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September 18, 2008
Posted: 856 GMT
LONDON, ENGLAND – The U.S. Embassy attack in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, has more to do with internal Yemeni politics than al Qaeda. It is not even a reliable indicator of al Qaeda's strength or weakness. In more than seven years, very little has changed in the global war on terror. Just like Afghanistan and Pakistan, Yemen is a place where tribal warfare and chaos affords al Qaeda a safe hub for operations. Through every crevice of the ancient capital city Sanaa, there is a sense of unease, a feeling that Yemen could at any moment descend into chaos. With biting poverty and tribal wars, Yemen has muddled along in a state of barely controlled chaos. Outside the urban centres the government has given ground to separatists and insurgents both to the north and the south. "Which means that loyalty to a national policy dedicated to reinforcing a U.S. war on terror simply isn't there," says Rosemary Hollis, a Middle East analyst with Chatham House in London. The Yemeni government insists it is a loyal and effective ally against al Qaeda. Last month alone it claims to have arrested more than two dozen terrorist operatives. But the more it cracks down on al Qaeda, the more vulnerable the country seems to be. Violent uprisings, separatist movements, regular insurgent attacks even in the capital, seem to feed off the victories of security forces. And all of this underlines a suspicion with many Yemenis that their government is a pawn of the U.S. government and picked the wrong side in the global war on terror. "I blame America for creating al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden for cultivating extremist thought," one Yemeni administrator told me at a Sanaa cafe a few months ago. He was quick to add that many Yemenis could never completely turn their back on Osama Bin Laden. He is half Yemeni and still respected even if he's not seen as the hero he once was following the September 11th attacks. Watch my story here. In fact, many Yemenis have developed a much more nuanced approach to how global terror is fought and how it affects them. Many say they don't support the U.S. government or Bin Laden. And in that vacuum slip many terrorists determined to make Yemen their home and base of operations. For now, Yemen remains not just a hotbed of extremist thought and qualified sympathy with al Qaeda, but a place where words and thoughts can be matched with deeds. That was proven on Tuesday, right on the U.S. Embassy's doorstep. Posted by: International Security Correspondent, Paula Newton |
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