THE sudden surge of American interest in the Yemen conflict raises serious
questions. I have taken part in many discussions last week about Kerry's
surprise visit to Oman to meet with a Houthi delegation.
Here are some of these questions and my answers:
Why all the secrecy? Why in Oman?
Whenever America needs to speak to Iran and its Arab proxies, US officials
meet in Oman, with total radio silence! They negotiated the nuclear deal with
Iran for years in a similar fashion. Who knows what else?
If it was only the Houthis were engaged in last week's meeting, why all the
secrecy? My bet is Iran was there. This is explainable, since it is the
troublemaker in Yemen, as well as in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. To resolve the
Yemeni problem, you need to talk to them, not to the Houthis and Saleh.
If the Iranian masters are not in agreement, the Arab agents will keep
breaking their promises and failing their commitments.
The Houthis are allied with ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. How come Kerry
has met only with them?
It was a crude recognition of reality. The Houthis are the ones in the
driver's seat. Saleh was going out of his scripted line calling on Saudi
Arabia to talk directly to him. Kerry could have saved his breath by meeting
with the Iranians alone. Or maybe that was exactly what he did. The Houthis
may have been there just for the photo-op, and to get directions from their
masters.
The Yemeni government was not invited, notified or consulted. Why Kerry chose
to ignore them?
Since the Yemeni government has resisted the US-UN proposal, Kerry may have
decided to enforce it on them. This is the American way. It backfired on him,
because President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi refused to sign on, and the Arab
Alliance supported him. It was rude and humiliating, to say the least, to
ignore a legitimate president and travel across the world for a meeting with a
low-level delegation of a rebellious militia that kidnapped Americans and
fired missiles on the US fleet. American pride and prestige, not just Yemeni,
were compromised. Later on, he had to apologize in person to President Hadi
for a move that was hasty and badly conceived.
America is an ally and partner in the Decisive Storm. Why the change of heart?
The Obama Administration has never been a partner in any alliance against Iran
— Not in Iraq, not in Syria, not in Lebanon and not in Yemen. They were
initially against the Storm, but had to play catch-up after its start. Most of
their help consists of expensive services, paid in cash. Like any war
merchants, they made a fortune of sold equipment, spare parts and other
logistics.
US heart has always been with the Houthis. Under their watch (and their agent
in the UN, Jamal bin Omar) the rebels swept the country with ruthless force,
from their base in Sa'da, north of Yemen, to Sanaa, and down to Ta'az and
Aden. They had overthrown a legitimate, elected government, imprisoned its
Cabinet, and chased its president with ''wanted dead or alive'' bounty on his
head.
The UN-US legitimized all the above by dealing with the rebels as a de-facto
rulers. And if it wasn't for the Arab Alliance's support of Hadi, Yemen would
have been delivered to Iran, the same way Iraq had been. And Saudi Arabia and
the Gulf states would have been surrounded with the Farsi Empire north, south
and east. The nuclear deal with Iran, then, would have been completed.
What is so wrong with the UN and Kerry's peace plan that the Yemeni government
so adamantly refused?
What was leaked is disturbing. The president would have to transfer his
authority to a new government divided between three groups. One third would go
to the Houthis, another to Saleh, and a third to the current government. So
the rebels, who controlled 20 percent of the country would be rewarded with
two thirds of the new government — an overwhelming control. The Houthis would
turn over their heavy guns to unspecified third party. They should get their
forces out of major cities. That is too vague. They could easily say that most
of their arms were destroyed and turn only what cannot be hidden. Their
militants could pretend to be civilians and stay in Sanaa. Later, they may
incorporate them in the national army.
Since they would be ruling the government and parliament they could pass any
changes and roles they may wish. We are back to worse than square one. Iran
wins, Yemen and Arabs lose.
This means either everyone accepts, or another war erupts. Either way, US,
Britain, Israel and Iran rule our world. And they get richer selling arms to
all sides. Forget about it!
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be
reached at kbatarfi@gmail.com. Follow him at Twitter:@kbatarfi
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