February 20, 2009
Yemen Admits Lying, Retracts Story of Seven Saudi Al Qaeda Captured
President Ali Abdullah Saleh is a Master at spinning Western media and perceptions. Yemeni government employees work as correspondents for major news agencies including the BBC, FOX and AFP. As we discuss below, the Yemeni government bribes, blackmails and threatens Western experts, and if that doesn't work, yanks their visa. The regime calls everybody a terrorist, so a 16 year old Shiite rebel in a dungeon is reported as an Al Qaeda arrest in the West. And of course, Yemen doesn't make such big announcements when they free terrorists, like the 95 released recently to form a pro-government paramilitary.
Today's story from the land of magic mirrors is about seven Saudi al Qaeda who trained in Saudi Arabia, crossed into Yemen and were recently captured; however they don't actually exist.
The president's ruling party announced the capture on February 16, and the story was picked up around the world. Yesterday, al Watan reported the Saudi Interior Ministry said the Yemeni officials "confirmed to their counterparts in the Kingdom this was not the case." The retraction is also being run by Yemen's official news agency, so they must have gotten some spanking. But its hard to undo the lies once they are spread, which is what Saleh counts on.
Update: The Donors Consultive Conference, set for Sunday, was canceled today. The Saudis are a bit peeved methinks. They pledged a third of the 6 billion raised for Yemen at the 2006 UK donors conference.
