The U.S. has a tough stance when it comes to terrorism, especially in regions where terrorist groups look to take advantage of a people or a situation. In this paper I hope to answer questions pertaining to how the political unrest in Yemen began, how Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were formed and what effects they have in the region as well as the implications to American policies and interests in the Horn of Africa area. Yemen is a poor and unstable state where the political and social problems are an issue that some groups will look to exploit while others have a vested interest in stability. An analysis of the past and present political, economic and social issues in Yemen reveals two major issues: The ability for terrorist groups to thrive and the effects that they have on American interests and policies in that region.
Yemen is located in the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, Yemen boasts a variable landscape with immense desert areas in the southern portion and rugged mountains in the north. With a population of nearly 24,000,000, which is comparable to Saudi Arabia, Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. In 2010 the average household brought in an annual income of approximately $2,600 dollars. With a population that is by in large very unsusceptible to any real significant form of government getting involved in local affairs, the tribal territories outside of the capital city of Sana’a are difficult for the government to control.
The history of Yemen is one of occupation and civil war. After the invasions by the Romans, Ethiopians, and Persians, the country converted to Islam and was under the...
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...n hopes that together they are able to stabilize Yemen and control the activities of the AQAP.
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attacks of terrorist cells, such as al-Qaeda. The strategic location of the base in Djibouti, Africa
Zuhur, Sherifa. Saudi Arabia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
Chaliand, G. & Arnaud, B. (2008). The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda.
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
It is bordered by Iraq and Jordan on the north, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman and Yemen on the south. The Arabian Gulf Sea surrounded from the east and the Red Sea from the west. Saudi Arabia is a traditional monarchy. Al Saud dynasty is a royal family of the kingdom. The population of the kingdom was estimated to be 29,369,428 in 2014 - the 43rd largest in the world (Worldpopulationreview.com, 2014). In the technology side, Saudi Arabia is becoming focused on technology. They increase the spending on connectivity and human resources (Saudi Arabia Emergence of Innovation Kingdom,
Peterson, J. (2008, December). Arabian Peninsula Background Notes. Retrieved from Arabian Peninsula Background Notes: http://www.jepeterson.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/APBN-007_Tribes_and_Politics_in_Yemen.pdf
Societies will always have problems that cause some sort of reaction from individuals who believe that their social stability is being endangered. There have been a number of moral panics which have captivated society in terror and more often than not, owing to unfamiliarity. This essay will discuss the perception of a moral panic and will look at the case of the September 11th Terrorist attack against the United States of America, which triggered a colossal conflict of morality within modern day society. This essay will also analyse terrorism as a perceived deviance, the role of the moral entrepreneur and folk devil, in order to develop a level of understanding to the causes of this particular moral panic and its effects on society.
People from many countries have joined this group, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Britain. This paper is going to present a brief historical background of Al Qaeda, how it emerged with their ideology, view, believe, and goals and also it presents the activities which this group has been doing before and after the very massive attack they had in the US on September 11, 2001 and the international responses to this act of violence. Finally, this paper will end up with comparing this Organization (Al Qaeda) with Reverend Mike Bray the Christian terrorist. Historical Background of Al Qaeda Al Qaeda is led by Osama bin Laden, who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. His family was very rich and respected by Saudi royal household and the public.
The United States Military Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (HOA) is a geographical region that encompasses the countries of Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, and neighboring Yemen. Each country in the region houses many culturally unique distinctions to include groups, which comprise the HOA area of operation. Specifically one of these culturally unique groups originates out of Yemen. The country of Yemen, according to a 2004 census, has reached almost 20 million people (UNDP, 2010). Over 45% of the population lives on less than $2.00 U.S. a day (UNDP, 2010). The poverty-stricken people in Yemen have shaped a cultural group that in essence contains the majority of the Country’s population. The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the current Yemen culture shaped by the effects of poverty on the people of Yemen. These effects span a wide array of problematic issues predicated on three major topics. The effects of poverty on the people of Yemen include severe health problems spanning a majority of the region, the decay of the Country’s political infrastructure, and the growing support of terrorist organizations in the region. The dilemmas in Yemen did not solely originate internally. Yemen is host to some 91,587 (as of 2007) refugees from Somalia (CIA, 2011). The wake of events perpetuated by the effects of poverty on the people of Yemen, left unchecked, will continue to erode with significant and lasting negative effects on the entire HOA Area of Responsibility (AOR) to include local, regional, and U.S. interests.
Women’s rights in Yemen have not changed since (or before) the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990. Since the unification, new laws and a constitution (that are still placed on Islamic Shari ‘a law) that are in place unfortunately hold these statements to be true. According to Amal Basha some of Yemen’s laws that stereotype, discriminate, and demeanor women include: the value of the life of a woman, or girl is equal to half that of a man or boy and if a man performs a “honor kill” the maximum punishment he can face in prison is one year, compared to women who face death if they dishonor their husbands, women cannot leave the country without permission from a male relative, if women are imprisoned and do their punishment, they are not allowed to leave prison unless a male relative approves of it, there are no lega...
Currie, Stephen. "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Terrorists and Terrorist Groups. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 69-83. Print.
The Arab world consists of twenty-two countries encompassing all of North Africa and much of the Middle East. The Arab people number over 360 million and while they share a common language, there is a surprising degree of diversity among them, whether in terms of nationality, culture, religion, economics, or politics. (McCaffrey, 3) Most inhabitants of the Ar...
Al Qaeda is an international terrorist organization that was founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s in Peshawar, Pakistan. The name is Arabic for “The Base of Operation” or “method” (Burke 2004). However, many experts agree that al-Qaeda is more dangerous as an ideology than as an organization. As an organization, it has been weakened by fragmentation, arrests, and deaths of the top leaders. This has caused the structure of the organization to be destroyed, resulting in the lack of a central hub for the militant group. One thing that remains is the ideology, which is fueled mainly by a hatred of Western, Zionist, and Semitic cultures and beliefs (Burke 2004). As a result, many people may not be directly part of the al Qaeda network or even directly linked to bin Laden. Due to their common views and beliefs of Western culture, militant groups loosely associated to al Qaeda have been formed, carrying on the original objectives that bin Laden had in mind when he created this organization.
Yemen, officially known now as “The Republic of Yemen,” is an Arab country located in the Middle East, taking up the southwestern to southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the red sea, as well as located south of Saudi Arabia and west of Oman. Yemen is the second largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, with a population of nearly 20 million people, and an annual population growth rate of around 3 percent. In 1918, northern Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire. Their climate is mostly des...