December 10, 2008
Terrorist Safe Havens in Yemen
(AFP) — The US chairman of the joint chiefs Admiral Michael Mullen said Wednesday he was "extremely worried" about the potential for safe haven for terrorists in Somalia and Yemen.The issue is not just the ungoverned territories, its that they exist in an nation with a minimal and erratic counter-terror posture. The following is a very well written and researched article on the Guantanamo detainees published by West Point, but it's recommendations are dangerous."A significant objective in Afghanistan and Pakistan is to not have a safe haven, and I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia as I am in Yemen," Mullen said. "I am extremely concerned about that."
CTC :For the remainder of the Yemeni detainees, which would likely be a sizeable portion, the United States may find that its best option is to silently partner with the Yemeni government and support a modified hostage system, which has a long tradition in Yemen as a tool of governing.... The hostage system would also further fracture al-Qa`ida in Yemen by exacerbating tensions and loyalties within the group... This system would require the United States to temper many of its criticisms of Yemen's opaque practice of individual deals with terrorists, such as Jamal al-Badawi and Jabir al-Banna. Years of Guantanamo, however, have removed the good courses of action from the table and left the United States with only a limited set of options.
This is a stupendously bad idea. It gives the jihaddists a specific and localized grievance against the US. Reinforcing tribal norms is not what the US is about, individual responsibility is.
The practice of taking hostages is partly what prompted Yemen's 1962 republican revolution and is a major cause of unrest today- nearly all the recent kidnappings of foreigners had as their cause, relatives held hostage. The Yemeni government's practice of taking hostages (or arbitrary arrests we can call it) prompted weekly protests in the capital. Its a clear human rights violation, no matter how often the regime does it.
The fact that Yemeni President Saleh boxed himself into a corner by negotiating with terrorists doesn't mean that US foreign policy has to be bounded by sympathy for his difficult position or should encourage his brutal practices.
The US has every right and an obligation to criticize and censure a regime that knowingly and duplicitously released the convicted terrorists that murdered 17 US sailors in a sneak attack. The minute we stop standing up for our military we are doomed, because they are the ones who stand up for us. A silent betrayal is still a betrayal. Its really very simple.
