April 19, 2010

Yemen needs Al Qaeda

By: AF Editors

Feeling happy? Upbeat? Optimistic? I can take care of that problem for you. Yesterday evening, I attended a very informative discussion about Yemen and Somalia sponsored by the Foreign Policy Initiative and AEI’s Critical Threats Project. The most interesting observation came from former CIA officer (and current Hill staffer) John Kiriakou, who said that Yemeni strongman Ali Abdallah Salih needs Al Qaeda to keep the United States interested in his crumbling mess of a country.

Salih is deeply dependent on oil money, but Yemen’s reserves are expect to run out by 2017. So is its fresh water supply. And Salih has two separate insurgencies on his hands. If it weren’t for Al Qaeda, we wouldn’t want to touch Yemen with a ten foot pole. Bring Al Qaeda into the equation, and suddenly Yemen’s pathologies become the root causes of our terrorist problem. Yet while Salih announces his determination to fight Al Qaeda, hand in hand with his American friends, he also seems to believe that if he is too effective in the fight against Al Qaeda, the United States won’t need him any more.

I can’t really speak to Salih’s motives or the state of politics in Yemen, but if I were a Middle Eastern strongman, I might find that kind of strategy appealing. It’s certainly easier than trying to reform your own corrupt government and moribund economy.