Click on Above Image to EnlargeA President Struggles To Keep Yemen Together -- Spiegel Online
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is beset from all sides. Separatists are mobilizing in the south of his nation while Shiites rebel in the north. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida, meanwhile, has made the country a deployment base for terrorism, as evidenced by two recent package bombs.
A Toyota decorated with verses from the Koran has come to a stop above the docks. The sun is so bright you have to squint to see Sira Island and, in front of it, a smaller island upon which sits the villa of the man currently running southern Yemen -- "the only legitimate president," as Nassir al-Taawid says. Some believe this was the site of the Garden of Eden. And down at the docks is the site where the USS Cole was crippled by al-Qaida suicide bombers in October 2000, when a massive explosion against the hull of the warship killed 17 American sailors.
This is where it all started.
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My Comment: Yemen is not a failed state like Somalia .... but it is not far away. This is an excellent summary on the situation in Yemen, and a must read since there is now a good chance that U.S. forces may become actively involved in the many conflicts that engulf this country.
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