Washington's War in Yemen Backfires

That, in a nutshell, is how many Yemenis see the US role in their country. The United States “should have never made counterterrorism a source of profit for the regime, because that increased terrorism,” asserts Iryani. “Their agenda was to keep terrorism alive, because it was their cash cow.” The US bombings, he said, were “a bad mistake. Military action often backfires by killing civilians, by the violation of sovereignty. That offends a lot of Yemenis.” For the United States, the most serious question that lingers over Yemen after Ali Abdullah Saleh is: Did US counterterrorism policy strengthen the very threat it sought to eliminate? “It was a major fiasco,” Iryani says of the past decade of US counterterrorism policy in Yemen. “I think if we had been left alone, we would have less terrorists in Yemen than we do now.”

YEMEN: Players who could throw the upcoming elections off-track

The Arabian Leopard Continues to be Under Threat

I'd like to reproduce an email I received from FPALY Executive Director David Stanton this morning, and ask that you take a few minutes from your day as he requests and do a couple of simple things that will be helpful:

Dear Friends of the Arabian Leopard,

It has just been brought to my attention that a video of an Arabian Leopard captured in Yemen was posted on YouTube on May 28, 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6vFzGy1h3M&feature=related

The animal being tormented in the video is one of the most critically endangered mammals on Earth (up to 16 times rarer than the Giant Panda and 30 times rarer than the Bengal Tiger). As Yemen's National Animal (as of Yemen Cabinet decree on April 29, 2008) this animal should be fully protected by law. From the video it is obvious that the law is not working. Can you please take ten minutes from your day at the first opportunity to perform the following actions: 1) Watch the video and click "dislike" so that the person who posted the video, and everyone who subsequently watches it, begins to get the message that what the video depicts is unacceptable. 2) Write a message to Mr. Omer Ahmed Baeshen ( rubatbaeshen@yahoo.com), Director of the Endangered Species Unit of the Yemen Environmental Protection Authority and the CITES officer for Yemen demanding that the Endangered Species Unit at the EPA fully investigate this "incident." 3) Encourage your friends, family, colleagues, students etc. to do the same. 4) If you are Yemeni and can tell from the accents, clothing or any other clues the governorate where this took place, contact me immediately with this information. It is impossible to tell at this point when and where the video was taken, but knowing where and when it was captured will contribute to the effectiveness of future actions on the part of the Foundation.

Thank you. I'm sorry to have had to bring this to your attention, but devoting just a few minutes to these tasks right away will contribute in a meaningful way to the battle that the Foundation continues to fight. Sincerely, David

David B. Stanton Executive Director of the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen P.O. Box 7069 Sana'a, Republic of Yemen Mobile: +967733916928 Fax: +9671370193 david@yemenileopard.org www.yemenileopard.org

Yemeni Activist Awarded Nobel Prize

Tawakul Karman, Democracy activist and member of Islah, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Yesterday. Great news that I hope will bring more attention to the plight of the average Yemeni.

You've GOT to be kidding me! Field Marshall Saleh Returns!

I'll make the call now - this will end extremely badly,

Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen - Success!

As Stephanie first noted on our blog here, the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen (FPALY) has been running a funding drive via Kickstarter this month. If you gave, I'll bet you received the email reproduced below from David Stanton, FPALY's Executive Director.

But just because FPLAY met their minimum goal doesn't mean that advocacy for this funding drive needs to stop. As David mentions, there are other projects moving forward that he would like to pursue, and there are administrative costs to running the FPALY office. Please continue to give right up to 11:59PM on September 30th!

FPALY's Kickstater webpage is located here. Thanks to everyone who found FPALY here and gave!

Dear Night Watch Backers

Yemen needs more from allies than status quo

A great National editorial today:

The money quote: "Short-sighted security goals may play well with American voters, but they get Yemenis nowhere." The fact is that American voters are largely unaware of what is happening in Yemen. If they knew, it wouldn't sit well with them either.