Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony

A great piece of testimony on Yemen and Al-Qa’ida presented by Dr. Emile Nakhleh to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 20, 2010. The only problem I have is with his contention that there is “non-existent rule of law” in Yemen (for a great explanation of this assertion's falsity, see Gregory Johnsen’s post at Waq al-Waq).

Of interest is Nakhleh’s belief that the Islah party should be engaged to effect change, something I believe as well: “Although we would continue to engage regimes for national security reasons, the broader engagement should involve indigenous, credible and legitimate religious and political civil society communities that are committed to the welfare of their societies and the well being of their citizens. In Yemen, the Islah Party and private associations in the San’a and Aden regions should be involved. The strategic goal of this engagement is to present Yemeni and other Muslim youth with a more hopeful future vision than the empty promises of al-Qa’ida.”