Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Yemen is Burning!


Yemen is burning!
But who will save the innocent women and children?


The Yemeni uprising began when over16,000 protesters took to the steets of Sana'a on January 27 and continued in the following month in Aden in the February 3 "Day of Rage" led by Tawakel Karman. The protesters confronted the police and pro-government supporters. They wanted President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign or be toppled. And the mass defections from the military and government offices have worsened the fate of President Saleh. They rejected his pleas that he would not run for reelection in 2013 and that he would not pass power to his son. Then in the "Friday of Anger" on February 18, there were widespread demonstrations in Taiz, Sana'a and Aden and continued on the "Friday of No Return" on 11 March, 2011 and civil war looms as over 350 people have been killed and President Saleh was wounded in rocket attacks on his presidential compound Friday.


The so called Arab Spring is more of a political revolution of indignation as the masses in the Middle East are fed up with their political rulers who have failed to reform and transform their societies since they have become implicated in the terrorist attacks of al-Qa'ida and other Islamic terrorist groups rubbishing and tarnishing the reputation of Arabs. Islamic terrorism has given Arabs a bad name and majority of them are innocent of these crimes and would prefer to live better, healthier, safer and wealthier lives without the stigma and trauma of Islamic terrorism. That is why they have revolted against their totalitarian leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen with echoes in the rest of the Arab world as the masses unite in their common resolution screaming الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام‎, meaning "The people want to bring down the regime".


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Christmas Day Terrorist Attack and Our Endless Fears

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



The Northwest Flight 253 plane.

The shocking news of the botched Christmas Day terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam as it was about to land at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport left millions of Americans and others in the US gasping for breath as they were enjoying their turkey and basking in the joy of the passage of the Health Reform Bill by the Senate.




Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

The terrorist attack has raised so much dust on the shortcomings of U.S. intelligence since investigations have shown that the al-Qaeda in Yemen recruited Abdulmutallab months ago. Also, his father Alhaji Umaru Mutallab warned the local security agencies and the US Consulate in Nigeria that his son had been radicalized by Islamists.




The underwear bomb.

Abdumutallab warned his family not to communicate with him again and stopped them from contacting him by changing his telephone numbers. The U.S. Consulate in Nigeria did not really ignore his warnings. In fact, counter-terror officials were alerted in November and intelligence databases revealed that Abdulmutallab was on the watch list of the CIA. And he still got a US visa?


The Nigerian security agencies may have excuses for failing to respond to the security alerts, but what excuses would the US intelligence give for failing to investigate the security alerts and failing to go ahead to find out the whereabouts of Abdulmutallab to monitor his activities in the UK which has become recruiting grounds for agents of the al-Qaeda.




The CIA and Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA)were warned by the Abdulutallab's father.

Investigations have shown that Anwar al-Awlaki, a regional commander of the al-Qaeda in Yemen contacted the Nigerian terrorist who was a student of Engineering at the University College London. Al-Awlaki is a civil engineer.



Presently the security agencies in Nigeria, the Netherlands, Yemen and the US seem confused and embarrassed by their failures, but are still pointing accusing fingers at each other in counter-accusations of how the young terrorist escaped from their radar during the Christmas holidays and nearly detonated a bomb that would have blown up the Delta/Northwest Airline Flight 253 Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 300 onboard and what a catastrophe that would have been on Christmas Day!


The report of the New York Times on the 9/11 Commission has shown the lack of accountability in the management of the important security reports noted after the September 11 terrorist attacks.


Millions of Nigerians and Muslims resident in the US are ill at ease, because of their fears of racial and religious profiling at airports and other places as homeland security and other counter terror agencies begin to implement more comprehensive security measures.
"Racial and religious profiling are in fact counterproductive and can lead to a climate of insecurity and fear," the CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper has said in response to the incidents of Middle Eastern' passengers removed from a plane in Phoenix and the removal a Nigerian passenger from a flight after he became ill and spent what others considered too much time in the aircraft's bathroom in Michigan.

President Barack Obama has acknowledged the shortcomings in the US security systems and we hope the leakages would be blocked securely to prevent another dangerous attempt by any terrorist on any US target in the future. We would all be safer if the threats of terrorism could be checked and prevented than wrestling with them aboard our planes or airports.




Monday, December 21, 2009

United States Transfers 12 Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland Region

20 Dec 2009 16:02 Africa/Lagos


United States Transfers 12 Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland Region

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Justice today announced that 12 detainees have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region.


As directed by the President's Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of each of these cases. As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors, including potential threat, mitigation measures and the likelihood of success in habeas litigation, the detainees were approved for transfer. In accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the Administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer the detainees at least 15 days before their transfer.


Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees, Abdul Hafiz, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim and Mohammed Hashim, were transferred to the Government of Afghanistan. In addition, two Somali detainees, Mohammed Soliman Barre and Ismael Arale, were transferred to regional authorities in Somaliland. Finally, six Yemeni detainees, Jamal Muhammad Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami and Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf, were transferred to the Government of Yemen.


These transfers were carried out under individual arrangements between the United States and relevant foreign authorities to ensure the transfers took place under appropriate security measures. Consultations with foreign authorities regarding these individuals will continue.


Since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed Guantanamo Bay for other destinations, including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, France, Hungary Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Palau, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.


WWW.JUSTICE.GOV


Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD
+1-202-514-1888


Web Site: http://www.justice.gov/


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