Yemen’s president open to dialogue with al-Qaida

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) - Yemen’s president said he is ready to talk to al-Qaida members who renounce violence, suggesting he could show them the same kind of leniency he has granted militants in the past despite U.S. pressure to crack down on the terror group.

Yemen is moving cautiously in the fight against al-Qaida, worried over a potential backlash in a country where anger at the U.S. and extremism are widespread. Thousands of Yemenis are battle-hardened veterans of past “holy wars” in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Iraq, and though most are not engaged in violence now they preserve a die-hard al-Qaida ideology.

“Any movement against al-Qaida will lead to the fall of the Yemeni regime,” warned Ali Mohammed Omar, a Yemeni who fought in Afghanistan from 1990-1992 and says he met Osama bin Laden twice during that time.

If the U.S. or its allies become directly involved, “the whole (Yemeni) people will become al-Qaida. Instead of 30 or 40 people, it would become millions,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

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Yemen’s president open to dialogue with al-Qaida

The nation of Yemen. What good is Yemen to the United States I have to wonder?

Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world, with 40% unemployment as of 2007, dwindling natural resources, and rapid population growth. Yemen has a weak economy compared to other Arab states, mainly due to Yemen having relatively little oil.

Yemen’s economy depends heavily on the oil it does produce, and its government receives the vast majority of its revenue from oil taxes. But Yemen’s oil reserves are expected to be depleted by 2017, with fears of a resulting economic collapse. Yemen does have large proven reserves of natural gas. Yemen’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant began production in October 2009.

Rampant corruption is a prime obstacle to development in the country, limiting local reinvestments and driving away regional and international capital. The government has recently taken many measures to stamp out corruption, but efforts have been met with only partial success. Foreign investments remain largely concentrated around the nation’s hydrocarbon industry. SOURCE

So, again I have to ask, just what good is Yemen to us and why are we not annihilating the place?

Yemeni forces recently launched their heaviest strikes and raids against al-Qaida in years, and Washington has praised San’a for showing a new determination against al-Qaida’s offshoot in the country.

Once upon a time we poured money and other resources into Afghanistan, then we had to go to war in Afghanistan. Once upon a time Saddam Hussein was an ally of the United States, but eventually, we went to war in Iraq. Once upon a time Iran was a good friend to America, but that too changed, as soon as the Islamic hordes took over the government.

Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to save the money and resources, money and resources we don’t have to spare I might add, and just go ahead and nuke the bastards?

Hundreds of al-Qaida fighters, foreigners and Yemenis, are believed to be sheltered in mountainous areas. Al-Qaida Yemenis get help from relatives, sometimes out of tribal loyalty more than ideology - and when the government kills or arrests militants or their relatives, it risks angering the heavily armed tribes.

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Some Dems Join GOP Opposition to Gitmo Transfers to Yemen

Some Democrats are joining Republican lawmakers in opposing the transfer of suspected terrorists from the Guantanamo Bay prison to Yemen, citing Al Qaeda’s increased activity in the poor Arab nation.

President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, told Fox News that the transfers will continue if the administration deems them warranted.

“The Guantanamo facility must be closed,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It has served as a propaganda tool for Al Qaeda. We’re determined to close it. We’re not going to, though, do anything that is going to put American security at risk.”

But some Democrats, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein of California, have urged a halt — echoing Republicans who oppose plans to close Guantanamo.

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Some Dems Join GOP Opposition to Gitmo Transfers to Yemen

I have long maintained, not ALL Democrats are anti-American moonbats. Granted, many are, especially those that are classified as hard-core libbers, but some Democrats really do have good sense, they just need a bit of steering and education to open their eyes to the dangers presented by the most dangerous man to ever inhabit the Oval Office, Barack Hussein Obama.

Six Yemenis returned last month were released after the government there determined they were not a threat, officials in Yemen told The Associated Press.

And as soon as they were released by the Yemeni government, they immediately took up the mantle of terrorist and confirmed hater of ALL things American. Bet on it!

Which brings me to this:

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) - The U.S. and Britain locked up their embassies in Yemen on Sunday after fresh threats from al-Qaida, and the White House expressed alarm at the terror group’s expanded reach in the poor Arab nation where an offshoot apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner.

President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, cited “indications al-Qaida is planning to carry out an attack against a target” in the capital, possibly the embassy, and estimated the group had several hundred members in Yemen. Security reasons led Britain to act, too; it was not known when the embassies would reopen. SOURCE

So, we have some sort of threat(s) that are taken seriously enough to warrant the closing of the U.S. and British embassies. That would seem to be a very serious threat, at least to my way of thinking.

I don’t know who secures the British embassy but the U.S. Marine Corps is still the protector of U.S. interests overseas, embassies and such. So, once again I am wondering, what in the HELL is Obama and Company thinking with this? Is Obama telling the world that we can’t protect our embassies and other American interests overseas?

That sounds like a surrender to me. But what do I know? I’m just a right-wing Conservative with a blog. It’s not like I have not been saying, for quite a long time now, the USA must move against our enemies! Those enemies being the various sects of Islam.

And again, in my mind, I am seeing SURRENDER written all over the next few paragraphs.

The U.S. does not plan to open a new front in Yemen in the global fight against terrorism despite closing its embassy there in the face of Al Qaeda threats, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday.

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