a new war based on old lies

So it looks like the US has just gotten involved in yet another war, this time in Yemen. I wondered about this just last week.

US special forces have been sent to Yemen to train its army amid fears the unstable Arab state is becoming a strategically important base for al-Qaeda.

American officials told The Daily Telegraph the country is becoming a "reserve" base for the terrorist network, which considers it a safe haven.

The deployment comes as Yemen's neighbours said they had arrested "dozens" of al-Qaeda fighters moving in and out of the country. Oman, a moderate Arab state on Yemen's border, is to increase the number of naval patrols around the Arabian peninsula to try to intercept suspected terrorists on the move between bases in Yemen and South Asia.

Fearful that Yemen is in danger of becoming a failed state, America has now sent a small number of special forces teams to improve training of Yemen's army in reaction to the threat.

...Ahmed Said Alkathiry, an Omani foreign ministry official, said: "We have intercepted increasing numbers of people who come from places like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia that are moving their operations up through Yemen."

...Yemen is the ancestral home of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the local arm of the network, has provided many of the group's leaders. One of al-Qaeda's worst attacks on America, the bombing of the USS Cole, took place in Aden in 2000, killing 17 American sailors.

al Qaeda? The database slash organization created by the CIA slash ISI with help from Tim Osman slash Osama bin Laden who died in December 2001? That al Qaeda? The very same.

And Saudi Arabia? Does anyone remember on September 12, 2001 how the American newspapers all had full page ads, not just one but multiple pages per paper, in papers across the country, with condolences from Saudi Arabia? The pages had a lot of white space and some nice little stylized palm tree motif across the bottom. Anybody else remember this, because I'll never forget it. Our friends in Saudi Arabia felt so badly about what happened. They really wanted to be sure we all knew, so they took out these ads hoping that everyone here would get the message that we're good friends with Saudi Arabia.

According to the U.S. State Department 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, “Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years.” The September 11, 2001 attacks fueled criticisms within the United States of alleged Saudi involvement in terrorism or of Saudi laxity in acting against terrorist groups. The final report released by the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) indicates that the Commission “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded [Al Qaeda].” The report also states, however, that Saudi Arabia “was a place where Al Qaeda raised money directly from individuals and through charities” and indicates that “charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship” may have diverted funding to Al Qaeda. U.S. officials remain concerned that Saudis continue to fund Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

So to recap the situation thus far, Saudi Arabia, which spent $40.5B on arms in 2009 (compared to Israel's $13B "allowance"), the largest defense budget in the Middle East, and which has long been suspected of funding the CIA-created al-Qaeda, now needs our help to fight al-Qaeda in Yemen.

I don't know. Maybe I misunderstand, but that seems a little fucked up to me. But these articles from these respectable papers make it all seem so totally normal, so that you can read the lies and you know they're lies but nobody calls them lies they just roll them over again and again. It's too bad about all the civilians who have to die as a result. Back to the Telegraph:

US intelligence reports have said "dozens" of senior al-Qaeda members are established in Yemen. Telephone intercepts and other surveillance detected close ties with groups based in South Asia. Officials claimed that Saleh al-Somali, a Somali-born terrorist killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan last week, had orchestrated movement between the two war zones....

But officials in Yemen claim Iran, not al-Qaeda, poses the main threat to the country's security.

Ali Mohamed al-Anisi, the chairman of Yemen's national security agency, has blamed the Iran for fermenting the Shia rebellion. He said: "There are indeed signs, proof of Iranian interference."

Allegations that Iran supports the rebels that attacked Saudi Arabia remain unproven. But Western diplomats claim it is probable that Iran is providing money or materiel to the group, as it has to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Oh, so here we go. Of course this had to tie back to Iran and Hizbollah and Lebanon, just like the Kazakhs stopped in Thailand with weapons that Western intelligence sources say were "most probably destined" for Hizbollah and Lebanon, possibly even Hamas and Gaza.

Somehow, like a shamanic shape-shifter, the narrative will transform into a story about Israel, and Israel's arch-enemies, and Israel's security, and the existential threats that Israel faces, and the evil terrorists and Hizbullah and Hamas and Iran and Syria and Lebanon. And we will already be involved by then, because we're involved now, by helpfully helping out our buddies in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.