Fear of tribes and terror hasn't panned out
U.S. News senior writer Kevin Whitelaw recently visited Yemen, an impoverished Muslim nation on the Arabian Peninsula that became a surprising U.S. ally in the wake of September 11. The Yemeni government has made some impressive strides when it comes to fighting terrorism, despite a few serious lapses like an embarassing prison break last month when 23 al Qaeda prisoners escaped through a tunnel. But now, Yemen is facing questions about its own crisis, as mounting poverty, declining oil resources, and suffocating corruption combine to threaten the nation's democratic progress–and perhaps its very existence. Whitelaw spent time with Yemenis from all walks of life – those in government, security, business, and education, along with a few of Yemen's legion of unemployed.
SANA, YEMEN–Despite the endemic poverty in Yemeni tribal regions, these areas have not yet become the terrorist havens that many outsiders had feared. Indeed, on all the various lists of terrorist suspects compiled by U.S. and European officials, there are no documented tribal men included. The government has also been able to cooperate with most of the tribes when it comes to terrorism, most notably in the effort to recapture Jamal Badawi, the mastermind behind the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, the first time he escaped from prison.
"On the surface, it looked like a haven for terrorists," says Alawa al-Basha, a tribal leader near the lawless city of Marib. "But the tribes, because of their own structure and culture, are not inclined to be members of these extremist groups. We consider them infidels—not part of Islam."
Many of the tribes, in fact, are quite eager for modernization. Basha, for example, is a poet who is working toward a master's degree in comparative studies, looking at how Islamic law and western law treat freedom of speech. Robin Madrid, head of the Yemen program for the National Democratic Institute, which has worked extensively with the tribes, thinks they have been unfairly labeled as backwards: "I think there is a possibility that good democracy work can help them transition to a modern state—if there is a modern state to transition to."
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