Saleh demonstrates his gratitude for all the U.S. taxpayer money that the learned analysts in the State Department have deemed it prudent to shower upon Yemen.
“Yemeni president says US and Israel behind unrest,” by Ahmed Al-Haj for the Associated Press, March 1 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s embattled U.S.-backed president accused Washington on Tuesday of instigating protests against his regime, as hundreds of thousands marched in cities across Yemen in the largest rallies yet seeking the longtime ruler’s ouster.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s allegations, unprecedented in their harshness, signaled a growing rift with the United States that could hurt a joint campaign against the al-Qaida terror network in Yemen.
Saleh’s comments Tuesday, including charges that the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Sanaa is giving instructions to the protesters, appeared to be part of an attempt to silence the calls for his resignation. Saleh has come under mounting pressure to step down since anti-government protests erupted a month ago….
Now wait a minute. “Saleh’s comments Tuesday, including charges that the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Sanaa is giving instructions to the protesters, appeared to be part of an attempt to silence the calls for his resignation”? So being anti-American is a popular stand among the secular, pro-democracy protesters in Yemen? Why, it’s…inexplicable!
Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, considered by the U.S. to be linked to the al-Qaida terror network, led noon prayers and warned the government not to use force against demonstrators. ” We hail the peaceful revolution of the youths and their legitimate demands and rights,” he said. “Go on until you achieve your demands.”
Yaseen Said Nouman, leader of the Socialist Party, which ruled south Yemen before merging with the north in 1990, also joined the rally. The Socialist party is the biggest opposition party in the south….
“I am going to reveal a secret,” [Saleh] said. “There is an operations room in Tel Aviv with the aim of destabilizing the Arab world. The operations room is in Tel Aviv and run by the White House,” he said.
He said opposition figures meet regularly with the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa to coordinate efforts.
“Regrettably those (opposition figures) are sitting day and night with the American ambassador where they hand him reports and he gives them instructions,” Saleh alleged.
“The Americans also talk with the government officials about this (the protests), but they tell them `allow these people to demonstrate in the streets’,” Saleh said. “We say that this is a Zionist agenda.”
The wave of political unrest sweeping across the Arab world is a “conspiracy that serves Israel and the Zionists,” he added.
Saleh accused President Barack Obama of meddling in the affairs of Arab countries. “Why is he interfering? Is he the president of the United States or the president of the Arab world?” Saleh said….
Hmmm. May I have some more time on that one?