Yemen Roils, Repression Continues With US Consent
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is still in Saudi Arabia, although doesn’t seem to be hindered from repressing Yemenis, through his vice president, to secure his rule. Just this week, Yemeni troops killed more than 50 unarmed protesters in the capital Sanaa as snipers fired on the crowd from rooftops, killing even a toddler. Today, bodies continued to pile up as army defectors attempt to defend the demonstrators from military onslaught, in one instance attacking a funeral procession:
These are images of what President Obama and the United States government support. Yes, they’ve asked for Saleh to step down. But many of these horrors were going on before Washington would agree to pull (rhetorical) support. And further, they now only have requested Saleh step down, placing more than tacit support behind the interim president, Saleh’s vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Obama’s counterterrorism advisor John Brennan even met with the both of them. And the US money still flows to Yemen and support continues. Why? So that Obama can secure a reliably obedient dictator in Yemen who will respond permissively to bribes so that Obama can escalate drone strikes without objection. Mysterious how the US magically has a moral and legal license to back such terror.
Update: Via Glenn Greenwald, a cable with a detailed list of the weaponry the US government gave to Yemen, which they are now using on their own people. Complete with shotguns, machine guns, ammunition, grenade launchers, body armor, communications equipment, warships, transport trucks, other unspecified killing machinery, etc. Oh yeah…and military-to-military training…don’t forget the training.
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September 23rd, 2011 at 7:47 am
[...] on the one hand and pro-government Saleh supporters and armed security forces on the other. Scores of people have died, shot at by the US supported military and security forces, just in the last few days as Saleh [...]
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September 24th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
[...] killed over 40 people in clashes with anti-government protesters. This was merely the latest in a series of recent clashes between pro-Saleh people and anti-government people, who have been engaging in rampant urban [...]
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September 24th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
[...] rising across Yemen as intense clashes occur between anti-government protesters and US-supported Yemeni security forces. Meanwhile, US drones are bombing the country allegedly killing al Qaeda affiliates. President [...]
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September 29th, 2011 at 7:54 am
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October 8th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
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October 18th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
[...] Obama administration has given near constant US support for the Saleh regime throughout the brutal security crackdown on massive popular protests, which Karman is now describing as war crimes. A resolution for the [...]
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October 20th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
[...] good to put faces to all the unnamed Yemenis suffering under dictatorship partly because of our [...]
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October 20th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
[...] though, Washington’s demonstrated preference has been for Saleh since the beginning. Obama continued his predecessor’s ramped up support of the dictator, aiding the regime with money and weapons [...]