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Arabia

Saleh preparing to flee to USA

2011-12-25

[Iran Press TV] Former Yemeni dictator President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh

... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
has said he plans to flee to the USA, just hours after festivities in the capital Sana'a left 13 people dead.

"I will go to the United States. Not for treatment, because I'm fine, but to get away from attention, cameras, and allow the unity government to prepare properly for elections. I want to be away for the elections, because whether it fails or succeeds, people may blame the president," Saleh told journalists at a presser in Sana'a on Saturday.
If he thinks the USA is a refuge from "cameras" he hasn't seen Jersey Shore or Big Brother. Poor sap!

Earlier in the day, troops from units led by Saleh's son and nephew used tear gas and water cannon and then met the demonstrators with hot lead who approached Saleh's compound in Sana'a after marching for four days from the southern city of Taizz.

Saleh, who had been in power for 33 years, signed a power transition deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh on November 23 in return for immunity from prosecution.

In line with the document, he resigned as president and handed authority over to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi on December 23, but he will hold the post of honorary president until the presidential election in February 2012.

Posted by:Fred

#14 So now he'll be a much smaller frog in a safer pond, Shieldwolf?

I can dig that. ;-p

Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-25 16:24

#13 And if you meant for prior to the present period, lots of intelligence on his enemies, favorable conditions for weapons imports, and the ability to be effectively President for Life over the very fractious north and south sections of Yemen. Some people want to be the big frog in the little pond, and we made sure Saleh was that in Yemen.

Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-12-25 16:18

#12 Not ending up like Saddam Hussein, Barbara.

Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-12-25 16:14

#11 Thanks, guys, but what I was really asking is, what was in it for Saleh (other than a lot of boodle)?

Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-25 15:44

#10 Barbara: Geography.

"The Yemeni archipelago of Socotra in the Indian Ocean is located some 80 kilometres off the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres South of the Yemeni coastline. Socotra is at the crossroads of the strategic naval waterways of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is of crucial importance to the US military.

"This strategic waterway links the Mediterranean to South Asia and the Far East, through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. A military base in Socotra can be used to oversee the movement of vessels including war ships in an out of the Gulf of Aden.

"The objective of the US is to police the entire Gulf of Aden seaway from the Yemeni to Somalian coastline. Socotra is some 3000 km from the US naval base of Diego Garcia, which is among America's largest overseas military facilities.

"The [Indian] Ocean is a major sea lane connecting the Middle East, East Asia and Africa with Europe and the Americas. It has four crucial access waterways facilitating international maritime trade, that is the Suez Canal in Egypt, Bab-el-Mandeb (bordering Djibouti and Yemen), Straits of Hormuz (bordering Iran and Oman), and Straits of Malacca (bordering Indonesia and Malaysia). These chokepoints are critical to world oil trade as huge amounts of oil pass through them."

"Whoever attains maritime supremacy in the Indian Ocean would be a prominent player on the international scene." (US Navy Geostrategist Rear Admiral Alfred Thayus Mahan (1840-1914))

Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-25 13:44

#9 I wonder why?

Al Qaeda was more or less kept in check, the USN was able to use port facilities. and the channels between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean were kept open.

Posted by: Pappy 2011-12-25 13:35

#8 "He has been an Ally."

I wonder why?

Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-25 13:22

#7 He has been an Ally. I guess this is to remove pressure from the sitting "government" in Yemen.

Posted by: newc 2011-12-25 12:42

#6 Too bad we're not actually going to lose any of the aforementioned Worse Than Saleh in exchange for taking him.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-12-25 11:22

#5 Not to approve or judge, but Saleh was a front line doer, the others are talkers and poseurs...

Posted by: M. Murcek 2011-12-25 11:14

#4 Because he'd be an improvement over Noam Chomsky, Jane Fonda, Bill Ayers, David Duke, and a host of other reprehensibles?

Heck, I'd take him in trade as long as Yemen agrees to take in that bunch.

Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-12-25 10:56

#3 And why would we let him?

Because he'd be an improvement over Noam Chomsky, Jane Fonda, Bill Ayers, David Duke, and a host of other reprehensibles?

Posted by: Pappy 2011-12-25 10:31

#2 In the US, he is no longer in power, relatively out of the spotlight, and most especially out of Yemen. It is to the benefit of all concerned.

Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-25 07:57

#1 And why would we let him?

Posted by: Skidmark 2011-12-25 02:30

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