Yemen

[Coffin-Breathe]

Why do we piss around with these little jerk-water countries? Launch 50 nukes, bring in the bulldozers, level it off and build a big Walmart Superstore, and a Toys 'R Us.

But wait! Nukes cost money, and so do bulldozers. So does building a new store, and stocking it and staffing it.

So I'm thinking: maybe not so much with the nukes. Think of the customer.

Thinking of the customer is not, what Walmart is expected to do - but they would sell nukes maybe, if there would be a way to sell them at a moderate price to the common customer - as well as I´m quite sure of the rising demand...

[Ashmoria]

And I thought Yemen was safe since it didn't have oil.

its too poor to have a great security system. so as the various alqaeda bad guys need a place to go, they try to go there.

its WAY better than afghanistan. at least yemen has beaches.

[Ashmoria]

Has anyone mentioned yet that George W Bush was a complete fuckup, and the worst US President in living memory?

Someone should mention that. It really is impossible to address a question like "what should the US have done nine years ago?" without taking into account that GWB was a complete fuckup, and the worst President in living memory.

its not like we can FORGET it!

[The Araucania]

Yemen could be the next USA intervention, it will cost a lot of lifes and money.
OBAMA=NIGGER BUSH

[Buffett and Colbert]

Well, I suppose I do support action in Yemen basically for the reasons the OP stated. But attacking Saudi Arabia is absolutely idiotic. But anyway, I think what the military should primarily do is train the Yemeni (as well as Afghan, Iraqi, etc) military and prison staff to be able to handle their terrorism problems on their own.

[Ashmoria]

Yemen could be the next USA intervention, it will cost a lot of lifes and money.
OBAMA=NIGGER BUSH

well arent we racist this morning.

we arent going to invade yemen, we dont have the troops for it.

[Coffin-Breathe]

its too poor to have a great security system. so as the various alqaeda bad guys need a place to go, they try to go there.

[/quote]
Hail the almighty security system of, for instance Britain (boom), Germany (boom), Spain (boom) or the States (boom, boom), which protects so well from being invaded by billions of terrorists, hoorray...
I wouldn´t call those nations poor, or their security systems not working - you never stop a criminal or a terrorist by some security, you only slow them down...it´s not like they have tatooed "terrorist" above their foreheads...

[Coffin-Breathe]

Well, I suppose I do support action in Yemen basically for the reasons the OP stated. But attacking Saudi Arabia is absolutely idiotic. But anyway, I think what the military should primarily do is train the Yemeni (as well as Afghan, Iraqi, etc) military and prison staff to be able to handle their terrorism problems on their own.

...but wouldn´t it be consequent, to declare war to every muslim country (and maybe the rest of the world, since some kind of muslim population lives almost everywhere) ? Or at least to every Arabian nation to ensure "peace and democracy" ? As well as some ressources too, of course....At least the States could kill their own muslim population, as they would provide a hotbed for al-Quaida, don´tcha think so ?

[Ashmoria]

its too poor to have a great security system. so as the various alqaeda bad guys need a place to go, they try to go there.

Hail the almighty security system of, for instance Britain (boom), Germany (boom), Spain (boom) or the States (boom, boom), which protects so well from being invaded by billions of terrorists, hoorray...
I wouldn´t call those nations poor, or their security systems not working - you never stop a criminal or a terrorist by some security, you only slow them down...it´s not like they have tatooed "terrorist" above their foreheads...

it seems that they do. but yemen is a poor country and has a hard time dealing with known problems. if known big boys of terror were operating openly(ish) in the US, they would be dealt with. the LITTLE boys of alqaeda came here and carried out the attacks planned by the big boys. little boys are very hard to catch before they do something (although we are getting better at it)

[Daistallia 2104]

WWII and the cold war are over. The world needs a global policeman? What exactly for?

Realpolitk strategic positioning, low level peace keeping, and diplomacy.

They are both over, but the troops are in place to honour past defence agreements

Wrong. If the purpose for said agreements is gone, said agreements need to be adjusted for current conditions

while also keeping a check on the potential rise of globally destabilizing influences. For exactly that reason, to police the world.

Not even the US is really able to police the world in the sense you mean.

If there is no one large power who is running the world, you get a situation like after WW1, were the US was isolationist and all of the other major powers were too weak to prevent the rise of Nazi Germany.

Learn the meaning of "balance of power".

If the US stood down from their current position, there would be a power vacuum which would soon be filled by another nation, probably China. This is not a good thing, for anybody, except the Chinese I guess.

The US is incapable of "(standing) down from their current position". The US can refrain from exercising it, but it's still there.

QWhat the US can do is to continue binding potential rivals to the international economic and diplomatic system while keeping an eye on the small agressors, and enganging in wide ranging diplomacy.

Note: That doesn't at all mean being whimppy.

Uh... You realise that the US forces in Germany aren't an occupation force, but a NATO deployment, yes?

There's also German forces stationed in the United States. Not an occupation, either, nor are they meddling in the US' internal affairs (Short of being responsible for beer imports).

Alliances are funky like that.

Source for German forces stationed in the US.

Seconded. The Bundeswehr has attaches and such, but nothing anywhere near the scale of US forces in the FRG.

1) The President cannot declare war, only Congress can.
2) The President usually doesn't come up with military strategies, unless he was a general. Most of the time, his military advisor suggests to go to war.
3) GWB may have been a fuck-up, but I believe he was more of a scapegoat. Someone had to be blamed for the USA's problems, right?
4) Anything GWB wanted had to be passed by Congress, so he's not the only one to blame.
5) Sure, he wasn't the greatest president, but he certainly wasn't the worst. Some preferred playing golf more than being president.

1) The imperial presidency has usuped that power. And congress has engaged in, at best, criminal neglegence in not reasserting their power, and at worst criminal conspiracy in actively going along with it.

2) However, as CinC, he's ultimately responsible for military operations. And no, most of the time the SecDef and NSA do not advise going to war. And Rumsfield was an especially bad SecDef.

3) The buck stops where?

4) See 3 above.

5) Agreed. Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II may have screwed US FP for the next 10-30 years, but at least they did manage to pull and Andew Johnson.

[Daistallia 2104]

Well, it's about time. Several western nations are closing their embassies in Yemen. The USA is supporting attacks on Yemeni sites associated with Al-Qaeda and profiling (restricting) all travellers from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
I wonder what caused the US to act now? A sudden attack of sanity?

Pay attetion to current events better. Learn names like the Islamic Jihad of Yemen, Abu Ali al-Harithi and USS Cole.

17 out of 19 of the 9/11/01 airline hijackers were Yemeni - the other 2 were Saudi.
Osama bin Laden was a Yemeni-Saudi although both nations have revolked his citizenship.

BS

The US already attacked Afghanistan where some of the hijacker's trained (some of them also trained in Florida and Germany) and Iraq which had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda (Saddam Hussein was an enemy of Al-Qaeda).
Should the US finally attack Yemen? What about Saudi Arabia?
Discuss.

The US has attacked AQ cells in Yemen already.

Fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.

Indeed.

No. The US should get the fuck out of the middle east and stay the fuck out. That will make it safer.

Reduction of forces as part of a larger strategy, yes.

Safer maybe, probably not, but maybe. You will have to say goodbye to your largest source of foreign oil supplies as China and India take them from you though.

Oil is obsolete, The rise of China and India is helping force the issue ecoomically, as is the increasing recognition of peak oil and environmental issues, as well as the costs of stabilising the mideast.

I was a citizen of nowhere for almost 10 years.

I know a few of those.

During Dessert Storm, when we used Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as staging points, Osama bin Laden urged Saudi Arabia no to let is do it because "they will never leave". He was right. We have bases in Japan and Germany. The US government seems to have forgotten the fact that WWII has been over for almost 65 years. Meddling in other people's affairs does not make us safer. It makes us a target.

Yes, 12 years = forever.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm

And I thought Yemen was safe since it didn't have oil.

Neither did Afghanistan...

They were brown though.

Both Afghanistan and Yemen can be indirectly linked to the oil trade, via geopolitically strategic locations.

I cannot see what is really going on in regards to the closure of embassies. The most likely fact is that they are very high targets for militant groups such as Al-Qaida. Honestly, Yemen is not to blame but their government needs to do something to contain the situation.

How? Yemen hardly even has a functioning government. They're poor as fuck, and they've got no resources to spend on containing this, or any other, situation.

Large amounts of US aid were cancelled due to problems with corruption. Doing something to tacklethat would be a start.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

Yemen....Yermen....Urmen....Urmum...UR MUM!

Thus proving Yemen is all a big joke.

[Daistallia 2104]

Yemen....Yermen....Urmen....Urmum...UR MUM!

Thus proving Yemen is all a big joke.

Reminds meof the (grossly unprepared) guy who covered Yemen in my IR seminar, a case study of the 1stGuklf War, as it unrolled.

"Yemen is important because... um they have lots of sand, I think? Thank you."

He failed with flying colors.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

Yemen....Yermen....Urmen....Urmum...UR MUM!

Thus proving Yemen is all a big joke.

And if you play the letter changing game, you can go from Yemen to semen in one step.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

Yemen....Yermen....Urmen....Urmum...UR MUM!

Thus proving Yemen is all a big joke.

And if you play the letter changing game, you can go from Yemen to semen in one step.

So Yemen is where all men originated from.

[Iron Chariots]

1) The President cannot declare war, only Congress can.
2) The President usually doesn't come up with military strategies, unless he was a general. Most of the time, his military advisor suggests to go to war.
3) GWB may have been a fuck-up, but I believe he was more of a scapegoat. Someone had to be blamed for the USA's problems, right?
4) Anything GWB wanted had to be passed by Congress, so he's not the only one to blame.
5) Sure, he wasn't the greatest president, but he certainly wasn't the worst. Some preferred playing golf more than being president.

Is spending half your presidency clearing brush really that much better than playing golf?

[Daistallia 2104]

Yemen....Yermen....Urmen....Urmum...UR MUM!

Thus proving Yemen is all a big joke.

And if you play the letter changing game, you can go from Yemen to semen in one step.

Hehehe - that'd have made a huge difference to my clasemate's grade.


"Yemen is important because... um they have lots of sand, I think? Thank you." = F

"Semen is important because... um what's this got to do with the war in Iraq???" = triple F-

Anyone can get an F, but it takes true genius to get a triple F-...

[Buffett and Colbert]

Well, I suppose I do support action in Yemen basically for the reasons the OP stated. But attacking Saudi Arabia is absolutely idiotic. But anyway, I think what the military should primarily do is train the Yemeni (as well as Afghan, Iraqi, etc) military and prison staff to be able to handle their terrorism problems on their own.

...but wouldn´t it be consequent, to declare war to every muslim country (and maybe the rest of the world, since some kind of muslim population lives almost everywhere) ? Or at least to every Arabian nation to ensure "peace and democracy" ? As well as some ressources too, of course....At least the States could kill their own muslim population, as they would provide a hotbed for al-Quaida, don´tcha think so ?

The vast majority of the 9/11 terrorists were not, and there isn't a major terrorist training hotbed in, let's say, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc, etc, etc. You can't say the same for Yemen.

[North Avayu]

its too poor to have a great security system. so as the various alqaeda bad guys need a place to go, they try to go there.

Hail the almighty security system of, for instance Britain (boom), Germany (boom), Spain (boom) or the States (boom, boom), which protects so well from being invaded by billions of terrorists, hoorray...
I wouldn´t call those nations poor, or their security systems not working - you never stop a criminal or a terrorist by some security, you only slow them down...it´s not like they have tatooed "terrorist" above their foreheads...

Hmm? I can't remember any successful terrorist attack by Islamists in Germany.
But actually I can agree with the other part of your post.

[Communist Winnipeg]

Didn't the actual 9/11 hijackers do their flight training in Florida? Was there ever any consequence for the people who trained them? Why can't an international force be organized to attack Florida? I think Canada should head it up and we should attack soon. (I'm writing this in -16°C weather, and its supposed to get colder later this week.)

[Verzia]

Well, it's about time. Several western nations are closing their embassies in Yemen. The USA is supporting attacks on Yemeni sites associated with Al-Qaeda and profiling (restricting) all travellers from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
I wonder what caused the US to act now? A sudden attack of sanity?
17 out of 19 of the 9/11/01 airline hijackers were Yemeni - the other 2 were Saudi.
Osama bin Laden was a Yemeni-Saudi although both nations have revolked his citizenship.
The US already attacked Afghanistan where some of the hijacker's trained (some of them also trained in Florida and Germany) and Iraq which had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda (Saddam Hussein was an enemy of Al-Qaeda).
Should the US finally attack Yemen? What about Saudi Arabia?
Discuss.

No, because unlike Afghanistan, Yemen has a far more professional police force, and we only need to support them with special forces, the terrorists want us to go into Yemen, it would be IR suicide.

[The Snake Brotherhood]

17 out of 19 of the 9/11/01 airline hijackers were Yemeni - the other 2 were Saudi.

Bullshit.

American Airlines Flight 11
Hijackers: Mohamed Atta al Sayed (Egyptian), Waleed al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Wail al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Abdulaziz al-Omari (Saudi Arabian), Satam al-Suqami (Saudi Arabian).

United Airlines Flight 175
Hijackers: Marwan al-Shehhi (from the United Arab Emirates), Fayez Banihammad (from the United Arab Emirates), Mohand al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Hamza al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian).

American Airlines Flight 77
Hijackers: Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian), Khalid al-Mihdhar (Saudi Arabian), Majed Moqed (Saudi Arabian), Nawaf al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian), Salem al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian).

United Airlines Flight 93
Hijackers: Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese), Ahmed al-Haznawi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Nami (Saudi Arabian), Saeed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian).


It must be fun making up facts.

[The Black Forrest]

The actions of the US in Yemen have been in the works for awhile, so we can assume its not because of the Christmas wanna be bomber.
Saudi Arabia is much more in control than Yemen is, which is incredibly poor, and has a much weaker central government. There won't be an attack of Yemen, expect a lot fo aid to their government to overcome their issues with terrorism, and more missile strikes, possibly bombings.

You think the government wants to end terrorism? Not in their interests as everybody would quickly forget about them.

They may knock it down a little but they won't end it.....

[Bulgislavia]

Dont believe anything the mainstream media tell's you they are just controlled by the global elite of billionares that all have a significant say in how the world works.

Basically the elite class of billionares have been manipulating everything you know, they own the major news networks, can cause financial collapses, fund both sides of wars for thier own means and its been going on for decades.

Have you heard of the bilderberg group. even madelaine albright is a member,

The worlds richest men and women meet once a year in extreme secrecy and discuss the worlds problems and thier solutions and have been dictating how the world is to be run according to thier own needs and they have the financial power to make or break a politician so you bet politicians will be compliant with them.

Corporitism is a scary thing but dont believe the war on terror, if it were up to them there owuld be no end to the war on terror and eventually when they say

"All RFID Chips made by the great ally corporation Verichip must be compulsory, if your law abiding you have nothing to hid and will take the chip, if not well you will be a suspected terrorist and your actions monitored" Countries all over the world have already been pressured and forced to join the Global survelance regime where they share information on thier citizens to organizations like interpol, UN, CIA, FBI etc

Next it will be data retention where all our information over your entire life will be sotred somewhere and one slip up then they can get an interception warrant to see and track your entire life from what you do on the net with the "Virtual fingerprint" to what you text and your transactions.

Just refuse to be ruled by a government, it starts with you, non participation in any of thier plans.
So just look into the bilderbergs actions. when states start enforcing Flu vaccinations you should be worried and when you hear of global elite meeting secretly and the North American Union comes into being without you even being consulted or it being passed through your congress you should be damn worried.

By the way your new currency is gonna be the "Amero" the currency of Canada, USA and Mexico

[Traxa]

Hmmm... sounds like the Romulans are Americans who assume the rest of the world are also Americans....

Wars are geneally an ecomonic boost... of course the Americans privitized war and are getting what they deserve. All empires fall.

Not really, and Iraq is drawing to an end, and was quite successful.

The terrorist organizations aren't going to really be hurt until governments start cracking down on the "charities" and private citizens who are funding them. I wouldn't knock Pakistan too hard either, at least more recently they have been taking more action against AQ morso than they were previously.

Honestly I don't care if the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, Yemen, Egyptian, Iraqi, French, Dutch, English...we aren't fighting against a nation we're fighting against extremists and their organizations, what their nationality is shouldn't even be an issue.