be the death knell for the group.

Al-Qaeda militants sent 300 insurgents to Sana’a so as to fight the regime, said Sheikh Tareq al-Fadhli in an interview with al-Omana newspaper published on Thursday.

Al-Fadhli said that the extremists fighting in Zinjubar dispatched over three hundred of their insurgents including 50 suicide bombers to Sana’a to teach the son of the president Ahmad Ali, and his nephews Amar and Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh a lesson.

He added that they have developed car bombs named Osama 1, Osama 2, and Osama 3 that carry over a ton and a half of explosives so as to launch a series of [martyrdom operations] in Sana’a in retaliation for bombing what he called the Al-Shabab in Abyan.

Electricity is out in large parts of the capital again, preventing news from getting out.

The Saudis should clarify if they are supporting (and re-arming) Saleh or if they kicked him out after he refused to sign.

What are the lessons learned since June when Saleh left until today when he returned to Sanaa, and how can those lessons lead to a new and more effective strategy? These must be the question of the day, as opposed to: What the hell just happened? Saleh’s return may trigger either violent confrontations or appeasement. His return may ultimately have a positive effect but its going to be tense.

The Youth Revolution:

1- Democracy is not about free speech; it is about designating representatives, not leaders, and holding them accountable.

2- Strength results from organization not numbers, or maybe, numbers are strengthened by organization

3- Statements in Arabic will neverr be translated into English and published by the western media; they have to be issued in English.The US MSM will reprint wire stories, never investigating or disputing basic assumptions.

4- Western nations’ first and overwhelming concern in Yemen is al Qaeda; whether or not you believe al Qaeda exists independently of Saleh, they do.

5- The Southern Movement is not just going to fade away

6- Unity within the revolution arises from accepting diversity and endorsing full equal rights for the weakest; authoritarian muscle tactics are what triggered the rev in the first place

7- Protest marches are a step but not the only step; the Southern Movement marched from May 2007 through January 2011 when protests began in the capital without a broader strategy

The US

1- Saleh will never willingly resign but will pretend to agree time and time again

2- Saleh will play the al Qaeda card and mobilize his jihaddist minions when challenged

3- Saleh will never act in the best interests of the nation, only in his own and the regime’s interest

4- Saleh is as batsheet crazy as Qaddafi and similarly believes in his own lies and majesty

5- Saleh is mercurial, and whatever his position today, it will change tomorrow, accompanied by an entirely contradictory propaganda package.

While the Yemeni youth can be excused their learning curve after 30 years of dictatorship, the US should have know all this from day one.

He is like a sickness, a disease that has plagued Yemen for 30 years and is killing it now. He is a walking disaster. How could the Saudis let him leave? There’s going to be a lot of blood shed before he goes again. We are going on five straight days of violence already. Saleh paid AQAP to take over Zinjibar, there is no doubt. When is there going to be a US policy in Yemen that is forward looking and matches the realities on the ground?

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni state television and radio say President Ali Abdullah Saleh has returned to the country from Saudi Arabia after an absence of more than three months following a rocket attack on his compound.

The media say Saleh arrived in Sanaa by private plane at dawn on Friday, as heavy fighting raged in the Yemeni capital. There were no other details.

Saleh left Yemen for Saudi Arabia in June, after he was seriously injured in an attack on his presidential compound.

Yemen’s turmoil began in February as the unrest spreading through the Arab world set off largely peaceful protests in the deeply impoverished and unstable country.

Maybe Saleh took Obama’s UN speech (defining the enemy of the Yemeni people as a corrupt system and the solution as early elections) as a green light: “In Yemen, men, women and children gather by the thousands in towns and city squares every day with the hope that their determination and spilled blood will prevail over a corrupt system. America supports those aspirations. We must work with Yemen’s neighbors and our partners around the world to seek a path that allows for a peaceful transition of power from President Saleh, and a movement to free and fair elections as soon as possible.” ( Politico)

Conversely, maybe the US’s giddy statements last week (Brennan, Nuland) anticipating the VP’s signing the GCC accord on Monday irked him.