Armies of Liberation

(update: I have been requested to explain who Hittar is. Hittar the dueling Koranic verses judge who dialogs with the AQ to rehabilitate them out of their evil ways so the Yemnei govt can release them. When I was on al-Jazeera, I mentioned that Bin Laden’s body guard had said to the BBC that the dialog program was a sham and just a way to expedite their releases and all they have to promise is not to attack inside Yemen. So when Hittar was in DC in Dec, he invited me to the Yemeni embassy to discuss issues of shared concern with me, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make arrangements for my kids, so I declined. Just to make a point, rehabilitation and integration is an important issue. And I was hoping to hear Hittar’s explanation of the program, but unfortunately he did not answer when I requested that he email me any information he thought I was lacking. )

Maybe he’ll email me finally and we can discuss it.

(Update: Oddly enough, after I posted this I heard from the embassy that Judge Hittar welcomes my questions. So Im happy for that. Its an important issue and I’d like to hear his view.)

Also 200 family members arrested. And sounds of digging were reported earlier:

NY In the wake of the escape of 23 al-Qaeda prisoners from the prison of the Yemen Political Security Organization, security forces here launched a large-scale arrest campaign that included round 200 persons from relatives of the escapees. Security forces arrest campaign is part of investigation in the escape incident which the U.S. State Department described as “a disappointing development”, emphasizing that America would work with Yemeni officials and its international partners in the manhunt of those dangerous terrorists.
Head of the specialized punitive prosecution Saeed al-Aqil is undertaking interrogation with the detainees after he has listened to testimonies of chief of the Political Security Ghalib al-Qamash and deputy of the Political Security Organization Rajih Hunaish and Imam of the mosque Riyadh al-Ghaili whom the security arrested him for three days. He as also listened to testimony of Judge Hamoud al-Hattar, chairman of the Ideological Dialogue with those accused of extremism, who is also preacher of the same mosque. (Read on …)

SENATORS LEVIN AND SCHUMER HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE ON THE
ESCAPE OF AL QAIDA PRISONERS IN YEMEN >
FEBRUARY 7, 2006
SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI)
U.S. SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY)
[*]
LEVIN: Good morning, everybody.
QUESTION: Good afternoon.
LEVIN: We’re dismayed by the administration’s tepid response to the recent reports that at the end of last week 23 Al Qaida suspects escaped from a heavily guarded underground Yemeni prison through a 460-foot underground tunnel into a neighboring mosque.
Among the convicted terrorists who escaped was a man named Mr. Al Badwi, described as the mastermind who plotted, prepared and helped carry out the bombing of the USS Cole in October of 2000.
To describe these events as a, quote, “disappointing development,” which is what both the White House spokesman said and what the State Department spokesman said, is totally inadequate.
It’s interesting they used the word “disappointing” both at the State Department and at the White House, as though they were reading from some kind of a point paper on this issue.
And it’s not disappointing. It’s downright appalling that this escape happened: 23 known Al Qaida convicted people escaping from a Yemeni prison, including the very person who masterminded the attack on the United States with the USS Cole.
There’s an awful lot of questions here which the administration needs to answer and to get answers for, including the circumstances of the escape. How did this kind of a massive digging operation go undetected? Who were the outside accomplices digging from inside of the mosque? Whether there was complicity inside the Yemeni government agents with the escape, Whether or not Yemeni intelligence service has been infiltrated by Al Qaida sympathizers.
But most importantly, it seems to me that not only should there be a much stronger response, but there also has got to be a more serious pressing of an offer of assistance to the Yemenis. It’s even unclear from the statement of the State Department representative, Sean McCormack, as to whether or not we have pressed the Yemenis to accept assistance from our investigative personnel. (Read on …)

Personally my first tip off was that the Yemeni regime recieved a (2003 or maybe 2004) UN directive requesting they close 144 AQ and Taliban affliated bank accounts, and in response closed one. One. The next year they didnt issue the alert to the banks at all.

Also it seemed pretty in your face when they lied to the US that one top AQ was killed in a firefight, but later they admitted they let him go without pursuit, per the State Dept 2004 Patterns of Terrorism report.

Then there was Hassani saying that Saleh knew in advance of the Cole bombings. A few more escapes. The murderer of Jaralleh Omar getting preferential treatment in jail. The Leader of the Aden Abyan Army saying that they just keep us to fight their enemies, and then the report of “irregular bands of Salifists” fighting alongside the army in Saddah.

The Iraqis who said the nephew of Saddam was operating out of Yemen and financing and directing the insurgency in Northern Iraq. I dont think he’s been picked up yet. And all the travel passes and lots o’ Iraqi Baathists in the Yemeni military. Reports of training camps run by the Yemeni military and security forces, the subverted ones, to train insurgents for Iraq. The Saudis complaining that weapons used by AQ in the attack on the US~ compound were registered to the Yemeni Military. The news report of known safehouses in Sanna run by top military members for insugents on their way to Iraq-they even listed the names in that article. I could just go on and on. I could. But really we need to remember the Yemeni people are the victim of this regime more than anyone else.

Sorry but let review, Yemen total population about 20 million; four million children under the age of five in Yemen: one half stunted by malnutrition by their fifth birthday. Half never enter first grade. 11% die, half of those from diarreah caused by dirty water and cured with a .10 salt packet. Two doctors per every 11,000 Yemenis. 90% nationally dont have clean drinking water but the qat plantations owned by the influential have water. Female mortalitiy high and 85% of women give birth without pre or post natal healthcare and half of womens deaths are related to pregnancy. Unemployement high and the elite not only having political power and being in top military positions, but it turns out are also the largest land owners and business owners. And many top government employees also hold stakes in some of Yemen’s biggest businesses. And the nexus of corruption and terrorism and military power is an important intersection. They smuggle arms in the military planes presumably. Otherwise how could Yemeni tanks show up in the Sudan?

So Im not in the least surprised that the previously escaped Cole mastermind is now in the wind again, for the second time. Actually it was predictable. But the bigger story is the kids.

SANAA (Reuters) – Twenty-three suspected al Qaeda members broke out of a prison in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday, a state-run Web site said.

The September 26 site (www.26sep.net) quoted unnamed sources as saying the group escaped from a central prison run by the state security forces “in the past few hours”.

The Web site, affiliated with Yemen’s armed forces, did not give further details and Yemeni officials were not immediately available to comment.

Unsurprising. Suspected or convicted?

JP The men were sentenced last year on various charges of terrorism, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. They were being held at a detention center for military intelligence in San`a.

No further details were available.

The escape came a day before the trial of top al-Qaida suspect Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal and 14 others charged with involvement in terror operations in Yemen, particularly the 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole.

They escaped from the military intelligence, the PSO also unsurprising.

In a tunnel and including a previously excaped Cole bomber per the comments. Update Rabeie and Badawi

Update 14 on the trial including an IED maker- “Another defendant admitted to the court that he was tasked with manufacturing electronic equipment to blow up explosives by remote control and timed explosive devices.” Wonder how long they’ll be in?

They really did. I remember. There was a big announcement. The Yemeni government said they were going to crack down on weapons trafficking and stop engaging in it themselves. And yet:

“The weapons trade continues, and that is something where we would like to see some speedy and effective action,” says Mr. Khoury at the US Embassy. “We’re not that concerned about the average Yemeni’s attachment to their personal weapons. We are more concerned with the large-scale availability of such weapons.”

Progress has been slow, however, and Yemen’s government itself has recently broken the international arms embargo against Somalia by smuggling a boatload of weapons into the war-torn African country, says Khoury.

Yemen’s patchy approach to weapons trading makes many suspicious of the government’s motives.

This is a good article in the CSM. I like this quote, “Overall, government authority over the provinces and hinterlands has increased over the past 10 to 15 years,” says Sheila Carapico, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the University of Richmond, adding that Yemen also has used a range of tactics to gradually erode the centuries-old independence of the tribes. “One of the techniques the government uses to extend its reach is to coopt selected prominent sons of sheikhly families, who are almost always also military officers, into the regime.”

The JMP reform platform calls the regime a black hole. Its a very apt description: it just sucks in and corrupts anything that it comes close to.

Update: The Yemen Observer plagerizes this article. But thats not unusual. They have a tendency to copy and paste articles about Yemen without attribution. At least with this one they mention the CSM. But its a little funny they dont even try to reword the article, and it looks like it was written by the YO but it was written by the CSM. Bloggers use blockquotes for extended quotes and always hyper-link out of courtesy to the author.

Starting the New Year off with a bang:

(YT) Opposition MPs released a statement accusing government of playing with public spending and recording large sums of money, included in 2006 budget items, amounting to 320 billion Yemeni Riyals that went to the unknown. The statement also blamed government for the spread of corruption, lack of human development and failure to improve citizens’ living standards….

The committee’s remarks exposed that spending on some services like education and health is not encouraging, emphasizing that education expenditures decreased from 21.2 percent in the 2005 budget to 15.5 percent in the 2006 budget.

How do you decrease educational spending in a country with an illiteracy rate of over 50% and over a million kids not in school, while increasing the military budget? Easily if the parliament is packed with GCP party members. I read a book that called the GPC “the party of government employees.” And that’s a fair assessment, because if you want a government job in Yemen, its best to belong to the GPC. And if you want to keep that job, its best not to make waves.

Some quotes from the Yemeni papers with links

Buying good media coverage, not an unusual occurance:

As for chairman of the board of directors of the Watani Bank Dr Ahmed Al-Hamdani, and according to media sources, has allocated around YR one million for journalists who would stand by him against dealing with the attack on him, saying it was targeted against him from among the other banks operating in the country.

Why the Houthis?

Politicians differed in their explanations of the reasons that led the authorities to uproot the activities of Al-Houthi followers. Some say that the reasons are political; others describe them as ethnical while the third group relates the authorities’ attempt to exterminate Al-Houthi as a response to U.S. and Israeli demands. Majority of politicians, however, believe that Saudis, through their strong influence in Yemen, have a hand in plans for eliminating the Shiite movement of Al-Houthi, which according to their belief, limits the expansion of the Wahabi movement in Yemeni territory.

Why the kidnapping?

The kidnappers told the mediators that ‘they resorted to kidnapping because they failed to convince the security authorities to release their relatives and refer them to judiciary”….Security authorities claim the three detainees have been accused of fighting the US-led coalition in the Iraqi territories. They also accuse them of having connection with one of the organizations facilitating the transportation of Yemeni fighters to Iraq.

Agriculture:, a main stay of the economy.

They said they aimed at achieving a high rate of productivity this season but insecticides spread in their farms destroyed the crops. A vast area was destroyed because of these bad insecticides making the 2005 product less than the planed rate by far….Consequent to their deteriorating conditions, many farmers were compelled to abandon their farms.

Women agricultrual workers:

The study, published by the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) program, added that the majority of working women are concentrated in the agricultural sector as unpaid family workers. It is estimated that approximately 61.9% of women workers in Yemen are unpaid.

Business:

The report pointed out that Yemen had captured the highest figure in the cost of building a legal entity for businesses. While in Kuwait it is 24% of the average income of the individual, it reaches at 269.2% of the average of income of the individual in Yemen.

Criminal enterprises: of the powerful negatively impact society.

Considering the strategic location of Yemen, drugs are usually shipped from Southeast Asia through the Gulf of Aden and other coasts around the country. From there, it is shipped to numerous gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and other countries in the region. Not surprisingly, many of these illegal drugs are left behind and used in Yemen. New markets for these drugs have been created in places like Aden, Hodieda, and other cities across the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf shores.

Traffic police:

Traffic police only get paid the equivalent of $5 for a day’s work, which is the reason for this widespread problem….A traffic police officer who preferred to remain anonymous said, “People don’t understand that we are living through this dark age as well. With salaries like the equivalent of $150 monthly, we can’t even guarantee ourselves a future.” It is hard to imagine who is right when you hear the story from both sides. Citizens complain of traffic police oppression, while traffic police complain of government oppression.

Yet Another Journalist Targeted:

“They called me an al-Houthi associate and accused me of acting against the regime and the state, which is the same accusation used by security officials in the area against any citizen rejecting their brutal and illegal actions,” he said. He added, “other calls were made by those officials to my relatives asking about my home in Sanaa and where I go.”

He said he fears retaliation by the police, who could attack his family living in the Al-Shahil district because of what he has written in the report.

The cultural heritage:

I think the governmental sector failed in protecting antiquities. It is very difficult to convince the authorities with the importance of antiquities and to make them realize what antiquities are….Confronted with a question about the security of archeological sites many of which are believed to have been left to looters and robbers, Prof. Yosuf replied that this is the duty of the locals themselves and the local government.

GCC:

Other political analysts described the summit results as below expectations, some going so far as to say that even the pro-Yemen GCC attitudes were below what the people of the Gulf states aspire to. Other analysts believe that any steps taken by the GCC countries are useful to Yemen and should be welcomed. Nasserite leader Mohammed Al-Sabri believed Yemen required further reforms in all sectors to avoid lagging behind the Gulf states.

On the other hand, theres a few saved posts and links lists I can throw together:

Transparency Yemen offices corrupted per this oped:

People start working and then receive their payment, not to exceed 50,000 Yemeni Riyals. The receiver is to sign the receipt, leaving the rest for the organization’s official who enters the date, spending purpose and beneficiary’s name. However, the corrupt official then writes the sum as $900 (180,000YR). Invoices and purchase receipts often are handled this way. Finally, the donor receives a file with all documentation proving funds were spent on the project. Of course, also included are published news items about the project.

A good report from the YO on corruption in the embassies:

In Yemeni Embassy of the United Kingdom it has been found that Yemeni nationals and foreigners are asked to pay one hundred pounds sterling for approval of a single document, whether personal or commercial. “You have to deposit the total amount for the number of documents you need approved in a private company account,” a Yemeni-British businessman told the Yemen Observer. “I discovered from the bank receipt that the account is under the name of the financial officer of the embassy.”

The article details also the practices in the Yemeni embassies in Saudi Arabia and Beruit.

An analysis of the very high rates of female mortality, also from the YO:

A recent study found that for every 100,000 baby delivered, an estimated 366 women die due to birth-related complications…The corresponding number of these maternal deaths in neighboring countries is just 10.

While 51% of women in the developing countries deliver babies with the aid of one skilled attendant, then in Yemen, a very broad section of women have no access to any obstetric medicine at all.

Lack of access to obstetric services remains a pivotal reason behind high maternal mortality rates.”

whew, now this guy really didn’t like Finkel’s articles: The problem, for those who think reality is worth knowing, is with the distorted vision of a hotel-based journalist on a limited assignment published via dismissive rhetoric and translated quotes scattered about in tepid newspaperspeak like shrapnel after a cluster bomb explodes. And some more: Yemen is more than an embryonic democracy. Unlike Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, where most of the perpetrators of the September 11 bombing came from, Yemen is already a democracy with several successful elections as supporting evidence. I guess that depends on your definition of success and democracy. Its a long analysis, with some valid points, that I have to read again. But I heard positive reaction from Yemenis about Finkles articles. I think Finkle did a good job, considering the country is so unknown, playing out the relation between Saleh and the tribes was a major accomplishment. Describing the administration as a kleptocracy is spot on.

Now this is odd. An article in the Arab News notes a Swiss court’s decision to acquit Yassin Abdullah Al-Qadia (also Kadi Qadi Quadi), a Saudi national who donated to Zindani’s al-Iman university. The article says, “The charges alleged that Al-Qadi gave money in 1998 ostensibly to construct student housing at Al-Iman University in Yemen while knowing that the funds may have ended up supporting Al-Qaeda’s plan to attack New York City.” The suit was brought by 9/11 families, not the USG.

The odd thing is that The 9/11 Report and other analysis ties all the financing directly to bin Laden. The article states, “And on Dec. 12 the Swiss concurred, stating that no evidence ever linked Al-Qadi to any knowledge of the possibility that his money could have ended up in the hands of a known terrorist organization.” So did the Swiss court find that this guy just didnt know? Or that the money that went to al-Iman did not end up in the hands of a terrorist organization?

The US Treasury Dept classified Zindani as a “major terrorist” in 2004 as a contact and I think also a financier. But this is the first time I ever saw anything published that linked Zindani to 9/11, other then the fact that he was bin Laden’s mentor and spiritual advisor.

Analysis of the GPC conference from the Daily Star:

Yemen’s ruling party on Friday re-elected the country’s long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh as its head, in a move widely interpreted to mean that he was likely to seek a new term. President Saleh has served his country honorably, and long – but perhaps long enough, because he embodies two of the chronic, structural problems in Arab political governance systems during the past 40 years.

One problem is that too many Arab heads of state have been former armed forces commanders who have tended to run their countries in the same top-down way they used to run their militaries….The second problem that plagues much of this region is that of presidents-for-life. Saleh has run the former North Yemen and then the united Yemen for a total of 27 years – a full generation. Rulers who stay in power for so long tend to rule badly after the first 25 years, because they allow systems to develop around them that slowly atrophy and succumb to mismanagement, insularity, corruption and general mediocrity.

And the presidential term is seven years, that’s a long time.

This is also strange for several reasons: Al-Sahwa.net – (12/20)

Yemeni official sources revealed that
the United States of America asked Yemen to open US
prisons in Yemen.

Chairman of the Political Circle of the Nasserite
Unionist party Mohammad al-Sabri said that US
requested Yemen to open special American prisons
during the latest visit of president Ali Abdullah
Saleh to the United States last November.

Al-Sabri confirmed the US request in a paper offered
in a debate session held by the Yemeni Center for
Strategic Studies on Tuesday on the reforms initiative
of the Joint Meeting Parties.

Saleh told al-Sabri this?
And an official denial via 26 Sept.

more links
(Read on …)

Yemen infested with corruption, says UNDP
By Observer Staff
Aug 23, 2005 – Vol. VIII Issue 33
SANA’A – A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has said that Yemen is in the throes of major administrative lapses and the country is “infested with corruption” which has engulfed all basic employment, including its monitoring and control bodies, as well as the judicial service, Gulf News reports.

The report said trust in the Yemeni judiciary system had fallen to a low ebb due to the state of the judiciary and issues related to corruption. The situation was incompatible with the government’s future approach of ensuring equality before the law.

The 2005 report, which is based on good governance, launched by the Arab Regional Office of the UNDP, pointed out that the Yemeni judiciary was facing a number of problems and obstacles. Notable among them, the report said, was the unsuitability of existing laws and legislations. It said there is a lack of coordination between the government and law implementation, adding that the judiciary’s authority and entity were also ineffective. The report described the Yemeni judiciary as fragile and attributed the reason behind this fragility to various factors including lack of qualification and training for some of the judges, bad monitoring system on the courts and the general prosecution and lack of enough protection for judges.

It also said the government lacks effective system of exposing and checking corruption, adding that Yemen scored 19 on the Personal Accountability Index, whereas an average score by countries from the Middle East and North Africa stood at 32, while the average score of low-income countries stood at 38.

On the Quality Administration Index (IQA), Yemen scored 33.5 points compared to 46 points for countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 30 points for low-income countries. Under the Governance Quality Index (IGQ), Yemen scored 22.5 points against 37 points for countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 28 points for low-income countries.
The report said government units lack review and internal control methods and this “encourages corruption, lack of accountability and conflict of interest.”

It said Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries with its per capita income in 2003 pegged at $564.89, adding that the country’s education and health system is very poor, while population growth continues to rise at a rate of 3.03 per cent between 2001 and 2003, up from 2.84 per cent in 2000.

http://www.yobserver.com/cgi-bin/yobserver/exec/view.cgi/1/7887