US embassy cable - 04SANAA3094

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 003094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/PA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, YM, PTER, KMDR, MARR, MOPS, PNIR, COUNTER TERRORISM 
SUBJECT: AL-JAZEERA TV PROGRAM: "THE UNTOLD WAR STORY" - 
YEMENI-U.S. COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION 
 
 
1. SUMMARY:  Al-Jazeera TV broadcast a documentary on 
Thursday, December 9, 2004, titled "The Untold War Story" 
addressing the impact and repercussions of U.S.-Yemeni 
counterterrorism cooperation at the economic, social and 
political levels.  The documentary included impressions 
from a wide variety of Yemeni officials. Al-Jazeera, 
although fairly critical of American policy in the Middle 
East, appeared to be more balanced than usual in its 
assessment of the U.S. counter-terrorism effort in the 
region. END SUMMARY 
 
2.  INTRODUCTION:  The program opened with the U.S.S Cole 
bombing of October 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors, as 
well as the court sentences passed recently against those 
responsible for the attack.  It noted U.S. "pressure" on 
Yemen to postpone the trial a number of times.  Lawyer 
and human rights activist, Badr Basunaid, spoke of the 
trial as a "black mark" on Yemen's human rights record 
that he said the Americans would one day note in their 
human rights reports.  He slammed the Americans for what 
he called "taking part in faulty court proceedings." 
 
3.  U.S./YEMENI RELATIONS/COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION: 
Al-Jazeera touched on U.S.-Yemeni relations which 
"stagnated" following 9/11, because of "unlimited U.S. 
demands on Yemen" with regard to the U.S.S Cole; due to 
Yemen's reservations on the case; and Yemen's stance 
towards Iraq and Palestine "with which the U.S. was 
unsatisfied." 
 
4.  RELATIONSHIP TO AL-QAEDA:  The program showed footage 
of Bin Laden's birthplace in Hadhramout and showed how 
"Yemenis" constituted a key element within al-Qaeda 
making it (Yemen) a possible U.S. target after 9/11. 
"Yemen was labeled after 9/11 as a dangerous country and 
a source of threat to America's national security" 
analyst al-Sabri said.  An excerpt of a speech made by 
Shura Council Chairman Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani was played 
in which Abdul-Ghani pointed out that "President Saleh's 
visit to Washington on November 24, 2001 was a turning 
point in U.S.-Yemeni relationships, as the outcome of the 
visit completely changed the whole situation." 
 
5.  MILITARY COOPERATION:  One part of the documentary 
highlighted U.S. military support to Yemen in terms of 
training and equipment.  "We feel in Yemen that the 
number of people trained is not sufficient, as Yemen 
needs more training to protect all of Yemen, not only the 
capital and its surroundings," Foreign Minister al-Qirbi 
said.  Al-Jazeera then showed a statement by former U.S. 
State Department Spokesman-at-Large Phillip Reeker, who 
met with Yemeni media representatives during a non- 
official visit to Yemen in November 2003, declaring that 
"the primary responsibility (to protect Yemen) is Yemen's 
and the U.S. will offer as much help as it can." 
Political analyst Al-Sabri criticized the U.S.-Yemeni 
anti-terror cooperation, which he said, "is a war that 
protects the interests of others and not Yemen's, even if 
Yemen claims otherwise." 
 
6.  ECONOMY:  Aden Governor Yehya al-Shu'aibi indicated 
that Yemen's economic situation is improving and is 
"slowly" restoring pre-Limburg bombing levels. 
 
7.  DIALOGUE:  Unfavorable views were expressed in the 
program concerning the government's theological dialogue 
with extremists and al-Qaeda prisoners.   Several 
commentators also expressed frustration with the 
practicalities of the dialogue program. 
 
8.  WAR ON TERROR RESULTS:  The program highlighted that 
Yemen's cooperation with the U.S. war against terror has 
resulted in: 
 
- The arrest of "dozens" of people including some of the 
Afghan Arabs. 
- Government clamping down on mosques, traders, religious 
schools and money transactions. 
- Confrontations between the government and tribes, 
between al-Qaeda and the government, and between the 
government and opposition parties, leading subsequently 
to a possible "split" in national unity. 
- Deteriorating government-tribe relations and resentment 
about U.S. Embassy contacts with tribes.  In this part, 
Speaker of Parliament Shaikh Al-Ahmar was shown in an old 
interview criticizing former U.S. Ambassador Edmund 
Hull's meetings with tribal sheikhs and his visits to 
certain areas in Yemen which al-Ahmar called, "a breach 
of norms agreed upon by countries . and which no 
ambassador has the right to do." 
 
On one hand, a number of the interviewees held the view 
that the war on terror harmed Yemen's security and 
generated a situation worse than what had been hoped for. 
On the other hand, some believed that an indication of 
the success of the anti-war terror is that it has put al- 
Qa'eda on the defensive. 
 
9.  MULTIPLE VIEWS:  It is interesting to note that the 
program showed both accusations and counter-accusations, 
such as:  the YSP accusing the government of having used 
terrorists to get rid of its rivals (before and during 
the 1994 war); the government (Prime Minister Bajamal) 
accusing the opposition of supporting terror cells 
responsible for the murder of former YSP senior figure 
Jarallah Omar and murder of the three U.S. medics in 
Jiblah; and government-reformed figures accusing former 
YSP figures - currently holding government positions - of 
encouraging the government to attack, in the name of the 
War on Terror, those (Arab Afghans) who had sided with 
the government forces in its war in 1994 against the 
YSP's secession plans. 
 
10.  CONCLUSION:   The program concluded with footage of 
Yemeni Special Forces maneuvers, with the presenter's 
voice citing Yemenis' "fears" that the War on Terror (in 
Yemen) might be endless given the secrecy of U.S. demands 
from Yemen in this regard. 
KRAJESKI