This morning, terrorists attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, engaging in a fifteen-minute gun battle with Yemeni security guards and detonating a car bomb at the embassy’s gate. Ten innocents, including four bystanders, were killed in the attack. Thankfully, the embassy staff was unharmed.
This attack serves as a chilling reminder of the immense threat that failed states pose to international security. Yemen, which I visited in January 2007, is such a state. Beyond the capital, the regime’s security control is extremely tenuous, and a variety of armed groups battle for power in its absence. In this vein, to the north of Sana’a and in pockets throughout the country, intertribal warfare over disputed lands is common, and the government rarely intervenes. (In perhaps the most surreal moment of my travels in the region, I remember my tour guide–over drinks at a hotel bar–telling me about the bazooka he keeps for “defensive purposes,” and the casualties that his family has suffered during these battles.)
Meanwhile, militant groups kidnap foreigners with relative frequency, using the hostages to humiliate an extremely unpopular, authoritarian regime. The situation is so bad that tourists need to obtain official permits twenty-four hours ahead of time if they wish to travel on roads away from Sana’a, so that the government can verify whether certain roads will be patrolled with official checkpoints. Most alarmingly, for roads that run through the eastern Hadramawt desert, the government can provide few assurances, and foreigners need to hire a Bedouin escort for security purposes.
Even in the major cities, the regime – fearing for its own stability – has been loathe to crack down on militant activity. In this vein, the Al-Nur Honey Press Shop, which the U.S. Treasury designated as a global terrorist organization for funneling money to al-Qaeda in 2001, was still operating in downtown Sana’a during my visit last year. Moreover, in the aftermath of a series of attacks in Sana’a in recent years, the Yemeni government attempted a “reeducation program” for captured terrorists – declining severe punishment in pursuit of an untenable modus vivendi.
Sadly, there are no good options for U.S. policy in Yemen. There is, however, an important lesson to be learned: that where possible, the U.S. must act to avoid the emergence of failed states that will serve as breeding grounds for all sorts of militant activity, including terrorist attacks on U.S. interests. Regardless of one’s views on the Iraq war, this has always been the best reason for supporting a continued U.S. presence in Iraq – preventing Iraq from becoming another Yemen.
When Barack Obama and John McCain comment on this morning’s tragic attack, it will be critical to see whether they have drawn similar lessons.
