With the resignations of Yemen’s president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the Prime Minister and the presidential cabinet, Yemen shows the limits of U.S. support for its allies and the gathering strength of rebels opposed to the central government. The rebels, most from the Houthi clans, are primarily Shias and followers of a Yemeni cleric named Hussein al-Houthi, said to have been killed by Yemeni government forces in June, 2004. They took control of the presidential residence and held Hadi captive for several days until he agreed to Houthi demands. Imprisoned, at home, isolated, Hadi and his associates chose resignations and ceded power.
Yemen, located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has a fabled ancient history. Remember the Queen of Sheba? Sheba was known to the ancient world as Saba, and Yemen was part of that ancient kingdom. Today, Yemen is one of the poorest countries on earth. Yemen is the ancestral home of the bin Laden clan, which hails from the holy city of Tarim in the Hadramawt Valley. It is also a central focus of the so-called “US War on Terror,” where American drones and bombs deliver death daily to Yemenis regarded as radicals by Americans. According to the WikiLeaks revelations, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told former U.S. General David Petraeus, regarding the bombings of Yemenis, “We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.” Soon, Yemen was engulfed in an Arab Spring that ended Saleh’s career. The kiss of death, it seems, is to be an American ally, for it stirs deep hatreds among the population. From imprisoned nation. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
