is a Travesty of the Truth
Yemen is a real place where people are demanding social justice and
democracy. Their cause is harmed by the US
Citizens of Yemen's capital are not accustomed to drones –
strikes usually happen in more remote parts of the country – but the white
object circling overhead, harmlessly as it turned out, gave them a small taste
of what it's like to be on the receiving end.
"If this is how much fear, terror, and anger what just sounds to
be a drone makes in Yemen's capital, imagine what it does in areas it actually
bombs," activist Farea
al-Muslimi tweeted.
In fact, it wasn't a drone on this
occasion. Whether or not the plane gleaned any useful intelligence, there is
little doubt that the buzzing of the capital, together with the closure of
embassies, the sudden evacuation of foreigners and the latest
reported drone attack in Shabwa, are as much about psychological
warfare as they are about conventional anti-terrorism operations. Some of the psychology is obvious. The
message to al-Qaida's militants is that their plans have been rumbled and they
are being watched. If that makes them lie low for a while, the US will claim
that its ploy has worked.
But two other messages from this spectacle are more
troubling. One is what it says to Yemenis, and the other is what it says to
Americans. The desire to protect
embassies and their staff is understandable. Domestically, he has little to lose
by over-reacting to the current threat. The trouble, though, is that this also
reinforces American perceptions that Yemen is about al-Qaida and very little
else. Viewed from Washington, Yemen is not a real place where people are
demanding social justice and democracy so much as a theatre of operations in
Saudi Arabia's backyard.
Among ordinary Yemenis, meanwhile,
the latest al-Qaida drama has been greeted with scepticism and even some
derision. Al-Qaida is often viewed as an American obsession while millions of
Yemenis have more basic things to worry about – like
obtaining their next meal. They also point out that more people die
on Yemen's treacherous mountain roads, or in fights over scarce water
resources, than at the hands of al-Qaida.
There is now widespread recognition that drone strikes in
Yemen have been counter-productive. Whatever benefits they brought in terms of
killing militants who posed a serious threat have been cancelled out by the
killing of others who posed no threat at all, and the anger this has aroused
among the population at large.
Some of that resentment is now being
directed against President Hadi, who was installed by the Gulf states (with western
blessing) as Saleh's successor. Hadi had no real power base in Yemen and
without strong international backing – especially from the US – he would be
unlikely to survive for long. That leaves him in no position to resist American
demands and at the same time it further damages his support at home. In effect,
the US is propping him up with one hand and dragging him down with the other. [Abridged]
© 2013 Guardian News and Media
Limited
Brian
Whitaker is a former Middle East editor of the Guardian.
No comments:
Post a Comment