August 1, 2017
Exclusive: President Trump –
like President Obama – is working at cross purposes in supposedly fighting Al
Qaeda in Yemen while helping Saudi Arabia kill Al Qaeda’s chief Yemeni enemies,
as Jonathan Marshall explains.
By Jonathan Marshall
In a world of bad actors, one
of the “baddest” of all is the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
(AQAP), which the CIA
once branded “the most dangerous regional node in the global jihad.” It masterminded
the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000; nearly blew up a U.S. passenger jet flying
into Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009; brought down a UPS cargo plane in 2010;
and sponsored the 2015 attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in
Paris, killing 11 and wounding another 11.
All of which raises an
embarrassing question: Why is the United States supporting AQAP’s main ally in
Yemen, Saudi Arabia?
The respected news publication
Middle East Eye reports
that Abdulmajid al-Zindani, a Yemeni cleric, “veteran al-Qaeda supporter,” and
“former spiritual adviser to Osama bin Laden,” has been operating freely in
Saudi Arabia, even posting YouTube videos lauding the Saudi war in his home
country.
Apparently no one in Riyadh
cares that he’s been on the U.S. Treasury’s Specially
Designated Global Terrorist List since 2004, identified as a recruiter for
terrorist training camps and a key purchaser of weapons for al-Qaeda and other
extremist groups. Indeed, Zindani “has been warmly received by senior clerics
and officials,” including one adviser to the Royal Court, according to Middle
East Eye.
The publication’s sources
further allege that “at least five Yemenis designated as terrorists by the U.S.
Treasury have advised and coordinated Saudi operations in Yemen with allied
forces on the ground.” One senior al-Qaeda supporter in Yemen, Nayif al-Qaysi,
has been repeatedly interviewed in Saudi Arabia by fawning television stations.
He served as governor of the Yemeni city of Bayda until late July.
Most bizarre of all, one
notorious al-Qaeda fundraiser, who has lived in Saudi Arabia for nearly three
years, turned up on a list of terrorists whom Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of
harboring. Saudi Arabia and four other Arab states broke
diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar in early June, in part over
allegations that Doha supports extremists.
The Devastation of Yemen
Since
March 2015, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other Arab allies
have been laying waste to Yemen with logistic support from the United States.
They are fighting to wrest control of the country from Houthi militants and
their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Riyadh aims to reinstate
Saleh’s rival, President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, whose legal mandate ended in
January 2015.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis
have died from the fighting, historic cities have been pulverized by criminal
Saudi bombing raids, and more
than 400,000 people have contracted deadly cholera. Almost two million
children and millions more adults suffer from malnutrition owing to war-related
disruptions of food supplies and a Saudi blockade of Yemen’s ports.
Suffering and chaos provide ideal
breeding grounds for AQAP, which took control of a provincial capital and
one of Yemen’s largest ports for many months. A special report last year by
Reuters concluded
that “the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, . . . backed by the United
States, has helped Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to become stronger than at
any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago.”
Even the UAE newspaper The
National conceded
last month: “In the absence of a political resolution that addresses local
grievances and builds and empowers a central state that can provide jobs
and services, Al Qaeda has filled vacuums and its fighters have found a role,
while a sectarian narrative that is promoted by the group has increasing
traction.”
This matters not only because
of AQAP’s potential threat to U.S. security, but because the only possible
legal rationale for continued U.S. military involvement in Yemen is the 2001
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, which approves
operations against al-Qaeda, not in support of its allies. Members of Congress
are growing
restive about such legal issues as U.S. tax dollars fund the ongoing
humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, with no end in sight.
Getting Stronger
AQAP has gained traction by
taking advantage of growing local
resentment toward U.S. and UAE counterterrorism operations that result in
the murder or torture
of suspects.
In a weird twist, typical of
the war’s endlessly shifting alliances, AQAP has also joined
pro-Saudi forces in bloody offensives to retake the southern city of Taiz
from Houthi rebels.
“We fight along all Muslims in
Yemen, together with different Islamic groups,” against the Houthis, said
Qasim al-Rimi, the senior military commander of AQAP, this spring.
Although the United States put
a $5 million
price on al-Rimi’s head, Associated Press reported that his forces
“regularly receive funds and weapons from the U.S.-backed Saudi led coalition.”
Ironically, just hours before
U.S. commandos killed another prominent AQAP-linked tribal leader in late
January (along with several children), that leader had arranged for the
Saudi-backed coalition of President Hadi to pay
his tribal fighters $60,000 to join in the fight against Houthi rebels.
No wonder the International
Crisis Group recently reported
that “The Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda is stronger than it has ever been,” and that
AQAP “is thriving in an environment of state collapse, growing sectarianism,
shifting alliances, security vacuums and a burgeoning war economy.” AQAP, it
added, has “emerged arguably as the biggest winners of the failed political
transition and civil war that followed.”
Targeting Islamist tribal
leaders with more bombs, drones, and military raids — as
the Trump administration seems inclined to do — will simply aggravate
civilian suffering and strengthen AQAP’s political base. There’s only one way
to dry up its support: the international community must demand a cease-fire,
send foreign armies packing, promote a political settlement among all Yemeni
stakeholders, and send food and medical aid to alleviate the population’s
extraordinary suffering.
Jonathan Marshall is a regular
contributor to Consortiumnews.com.
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