Yemen is not beyond hope according to “two influential French senators.” It can be saved from “becoming the next base for Al Qaeda” despite the fact that it is currently “faltering,” leading to fear brewing in Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar.
All might not be in agreement with this. It seems that Saudi Arabian officials fear Yemen could be a “more hospitable environment for terrorists than even Afghanistan,” leading to Al Qaeda’s main home. This must be pretty scary for Yemen and its people.
America Understands Threat to Yemen
America is no stranger to Al-Qaeda or its threats and is now revealing “previously secret diplomatic cables,” from 2009-10 (from WikiLeaks) showing a country about to fail even without all the uprisings; President Ali Abdullah Saleh who “exploited the threat of al-Qaeda to extract foreign counter-terrorism help that he sometimes diverted for use against internal foes; and an al-Qaeda franchise remarkably suited to thriving in Yemen’s tribal culture and rugged terrain.” In addition, the cables are showing it was Yemen that became the “launch pad for attacks” such as the 2009 attempted Detroit-bound airliner bombing.
Saleh Needs to Watch Out
Saleh has also been getting a bad rep himself recently, as concern grows over what is happening in Yemen, “disrupting counter-terrorism operations involving U.S. Special Operations forces, aerial surveillance from armed Predator aircraft and clandestine CIA operations.” Ultimately, America is said to have “strongly condemned any illegal disclosure of classified information,” which would anyway deter diplomatic efforts, threaten individual and national security and “undermine [their] efforts to work with countries to solve shared problems.”