In the News Again...the Threat From Yemen

As an African American who daily experiences the systemic injustice of the United States I understand her point. The historical injustice which keeps us here in the United States at one of the highest standards of living has had disastrous consequences around the world in areas such as Yemen, Afghanistan and other places so while it is unfortunate we're reaping what we have spent years and years sowing. Don't confuse the historical critique of my beloved country with support of a frustrated and disenfranchised people. It would be good if our leaders such as President Obama could talk to them to ascertain the issues and somehow maybe resolve conflicts. Quite frankly the United States should forgo its empire thinking and show some compassion. Of course pride and empire would prevent this from ever happening. Finally its complicated.

I concur with the observations made by Ms. Joy. We live in a country that has too long basked in the glory of its political capital, and as a consequence we have squandered that which is good, left only with the detritus generated by a country that leaned too far to the negative aspects of humanity. For years I have tried to have my voice heard as a "democratic" thinker, only to be drowned out by xenophobic notions of what makes us great. We are a land of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural peoples, and yet we continue to maintain the dictates of a minority led by white men, even our emblematic president. A pity.

I categorically disagree with Ms. Joy's comments. Poverty, corruption, hatred....these have been around forever. To blame the United States for the misguided sense of rage these people feel against us is equal to a drug addict blaming the drugs for their addiction. Yemen has suffered from internal problems that its government has either been incapable or unwilling to confront for generations and now it is coming home to roost. With estimates of 90% of their fresh water reserve gone and only 7 years of oil production remaining, Yemen has proven itself to be a country incapable of having its own best interests at heart. It is the height of arrogance to suggest they have a just claim against the United States for the predicament they put themselves into. Furthermore, this notion of poverty breeding violent extremism is laughable on its face. With doctors committing suicide attacks in Glasgow and Afghanistan, not to mention the masters level educated attackers of 9/11, to say ignorance and poverty are driving these fanatics is just plain wrong.

Monica Joy states "Quite frankly the United States should forgo its empire thinking and show some compassion". Empire thinking? Does anyone actually believe we are in Afghanistan because it offers so much to us? Our involvement now in Yemen? Yemen has absolutely nothing, nothing to offer the United States (or any other country sad to say). Cries of poverty and resisting "empire building" just doesn't hold water. If that were the case, we would be faced with such cries from every country on earth that suffers from poverty: Half of Latin America and 75% of the continent of Africa. We need to look at this problem for what it is: Religious zealotry in the forn of these "warriors of Islam" who are going to "teach the USA a lesson". As has already been pointed out, many of the attackers the US faces are from very well to do backgrounds, most recently the internationally educated son of one of the most powerful men in Nigeria. Does anyone believe 9/11 happened as a result of a war against poverty? This is religious fanaticism, pure and simple.

Having studied and lived in the Middle East as a soldier, it never surprises me when Americans don't understand the issues. We tend to be self centered and want to believe we are doing things correctly all the time. We cannot fix what began with politicians and ideas like the Sykes Picot agreement. We cannot go back and tell the English you cannot promise a people a homeland then steal someone else's land. The hatred has been there, it always has, and we are the superpower which supports the inequalities which occur in the Middle East. People see children being killed and yet we tell ourselves they were asking for it. Others say American military actions cause the ranks of AlQuaeda to increase, this is not so, the military only gives a focal point to the ranks of AlQuaeda. Our Military gives them a target. If you didn't know it, most of the Arabs hated Saddam Hussein. Politicians and rhetoric make it easier to believe that a war against the US Military is easy. Every time a member of my political party spoke out against the war for political gain, it was as if they were executing the soldiers themselves.

Might does not make right, using force as a justification has consequences, we are experiencing it. I was in Kampala Uganda the day when it was anounced that Obama won. Talking to the people in the streets, one fact was very salient, I was told that the best thing America can do for Uganda, is to stay out of the Uganda's affairs. We ought to stop interferring in other countries business. God did not appoint the U.S. to police the world, nor exploit it.

In 1986 I attended a party made up of college students and some high school students in New Hampshire. At that party a young man, a stranger, approached me and noted that when I became a muslim I would no longer be able to drink beer, such as the one in my hand. I was taken aback at the news that I would be joining any formal religion in the future. I begged his pardon and asked him to explain when a young women approached and introduced the young man as a foreign exchange student from the middle east who was visiting the U.S. for a year.I introduced myself and asked him to continue with the conversation. He explained that there was only one true religion, Islam. All the world's population would eventually become a follower of Islam. There was no other choice, no other option. I explained that in the U.S. most people believed that we each had the right to follow our own path of religion or spirituality. He indicated that that was not possible. Islam would dominate the world and anyone who did not accept this, would in the end, be put to the sword. He spoke as if about the weather, very polite, very matter of fact, but with a conviction that left no room for doubt. No room for compromise, no alternative. During the course of our conversation the entire room had gone silent, everyone listening to what was being said. I drove home that night shaken, and for days after as well. 24 years later I still remember it. In my mind it was obvious that a day was coming when we would either have to accept this vision of the world or be prepared to struggle against it. The attacks of September 11 were of no suprise to me. I had been expecting it.

Wow!!!!

Have the complaining African Americans like Monica Joy, ever contemplated that they are the richest Black People on the face of the planet? Have they ever thought to kiss the ground of America, which has provided so much for them? No. They read from an old story book that makes them victims and whine. Why don't they pick themselves up and get ahead like so many people from Nigeria and Haiti. These are people who have not bought into victim status.

Most Black People from outside of America are very successful and don't walk around with a chip on their shoulder. They compete without handouts from the government. They aren't government employees - they make their own way. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start competing to get ahead. Self pity is not becoming.

With regard to Yemen and any place in the "Muslim world" we must always be cognizant of the beloved scapegoat of the USA, namely Al Qaeda.
Where ever the USA, in the "Muslim world", wants to mess around with they bring out the Al Qaeda excuse.
"We belive Al Qaeda to be opperating in ..." With that statement, the US military has all the 'justification' it needs to do whatever it wants.

The fundamental question has not yet been answered: What is Al Qaeda?
The best information I know is that Al Qaeda is the name of a CIA database of assets and Arab and Afghan agents that were funneling money to the Mujahidin who were fighting the Soviets.
So this Al Qaeda is a tool in foreign policy, to give the US justification to invade countries.

It would be nice if I could watch this show on a full size computer screen, not the mini-box provided. Such a waste.

This is really a perplexing situation. It only helps to reinforce my opinion that the state and church are truly enemies of the people at large. Throughout history these two organizations have murdered more people under the name of God and Freedom than anyone else that I know of. Anyone who turns to either of these organizations for solutions should truly re examine there course for justice and equality in life. Congratulations mankind for having the jurisprudence, wisdom and fortitude for putting up with these bigots, sociopaths and financial miscreants for another decade or so. As always "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You"

@Arun Patel. I completely agree. We look at this today and wonder how we got here. Well it didn’t happen overnight. It started at least in 1979 with the Islamic Revolution and has only progressed from there. People talk about poverty being the cause. It’s not a cause, it’s a symptom. If you are poor and uneducated, it is easy to be persuaded by the Qur’an. If you have no hope, no food, no future, it is easy to become captivated by Allah and the afterlife. Religion is propaganda, whether it be Islam or Christianity or whatever. In some form or other, religion is mind control. So They (I’ll describe below) get poor children and put them into madrassas that teach the Qur’an. From an early age, the Qur’an is all they know. It is no wonder they want to become a martyr by the time they are 20. People ask about why then are all the attackers educated. They use the educated ones to do missions like plane attacks because they are less likely to garner heightened interest with the authorities. But the educated are no less trained in the Qur’an. The “They” I mention above is mostly wealthy Saudis. They use oil money given to them by America to fund the development of Wahhabi Islam across Asia and the Middle East. They build the madrassas and mosques that teach Wahhabism, a puritanical and militant form of Islam. This type of mind control says that those who practice innovation are Kafir or Infidels. Innovation means anything not originally in the Qur’an. (They attacked vehicles the first time they saw them) And because the people who originally adopted this way of thinking come from a violent tradition based on life in the Arabian Peninsula, these people believe that if someone is a kafir, that they had the right to kill them. So from the very beginning of this religion, killing was a perfectly acceptable means of indoctrination. It is this sect of Islam that is practiced by the mujahedeen in Afghanistan, the Yemeni tribesman, and Bin Laden and al Qaeda. As an aside, the Qur’an is believed to be the final revelation from God made to Mohammed. But Mohammed never put to paper what was supposedly told to him by God. Following in the traditions of Arab culture, his teachings were passed along orally. The actual book didn’t come into existence until the third Caliph which was at least 20 years after his death. Did anyone ever play telephone when you were a kid? Remember how much the story changed by the time it got the end? So the “final revelation from God” is actually parables that were co-opted by self-serving Imams and legitimized by the creation of a written book. Plus by the third Caliph, there was already disagreement among the followers as to who the true successor to Mohammed should be. This led to the split between Sunni and Shi’a and centuries of violence as each side vied for control of minds. The point is, all throughout history, those in power have been using religion to direct the actions of people. See King Henry VIII, Protestants and the Anglican Church. The US Armed Forces are becoming more and more conservative and religified (my word). There is nothing new in the War on Terror; it is simply another Crusade. We don’t like your religion because we can’t control you and you don’t like our religion because you can’t control us. So we kill each other until it’s settled. When one or the other side is wiped out, it will be over.

I do not believe violence is the answer to poverty and injustice. Look at what is happening in Malaysia where the current gov't who in name say it is "Islamic" but are so corrupted and in just. Look at the current court case against the opposition by framing him for sodomy. They brought submarine that would not even submerged. Look at the case where they blew up Mongolian model with C4. I hate to categorized or Islam is a viloent religion but so far I have not seen real good muslim all around me...From Middle East to Asia..maybe there are many good ones but I did not hear their voice to speak up except a very few.... One of them is RPK in his web site Malaysia Today. I hope PBS cover Malaysia and what is actually happening in that part of the country how the Muslim discriminate against other races and burn their place of worship... Religion of peace?..Mmmm.. show me..

1. The reporter went looking for Al-Qaeda and its supporters. What were you hoping to get out of it, a message of peace?

2. Most of you posting here are enlightened minds. Some of you reference Quran. But I wonder how many of you know what Al-Qaeda is really fighting for? After all you have to know your enemy.

i- Most Americans tend to think it’s their way of life that Al-Qaeda hates. I'm afraid that's not it. Your tax dollars have been used to finance the mass murder of Palestinians for the past 50years. Al-Qaeda's demand number one is usually peace in Palestine. I suppose now they'll add Iraq to the list, or not.

ii- The real problem stems from the Middle East crisis in 90s when NATO forces were invited by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to defend them against Iraq. Every nation takes pride in defending their homeland and Saudis are no exception. However, the royal family thinks otherwise. Therefore, rather than letting Saudis defend their homeland, it gave the task to NATO forces who built permanent military bases in the Kingdom. Al-Qaeda simply wants them gone from the Kingdom. Sounds easy don’t it? Not when you're America.

iii- Al-Qaeda's first act of terrorism was against Saudi Arabia itself. They blew up a building in Dhahran and their demand at the time was to get rid of NATO bases in the Kingdom. That never happened so they took it to the next level. They started targeting US embassies and consulates around the world during mid and late 90s. And then they took it to the next level again, 9/11. And the only reason they won't attack anymore in Saudi Arabia is beacuase they'll lose their appeal to the base which finance them.

iv- Most Americans I've come across tend to think that if they pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda will still come after them. Ummm... Did the Viet Cong followed you to US? And after the Soviet defeat, did the Afghan followed them home?

3. As a Muslim, I hate Al-Qaeda passionately. Why? How many people died in 9/11? 3500? Well they've killed four times that of Muslims, if not many times more. I remember 9/11 vividly and I'll remember it till the day I die. And I can tell you it wasn't a 'joyful event', I was saddened. How can anyone watch a person jump from a building and be overjoyed with it? And I react much the same way when I see any human suffering.

4. I do think Obama is attacking the situation at its core as he is pressuring Israelis and Palestinians to find a peaceful solution. This will reduce the effectiveness of Al-Qaeda’s propaganda and it will be marginalised to issues that Muslim world as a whole can’t relate to i.e. NATO bases in Saudi Arabia.

@Arun Patel: I'm not sure what China/India/Pakistan has to do with all this. Are Indian people under foreign occupation? Does India have any NATO bases? None. So the Indian comparison is irrelevant.

@Tong V: You're forgetting that Quran had already been written during the time of Prophet (SAWS) under his very own guidance and memorized by many. It was simply not in a conveniently complied package. And the practice of memorization of Quran continues to this day.

@Steve: It’s easy to claim that you can’t see any moderate Muslims because we’re not blowing ourselves up. We simply don’t sell newspapers and magazines. Besides, who wants to see a moderate Muslim preach about peace? You need an expert like Dalai Lama for that.

The core and reason of the rise of Al Qaeda is outlined and stated thoroughly and correctly by Moderate Muslim September 24th 2010.
The problems beyond Palestine and other places of Al Qaeda is the way America responds and overreacts at the very mention of Al Qaeda. ( That is not to underplay 9/11 or reduce its importance or horror.)
But the real numbers and actual existence of Al Qaeda globally and in in Iraq are as a famous amrican said greatly exaggerated and simply not proven or so, so small as to be basically not capable of justifying Billions of $ and American lives to control. It has to be dealt with by and done by the local people, taking away the rison d'etre whatever it might be
So in Yemen yes there is small hard core group that suports Al Qaeda theory and practice.. if its 600 people at most that's a stetch and to claim it has good training facilities seems arrant rubbish to me. The Nigerian guy ( Yemen trained) failed miserably & only burnt his pride!!
The risk is just again proving the power of the Amrican military machine ( remember Ike's prediction) both army professionals, armaments producers, military equipment suppliers army, navy, airforce, marines etc all of which constantly support military solutions in the middle east, afghanistan etc ( Iran on the list? ans maybe Somalia)
You want to give Yemen aid of $1.2bn. ok for basic economic needs of water supply, agricultural needs, schools, education, infrastructure.
We have seen what happens every time the military goes in the role gets bigger and bigger and the size of the opposition grows, and talk stops and shooting starts simply because our great American soldiers ( no sarcasm intended) can't talk to the locals, which is necessary to fight against Local terrorists and avoid tribal conflict.
Fix the Palestine/Israel matter first, then get out of all Muslim states militarily and replace with Economic and social aid, with benchmarks that say OK Independent state whats it cost to set up a school and run it 5 years X whatever currency then you give say 500 times X and they must be built and running 2 years later, if corruption takes 20 % i.e only 400 Built the next amount is for 200 and if they are not built/running aid stops. You do the same with roads, cost per Mile, agricutural change say Poppy to pomegranites in Afghanistan and make the locals do it. If they need foreign expertise and help let it be provided by NGO's, not big business. Yes it will take longer but will make it impossible for "insurgents to be welcome" and Local fighters to justify destroying what locals
made or constructed, irrespective of Tribe or
ethnicity.
Regards,
Guest 5.
do or killing locals.

If a Christian church by the name of" The Christian Church of. what's gapping now" called for& was responsible for the distruction caused by a radical wing of the Muslim faith Every Christian church in the world protest & work together to destroy the" Church of What's happening. NOW".

The number of imbeciles leaving comments - people who clearly can barely write or speak English properly (but most likely prosper and live safely here in America), dwell in utter denial of the facts, and try and deflect from what *are* real issues - is appalling. Thank you Frontline and Martin Smith for this revealing and crucial report!

If the United States presence left all Arab countries, I still do not think it would change the aggression that is going on in the world. Why? Because I believe, it is too late. Now that 9/11 has happened and the world has been caught up in a "War on Terror" America's presence will never leave. Therefore, what should the world do? Some have suggested that certain Muslims will not be happy until the entire world shares their beliefs. This will never happen, not only would the Muslim advocates for this have to totally destroy America they would have to destroy most of Asia and Europe; as well as, other parts of the world. I too think it is absurd to blame America for all suffering. America is one of the youngest countries in the world. In addition, America is the only country to use nuclear weapons to such an astounding affect. As we, all know America is very bull headed and I do not mean that as an insult. I mean if all these wars continue along with economic turmoil what does the world think America will eventually do. I hate to say this, but I believe America will destroy the world before it is totally conquered. I am not sure why things have so out of control, and I am not sure who all is at fought, but I do hope something gives.