Anti-Terror in Yemen

Yesterday it was announced that the USA and Great Britain will scale up the war on militant Islamists in Yemen and Somalia. One of the efforts is that America and Britain together will finance a new anti-terror force in Yemen, where al-Qaeda has gained strength during the last few years. Yemen has recently come under the spotlight after a Yemeni based group called al-Qaeda of the Arab Peninsula claimed responsibility for the bungled terrorist plot against a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day. Shortly after the incident, CNN announced that America, along with the Yemeni government, has been looking at potential targets for retaliation. Sen. Joe Lieberman has stated that an American official told him Yemen will be “tomorrow’s war” unless America acts preemptively.

Yemen, with it’s 25 million people, is the poorest country in the Arab world. It has been torn between armed rebellion in the north and separatism in the south, in addition to an unemployment rate of 40 percent and depleted water and oil reserves. At the same time, American support for Yemeni anti-terror activities has increased dramatically from around $4.5 million in 2006 to around $65 million this year. America has also made a secret deal with the regime of the country, which means that America can launch cruise missiles, aircraft and drones against targets in Yemen. The U.S.-backed attacks against supposed al-Qaeda targets are very controversial amongst Yemenites, especially after an air raid in December that local leaders claim killed 45 women and children.

America’s former ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, warns President Barack Obama against opening a new front in Yemen. To the Toronto Daily Star she said that if America is planning to deal with Islamists there militarily, “we risk exacerbating the problem.” “If we go in and make this our war … it is suddenly going to become a war against us and we will lose it,” Bodine says. This is a warning Obama should listen to before he steps up America’s military support and role in the already war-ravaged country.