And it’s official. We have another Arab Spring winner. It’s a really big success.
The White House insisted Monday that the U.S. counterterrorism strategy in Yemen is a model for the fight against the Islamic State — despite the country being engulfed by a violent political crisis that last week led the Obama administration to remove some of its diplomats and urge American citizens to leave.
The White House, though, is standing by claims that the country is a “useful model” for dealing with militants elsewhere.
“That threat has been mitigated through the use of this counterterrorism strategy,” Earnest said.
Here’s how well it’s been mitigated.
The capital of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest and perhaps most chronically unstable nation, has new masters. Anti-American Shiite rebels man checkpoints and roam the streets in pickups mounted with anti-aircraft guns. The fighters control almost all state buildings, from the airport and the central bank to the Defense Ministry.
Only a few police officers and soldiers are left on the streets. Rebel fighters have plastered the city with fliers proclaiming their slogan — “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews and victory to Islam” — a variation of a popular Iranian slogan often chanted by Shiite militants in Iraq and supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Now the Houthis, who many believe are backed by Shiite-led Iran, are poised to become Yemen’s version of the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon — top powerbrokers dominating the government and running a virtual state-within-a-state.
Their takeover of the capital also threatens to bring a violent backlash from hard-line Sunnis, creating a sectarian battle that would boost al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, which the United States has been battling for years in a drone campaign and in coordination with the Yemeni military. The rallying cry of fighting against Shiite power could turn Yemen into a magnet for Sunni jihadis from around the region, like Syria and Iraq.
Last week, an al-Qaida suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a hospital used by the Houthis in Maarib province, killing one person. The group, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, vowed to fight the rebels and called on other Sunnis to support it.
“You will see your bodies scattered and your heads flying,” al-Qaida said in a statement, addressing the Houthis.
Question for Hillary, how many of these nice folks should we arm and use to guard our diplomatic missions? Fortunately the Sunnis have their priorities in order.
While the Houthis are still cursing the Jews, who have mostly been driven out of Yemen, the Sunnis are prepared to kill the Jews later while killing the Shiites now.
Yemen’s Sheikh Abd Al-Azim Al-Huthi has declared that the jihad against the “Houthi infidels”, the Shiite sect in Yemen that has been waging a civil war against the government over the past decade, “is better than the jihad against the Jews.” because these Shiite rebels “are enemies of Allah and His Messenger”
“It does not make sense to fight the Jews as long as the Houthi group exists,” said Sheikh Huthi.
So the Sunnis will delay killing the 90 or so Jews in Yemen until they can kill the Shiites. The Shiites however treat both killing Jews and Sunnis as a priority.
Truly this is the Religion of Peace.
