From: Terje Rod-Larsen <1 To: mleevaeationggrnail.comm <Jeevaeationggrnail.com> Subject: Fw: MeDaily Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:19:30 +0000 Fro • To: Sent: Mon Apr 11 09:39:51 2011 Subject: MeDaily ; r2, uJ Nadia AI-Sakkaf and Felice Friedson: US Overlooks a Sleeper in Yemen Since unrest began flooding through the Middle East, Western assessments have been colored by hopes and expectations as much as by the events themselves. Media and governments alike have waxed near-euphoric in bestowing virtue and righteousness upon those who break with the incumbent rulers. While great attention is paid to past infamies, little understanding of successor regimes has been offered. Regarding Egypt, for instance, a military council was stipulated to hold only the purest of motives although no proof was forthcoming. Even the denouncement by Mohammed ElBaradei [the opposition leader with arguably the most prominent international profile as former head of the UN nuclear watchdog organization] of the council's proposed constitutional changes as a "dictator's constitution" failed to alter the tone of coverage — at least until the Muslim Brotherhood had emerged as the clear winner in that referendum. Yemen, as a case-in-point is frightening. The formula there for both media and diplomacy has been "anti-Saleh good" and "pro-Saleh bad," leaving no room for further due diligence. So when General Ali Muhsin Al-Ahmar defected from the Saleh camp it was by definition a good thing. But has anyone bothered to examine Al-Ahmar's past performances and question whether his ties to Al-Qa'ida are still in-tact? So much so that it raises the specter of a front man for the international terrorist organization. Although the US government professes the war against terror to be a priority among its concerns in the Middle East, apparently no one is paying attention to this very issue in the controversial poverty burdened Yemen. What many fail to realize about this general is t