Those who believe that Yemen’s role as a home to al-Qaida and other groups engaged in terrorism and as a hotbed of anti-Americanism is a new phenomenon conveniently overlook history. Yemen was the base, after all, for the suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole in 2000 and killed 17 sailors. Yemen’s role as a base for international terrorism has continued to expand since then.
There’s ample evidence of the menace posed by the small nation on the Arabian Peninsula. For Americans, recent proof came on Christmas Day. That’s when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian apparently trained in Yemen, unsuccessfully tried to use chemical explosives concealed in his underwear to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane as it landed in Detroit. The failure of a mechanical device prevented a major loss of life.
The would-be terrorist bombing is just one of many pieces of evidence extant to suggest that attention must be paid to Yemen and its growing role as a hub for terrorism. It is impossible, in fact, to overlook the menace. Yemen is quickly taking a place alongside Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as a locale where the U.S. must act boldly to protect its interests.
To that end, Gen. David Petraeus recently said that the United States will spend about $130 million in the next year to fight terrorism in a country where poverty and illiteracy provide fertile ground for those who preach revolution. That’s double the current appropriation. It is also a wise use of funds.
Indeed, the United States would be hard-pressed to do more. The military already struggles to meet to meet demands imposed by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Budget constraints make it unlikely that additional action would be funded even if manpower was available.