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2011-12-25 Arabia

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Posted by Fred 2011-12-25 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 And why would we let him?

Posted by Skidmark 2011-12-25 02:30|| 2011-12-25 02:30|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 07:57|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 10:31|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 10:56|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 11:14|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 11:22|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 12:42|| Front Page Top

#8 "He has been an Ally."

I wonder why?

Posted by Barbara 2011-12-25 13:22|| 2011-12-25 13:22|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 13:35|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 13:44|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 15:44|| Front Page Top

#12 Not ending up like Saddam Hussein, Barbara.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2011-12-25 16:14|| 2011-12-25 16:14|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 16:18|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2011-12-25 16:24|| Front Page Top

23:41 Spaiter Whising4650
23:36 trailing wife
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