A moment of truth for our national sovereignty [Archives:2002/46/Viewpoint]

Many Yemenis have spoken out that Yemen’s sovereignty was undermined by the US strike of Nov. 3 killing six Yemeni in a car near Marib.
Indeed, we launched a small survey asking average Yemeni citizens if they thought that our sovereignty was affected by this action, and most respondents replied that our country’s sovereignty was undermined, regardless if the Yemeni government agreed or did not agree on this action.
What is even more pathetic in my opinion is the way the Yemeni government has dealt with this issue. Even though there seems to have been coordination between the US and Yemen in the attack, it also seems that there has been no coordination between them in terms of how to deal with the aftermath of the incident.
The Yemeni government continued to insist for some time that the most probable result of the explosion were the explosives within the car. However, the US confession that the attack was preplanned and implemented by the CIA with the knowledge of the Yemeni government has put the Yemeni government in a difficult situation.
People have once again remembered the stories of the USS Cole. The Yemeni government said it was an internal explosion, then it turned to be otherwise. The government said that an electrical shock was the result of the bomb at the UK embassy after the USS Cole. Then came the Limburg case, when our government jumped to a conclusion that it may have been a gas problem, and it proved otherwise.
Today, we see that the Yemeni government was put again in the corner. More than four different US sources say that Nov. 3 was a CIA attack and it was confirmed by even more sources. Just today, I was browsing the Internet for more news and I found the Pentagon officials saying that this act was normal and it serves the war against terrorism.
What will the government say? Is the US lying about it? Is this a conspiracy? Why doesn’t the government just say the truth, which will be known sooner or later? I guess the government fears public reaction.
I want to comfort the government that there would be no public reaction. People – as can be concluded from the survey in this issue – are in such desperate economic hardships that they can barely raise an objection. They want to get on with their daily lives regardless of what happens. They have other priorities to deal with, especially in the holy month of Ramadan, when Yemenis tend to have a time to relax and sleep until noon.
In my opinion, Yemenis should not worry too much about their sovereignty and national pride simply because all the Arab world is lacking complete sovereignty because of the Israeli occupation and the US influence. We have become weak, defenseless, and unable to react to any sovereignty violation.
Why should the government try to hide those facts any more? We all know they are true. And continuing to hide them will only damage the trust of Yemenis in their government further. Our government must have a moment of truth for our national sovereignty. We already know that it was undermined, and there’s nothing more to hide.

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