"Saleh sets conditions for transition; Says he won’t leave while chief rivals remain in place" September 30, 2011|By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, declared yesterday that he would not step down as long as his key rivals - a general who defected and a billionaire tribal leader and his family - remain in influential positions, dealing a setback to hopes for a peaceful transition of power.
Saleh also said the United States was playing a role in assisting Yemeni forces fighting off Al Qaeda-linked militants in southern Yemen.
Saleh made his comments in a nearly 20-minute interview with the Washington Post and Time magazine yesterday....
Saleh added that he believed that Mohsen and the Ahmars, along with Yemen’s political opposition, may have played a role in the attempt to assassinate him. The government, he said, was waiting for the results of a US investigation, which Saleh said was expected to be finished by the end of this month.
Another inside job cover-up, 'eh?
See: Saleh Seriously Wounded
Gee, who would have wanted to sweep him aside?
If Mohsen and the Ahmars are implicated in the attack, Saleh said they would face prosecution.
When asked why government security forces were violently suppressing protesters with heavy machine guns, mortars, and snipers, he blamed Mohsen and the Ahmars.
“They are the ones who attack the military bases, the civilians, and the protesters - the protesters that are moving around the city with the protection of Ali Mohsen and the Ahmars, using armed people. And they assassinate protesters from behind so they can blame the state,’’ Saleh said.
He is a madman.
Spokesmen for Mohsen and the Ahmars could not be reached for comment....
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"President indicates willingness to quit
Heard it before.
SANA - President Ali Abdullah Saleh made vague comments yesterday that he is willing to leave power in his first major speech since returning Yemen, but he gave no concrete plan for the country’s future. Yemen’s opposition cast doubt that Saleh was serious. It was not the first time Saleh has expressed a willingness to step down amid eight months of protests demanding his ouster."
"Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s embattled president, charged that foreign diplomats have been misled by the country’s opposition and are conveying false information about the situation in the country.
To be expected.
Saleh’s criticism came before a scheduled meeting this week at the UN Security Council to discuss a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire and transfer of power. Saleh’s security forces opened fire on protesters yesterday, killing at least seven.
Over the past two days, government snipers killed 10 troops of General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected and joined protests months ago, Ahmar said in a statement. He said they were killed near his compound and while protecting protesters in the capital, Sana.
Addressing military officials, Saleh said the foreign ambassadors “move from one opposition to the other, collect information, and consider the information they get from the opposition as if they are the victim whom they should support.’’
Just be thankful your name is not Khadafy or Assad.
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"Yemen leader urged to speed reforms" November 15, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s embattled president must speed up reforms and begin a transfer of power according to a plan backed by the international community, a UN envoy said yesterday....
Jamal Benomar held meetings with opposition figures yesterday, including Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who leads a military unit of defectors siding with the opposition and protecting protesters....
In a rare interview with foreign media, Saleh told the TV channel France 24 that he would sign the Gulf-backed package, but he would not say when that would happen or what was preventing him from doing so, vaguely noting that there was no time mechanism in the accord. The interview was broadcast late yesterday.
“Definitely, definitely,’’ Saleh replied when asked if he intended to leave power. “I believe that anyone who grips on to power is crazy.’’ He said he would step down 90 days after the agreement goes into effect, but he did not say when that would be.
Mediators and opposition figures have become exasperated with what they see as Saleh’s stalling tactics.
He said the media was lying when reporting he refused to sign the agreement. He accused armed militias of infiltrating peaceful demonstrations in Yemeni cities.
Pro-Saleh forces regularly engage in deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and military defectors who support the protesters in Yemen’s largest cities, and Al Qaeda-linked militants have taken control of entire towns in the country’s restive south.
Security has collapsed across the Arab world’s poorest nation during the nine-month uprising.
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And finally?
"Yemeni leader steps down; Agrees to end 33-year reign; power shifts to vice president" November 24, 2011|By Kareem Fahim and Laura Kasinof, New York Times
SANA, Yemen - After months of street protests calling for his resignation, President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an agreement yesterday that Yemeni officials said immediately transferred power to his vice president.
The agreement effectively ends Saleh’s 33 years of authoritarian rule, making him the fourth leader forced from power by the Arab Spring revolts that have roiled the Middle East and North Africa. But it is unlikely to restore calm anytime soon to a country that has become increasingly important to the United States as Islamist militants have gained a stronger hold there....
And because it is right next to vital shipping lanes in the region.
The unity government that is expected to take over in the coming days or weeks will face not only insurgencies that have grown more entrenched during months of turmoil but also festering tribal divisions and the likelihood of continued protests from young demonstrators unsatisfied with yesterday’s deal.
The deal, signed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, allows Saleh to retain his title and certain privileges until elections are held in three months and grants him immunity from prosecution. It was unclear when, and if, the president intended to return to Yemen.
Already has.
Saleh’s signing of the deal, after months of stalling, appeared to take many Yemenis and diplomats in Yemen by surprise.
Saleh had resisted signing similar agreements to step down in the past several months, sometimes appearing close and then backing off.
Although the signing was the first time he actually agreed to give up formal authority, it is unclear how big a political presence that Saleh hopes to maintain or how Yemen might overcome its many divisions. His family members retain powerful posts in the military and intelligence service, and Saleh, a political survivor, has figured out ways to hang on to control when he has been threatened in the past.
Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani, a Yemeni political analyst and the head of a nonpartisan group that campaigns for democracy, said few people thought the agreement signaled the end of Saleh’s political ambitions....
Saleh appears to have made his move in large part because world powers - increasingly frustrated with his intransigence - were threatening sanctions, probably including some targeting him and his family.
“He was afraid he would lose his fortune,’’ said a high-ranking Yemeni official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Saleh and his family are believed to have hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts and real estate in both the United States and Europe.
It is also possible that Saleh might have also feared the imposition of a travel ban.
At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters yesterday that Saleh had informed him in a phone conversation that he planned to travel to New York for medical treatment after leaving Riyadh. The Yemeni leader was seriously wounded June 3 in a bomb attack on his presidential palace and spent months convalescing in Saudi Arabia before he returned home in September....
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"Yemen forms government to ease Saleh exit" December 08, 2011|Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s vice president announced formation of a national unity government yesterday in a power transfer deal to ease embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh out and end months of political turmoil, the state news agency said.
SABA said Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued a decree approving the formation of the 35-member Cabinet headed by a veteran independent politician, Mohammed Basindwa.
Government posts are equally divided between Saleh’s Congress Party and the opposition.
Basindwa said his government faces grave challenges, but “we will work with all our potential to overcome any hurdle,’’ and the immediate focus will be on providing public services such as water and electricity.
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"Nine die in Yemen protests; president vows he will leave" by Ahmed al-Haj | Associated Press, December 25, 2011
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s outgoing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said yesterday he would leave the country for the United States to help calm tensions in his country as forces commanded by his son and nephew opened fire on an estimated 100,000 protesters marching into the capital, killing at least nine.
The protesters had marched on foot for four days from the city of Taiz, south of Sana, in the first such march of its kind seen in Yemen, to pressure the government not to give Saleh immunity from prosecution. When they reached the southern entrances to the capital, forces of the elite Republican Guard fired on them with automatic weapons, tear gas, and water cannons.
The turmoil reflected the confused political situation in Yemen caused by the slow-motion, uncertain exit of Saleh from power in the face of huge protests demanding his ouster that have shaken the country since February.
Late last month, Saleh signed an agreement in which he handed over his powers to his vice president and committed to step down completely in return for immunity. But opponents say he has continued to wield influence through his loyalists and relatives still in positions of power, hampering the transition ahead of presidential elections set for Feb. 21. Many feared he would find a way to continue his rule.
Yesterday evening, Saleh told reporters at his presidential palace that he would soon leave the country for the United States, though he did not specify when.
He had been expected to leave soon after the deal was signed - ostensibly to undergo treatment for wounds suffered in an assassination attempt in June - but officials say he has stalled.]
“I will leave for the United States in the coming days. Not for treatment, but to get out of sight and the media to calm the atmosphere for the unity government to hold the presidential election,’’ he said.
He said he would eventually return and pursue “political work as an opposition figure.’’
Government officials said ambassadors from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council had been in contact with Saleh the past week to pressure him to leave the country. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists....
The violence around yesterday’s march illustrated the limits on Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s control in the country. Forces loyal to Saleh have defied orders from Hadi to withdrew from the streets of Sana after a deadline was reached yesterday to do so....
As clashes went on, thousands of protesters camping in Sana’s Change Square, which is the epicenter of Yemen’s protest movement, marched to the scene to join in....
In all, at least 500,000 protesters had joined the march by the time it reached Change Square, according to activists. At least nine protesters, including a woman, were killed and more than 200 injured, including 61 wounded by gunfire, according to hospital officials....
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Oh his way:
"Yemen ruler to get US medical aid, New York Times, December 27, 2011
HONOLULU - The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment, subject to certain assurances, two administration officials said yesterday.
But those conditions - including a proposed itinerary - have not yet been submitted to the US Embassy in Yemen, these officials said, and no visa has yet been issued to Saleh.
The decision of whether to admit Yemen’s longtime leader has stirred a vigorous debate within the administration, with some officials fearing sharp criticism for appearing to provide a safe haven for a reviled Arab figure responsible for the death of hundreds of antigovernment protesters.
If allowed to enter, Saleh would be the first Arab leader to request, and to be granted, admission to the United States since political unrest began convulsing the region a year ago.
One administration official said Saleh could arrive at New York-Presbyterian Hospital as soon as the end of this week.
Let the protests begin here.
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Related:
"President Ali Saleh: A Yemenie War Criminal in Obama’s Court
by Mohamed Khodr 26 Dec 201
Much like Gandhi’s Salt March in India in 1930 the “March of Life” in Yemen began in the besieged bombed southern city of Taiz with tens of thousands of men, women, and children, walking for five days to the northern capitol city of Sana to protest the illegal immunity given the blood and money thirsty tyrant, President Ali Abdullah Saleh by the U.S. – Saudi Plan.
The plan calls for a transfer of power from Saleh to his vice president while he remains in power for three months. Yemen’s population wholeheartedly rejects this appeasing plan. Saleh is a chronic liar who has never lived up to any promise or agreement he’s ever made or signed, much life all of Israel’s prime ministers.
Upon arriving in Sana the peaceful March of Life became the “March of Death”, when the exhausted protesters were met by the murderous Republican Guard led by Saleh’s son, who opened fire on the protesters killing at least 13 and wounding scores of civilians.
In keeping with America’s blind support of Arab dictators, the Jewish American Ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Felerstein, held a press conference at the U.S. Embassy (even prior to the arrival of the March to the capitol Sana) arrogantly and obnoxiously warning that this March “is aimed to cause chaos and violence…it seems to have the intention not to carry out a peaceful march…and will provoke a violent response by the security forces”
These shocking remarks earned the Ambassador and the U.S. the scorn and hatred of the Yemenie population who’ve always known that Saleh is an American mole and puppet.
Like Saleh, President Obama, the Sultan of Drone massacres in the Arab and Muslim world. has betrayed his every promise as well as having shred the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the civil liberties of the American people. He has shown the world that he is a spineless leader who if opposed immediately caves in. A man apparently suffering from an inferiority complex to those in power whether in Corporate America, Congress, the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, special interests, the media; and most especially to Israel that slapped him back into kosher coherence and submissiveness more so than any previous American President.
As a coddler of murderous Arab tyrants he’s been late and conflicted to act courageously and forcefully to support the Arab Spring that seeks freedom from tyranny and free democratic governments.
In an inexplicable slap to American interests in Yemen, Obama has stupidly invited Saleh to come to the U.S. under the pretense of medical treatment; making the U.S. a state that harbors terrorists turning the Bush Doctrine of attacking States that harbor terrorists on its head.
What on earth would prompt Obama to harbor and coddle this terrorist and allow him entry into the United States?
The answer my friend is the alleged “war on terror” that has justified America’s wars and total support of dictators. As long as these tyrants purportedly are fighting a real or imagined anti-American “terror” group, they are free to annihilate their people while keeping their rule and stolen treasures under American protection.
If you kill “them”, you are a U.S. ally, thereby entitled to billions of tax dollars, weapons, international protection, and be hailed as a freedom fighter.
To America, Saleh’s value lies in his alleged fight against “Al Qaeda.”.
Hilary Clinton became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Yemen in early January 2011, just two weeks prior to the uprising. She outlined the reason behind America’s support for Saleh the murderer.
She said:
“We face a common threat posed by the terrorists and al-Qaeda… I want to be frank about the fact that there are terrorists operating from Yemen’s territory today…stopping these threats would be a priority for any nation, and it is a priority for us.”
Hence, the lives of billions of civilians on this planet are simply collateral damage to western imperialistic thirst and greed for natural resources found under the feet of the dark people, no more so than the oil beneath Arab feet.
America thinks with its guns; not its mind, and certainly not its heart.
Obama should retain some honor and dignity for himself and his country by refusing to allow Yemen’s terrorist, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter this nation.
Rather he should refer him to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of his war crimes. But that would mean America truly believes in the sanctity of life, human rights, and justice; virtues belied by its addiction to war and oil.
American can ill afford to lose the Arab and Muslim world due to its blind adoption of Israel’s policies of constant war and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians as well as its support of Arab dictators.
Past and future American Presidents in their stupefying short term foreign policy in the Arab/Muslim world will make the prophecy of a “Clash of Civilizations” a reality; and such a conflict can only lead to the demise of the American-Israeli-European imperial hegemony.
President Obama, for the sake of your legacy, America’s national interests, American values of freedom and justice, you must reject Saleh’s entry into this country. He deserves prison not a suite in a New York City Hotel.
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