US pretends fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen: Activist

Press TV has interviewed Hussein al-Bukhaiti, a Yemeni activist and political commentator in Sana’a, about the US claiming that its warplanes have targeted a training camp of al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Walk us through what took place in Hadramawt Province.

Bukhaiti: We know that al-Qaeda has been in control of Hadramawt from the beginning of the Saudi-led coalition on Yemen and this coalition has never ever targeted any al-Qaeda training camps. They have seized all military bases in Abyan, in Shabwa, and as well in Hadramawt.

They were defeated by Ansarullah, the Houthis and the Popular Committees and the Yemeni army before the Saudi-led coalition which have brought them back to those areas and yesterday we saw this statement from the Pentagon, but let’s be clear here that the US has been targeting al-Qaeda for the last six years in Yemen, it has not succeeded in defeating al-Qaeda. It has killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen, the US drones have killed those civilians, and those attacks are used as a recruitment effort or recruitment propaganda for al-Qaeda to recruit more fighters in their effort to seize many areas in Yemen.

And we hear that yesterday many Saudi outlets and surprisingly some independent outlets like Reuters have claimed that the Saudi-led coalition did target this and I think this statement, it came as a denial to those claims by the Saudi-led coalition media.

Press TV: As you mentioned it has been six years since the United States has been carrying out these drone strikes against al-Qaeda. You also pointed out that they failed to defeat al-Qaeda, coupling that with the fact that so many civilians have been killed as a result of these drone strikes which are seen as a breach of Yemen’s sovereignty, what has to happen to get these drone strikes to stop?

Bukhaiti: I think the United States is using those drone strikes to show the world or to act as they really want to fight al-Qaeda but if they really wanted to fight al-Qaeda and defeat al-Qaeda in Yemen, they could have stopped their support for the Saudi-led coalition who is fighting side by side with al-Qaeda against Ansarullah, the Houthis, and the Yemeni army and we have seen the latest BBC report that shows those ISIS (Daesh) fighters, al-Qaeda fighters are fighting with the Saudi-led coalition using American made weapons and American made vehicles supplied by the United Arab Emirates and as well by the Saudi, those steps if the United States will do them then they will defeat al-Qaeda.

But we know that this intervention in Yemen happened only after Ansarullah, the Houthis and the Yemeni army have cleared all the south from al-Qaeda except Hadramawt at that time and then that is when the Americans felt that al-Qaeda was going to be defeated and they do not want that. They want al-Qaeda to stay in Yemen and they have failed in Afghanistan, they have failed in Iraq, in Syria, in Libya, and they have created al-Qaeda actually and Daesh or ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Libya and now we have seen that those monsters who have been created in Iraq and Syria supported by the Western countries who used to let those terrorists go freely through Turkey to Syria, now those monsters are going back to European countries and I think we are going to see in the future more and more attacks on civilians in Europe unless if they want to stop it they have to stop the Saudi aggression in Yemen and as well they have to stop the source of al-Qaeda which the ideology of al-Qaeda and ISIS which [is] in Saudi through the Wahhabi religious thought and as well the finance that comes from Saudis and from all [Persian] Gulf countries and in this way we can defeat al-Qaeda altogether.

Press TV: Civilian deaths as a result of these US drone strikes coupled with the Saudi blockade on Yemen and the year-long war further highlights the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, doesn’t it?

Bukhaiti: Yes, exactly that’s what has been happening in Yemen. We have a blockade for almost a year now and we have all Yemeni infrastructure, all Yemeni army bases, security forces, police stations, prisons have been targeted by the Saudi-led coalition. I mean targeting prisons as well is to free al-Qaeda militia. They targeted farms, wheat silos, everything that is considered to help Yemeni civilians and on the top of that they are supporting al-Qaeda and we see that the United Nations and its [envoy] in Yemen they are becoming as a political wing for the Saudi aggression in Yemen because all the truces that have been done through the UN through this war in Yemen, those truces have been used to invade Aden, to invade Ma’rib and Jawf and to invade part of Hajjah and to advance in some areas in Ta’izz and as well the UN envoy, the only thing he is asking from the Yemenis, he is asking them to free some officers like the former minister of defense who was caught in battle when he was side by side with the coalition and the only thing the UN is asking is to free him and to free others and this is what the Yemenis see that the UN is becoming a side of this aggression and as well they insist because the Saudi has failed militarily against Yemen.

The UN keeps insisting and keeps asking the Yemeni parties like Ansarullah and the GPC (the General People's Congress) to hold talks for peace in either Kuwait or Jordan or Morocco and those three countries are part of this aggression in Yemen and I think during history … across the world, we have never ever seen that one party will go to meet in another country who has started the war against them, but the UN, it is trying to help the Saudis to defeat Yemenis politically because they have failed to defeat us militarywise.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk