Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Yemen: Amputations and a Crucifixion

Amnesty International has just issued a new report entitled 'Conflict in Yemen: Abyan's Darkest Hour,'(http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE31/010/2012/en/5c85d728-a9ab-4693-afe9-edecc2b8670e/mde310102012en.pdf), describing human rights abuses in southern Yemen. The report details horrors perpetrated by the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia organization, which is linked to al-Qaeda, and Yemeni government forces, backed with US intelligence and drone strikes:

"During its 14-month rule in Ja'ar, Ansar al-Sharia committed a wide range of human rights abuses in its attempts to maintain 'order'. It imposed punishments, including summary killings and amputations, on people it accused of spying, 'sorcery' and theft, among other activities.

. . . .

Saleh Ahmed Saleh al-Jamil . . . was found guilty by a 'religious court' in Ja'ar of planting two electronic devices in two vehicles carrying commanders and members fighting for Ansar al-Sharia.

. . . .

Saleh al-Jamil's body was crucified in the town for all to see.

. . . .

Yemeni government forces, in their efforts to regain control of the areas that had fallen to Ansar al-Sharia, increasingly used aircraft and artillery against residential areas, putting at risk civilian residents.

. . . .

In other attacks government forces appeared to fail to take necessary precautions to spare civilians, such as verifying a target was in fact military . . . and giving advance warning to civilians of an attack."

Query: Where were the Washington Post home page pictures of the victims of these outrages? Or perhaps such pictures can only be shown of aggrieved Gazans, notwithstanding the troubles the Israel Defense Forces took during Operation Pillar of Defense to provide advance warning to civilians of attacks and its willingness to cancel attacks when civilians were endangered.

Meanwhile, Thomas Pickering, the person selected by Obama to investigate the Benghazi scandal, decries American ignorance of Islam (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/david-ignatius-its-close-call-on-susan.html). Believe me, there are things you are better off not knowing.

[I will also not be traveling to Ja'ar anytime soon.]

5 comments:

  1. You want ignorance? Meet Washington's next Middle East policy makers in training at UCLA:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=w-dyMsXNHx4

    God help us!

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  2. I made a mistake - I read some of the comments on the B'nai Jerushun article in Der Neue Stuermer. I skipped the article itself.
    The idiocy of American so called "Jews" is terrifying. There are several good comments. I am pretty sure these sensible comments are posted by Der Neue Stuermer to demonstrate the lack of biases. Sure. Most of my comments were not posted, while many in the style of Mein Kampf are posted.
    One of the commenters mentioned the liberal German "Jews" who supported Hitler, but then were the first to emigrate. Yes, I met some of them - pure Nazis. Their children are now 'congregants' at BJ.
    Many years ago, I spent the most absurd 15 minutes of my life at BJ during some "peace" event. After listening to chanting "peace, peace, peace" and some Stalinist preaching and watching corporate, overfed congregants hugging each other I stormed out, just in time to vomit outside.
    Yes, I made a mistake and now I can't sleep.
    Human idiocy and evil are limitless.

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  3. As of 1:00 AM EST, the NYT couldn't find any room on their website's front page to report about the violent anti Morsi protests which took place Tuesday night outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

    Instead, Andrew Rosenthal is advocating that the war on terrorism "is a foolish and dangerous approach that has created what amounts to an inferior justice system almost entirely designed for Muslims."

    http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/the-war-on-terror-is-not-the-new-normal/?hp

    Rosenthal, Friedman and Cohen should perhaps take a trip to Ja'ar to 'argue' with the local crucifixers as to why they believe terrorism is a failed brand. Let's see how that works out.

    Or, if they find it difficult to obtain a visa to visit Yemen, they can just stay home and read some real front page news that they can better relate to, such as this piece:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/nyregion/jewish-congregation-applauds-un-vote-on-palestine.html?hp

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  4. Anonymous (10:17),
    I was referring to this BJ article on the front page of Der Neue Stuermer which some for unknown reasons call the NYT.

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  5. This what Mark posted in this discussion:
    "Quite often it is important to know first WHO the writers are and then put their comments in perspective.
    As an israeli based tour guide, some years ago I was was assigned to lead a group from Bnai jehsurun and its leaders. As we were going through an area which is historicallyJjudea and Samaria and referrred to today by many as the West bank, I gave a balanced review of the historical and political aspectsof the area.
    I was appraoced by one of the rabbis and told, 'we dont say the words Judea and Samaria at Bnai jeshrun. Dont do it again"
    Enough said,"
    So this ignorance is a result of deliberate manipulation and not just of opportunism and laziness.
    I apologize, Jeff, for this hijacking, but I think this is important.

    ReplyDelete