The imperialist powers are using the Arab world uprising to implement a chaos plan with the goal of breaking up Arab countries into smaller states, political analyst Hisham Tillawi says.
Tillawi, a Palestinian-American who hosts the Current Issues television and radio program in Louisiana, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV. Following is the text of the interview: Press TV: Just speaking about the UN Security Council meeting that’s set to take place on Yemen, I’d like to start on that, do you think that it is coming a bit late? Tillawi: No, actually it’s coming right on target as far as the Western powers are concerned. They could not do it earlier but now they can. I do believe this is the first of many meetings that we’ll see. Eventually, the decision will be to oust Saleh. I really believe that Saleh’s days are numbered probably by the days, not even weeks. So, I really believe this is the end game for Saleh. If he does not step down, which I really believe he will, I don’t think we’re going to see another Libya here in Yemen. But I do believe that this move by the Western powers, they used the United Nations Security Council as a cover for them and very much to, basically, give them the credibility and authority to do whatever their plan calls for in Yemen. They use other forums, of course, like the GCC, just like they did in Libya when the Arab League had given the Western powers the cover to go and bomb Libya. The GCC is very much calling for the removal of Abdulla Saleh. Sometimes we find ourselves nit-picking on certain issues and actions that happen every day, but we do need to look at who’s starting this whole thing and why. All these things are just the process of removing Abdul Saleh. The United Nations meeting is just one part of that process. Press TV: How do you think the Arab mediation effort is affecting things? What is it about with the hijacking of the revolution, or efforts to shape the future of this movement in a way that the Arab States wiuld want? Do you think that Arab States are trying to save Saleh’s regime, and not necessarily Saleh himself because of the situation he’s facing — although he probably has to step down, and they have been calling for him to step down — but are there efforts underway to save his regime from total collapse? Tillawi: I don’t believe that there are efforts underway to save his regime more than (there is) to buy more time like they have done in Tunisia and Egypt. The United States cannot let Yemen or other Arab countries go just like that. I’d rather call these revolutions. I’d rather be in the streets of the Arab world and fight (together) with these people. Let’s not lose sight of why these people are on the streets. When you start talking like this and you start accusing Western powers of meddling in the affairs of the Arab world, you are one of the minorities. People will say all these millions of people are being driven by Western powers. We have to understand these people in all of these Arab countries have been under the control of these horrific regimes for 40 years or more. Who allowed this to go? It’s the same Western powers that are meddling in their affairs right now. So when someone like Ali Abdul Saleh or anyone else, or even someone like us in the media, political analysts, starts saying that the ones who is really benefiting out of this are not the people from these countries who are in the streets fighting for freedom. Yes, they deserve freedom. However, are they going to get freedom? Of course, the freedom they are seeking is not what they will receive. So let us not lose sight of who is actually benefitting from this regardless if Saleh’s regime is gone or not. The end game is who’s benefitting and it is not going to be the people who are benefitting. You cannot say, like Saleh said, that Israel and the United States are behind this. It’s hard to convince people that all these millions of people in the Arab streets are actually doing what Israel and the United States want them to do, but the fact is they are actually being played by these powers. Let’s not forget who spent millions of dollars in the last few years to train these people to go back into their countries and actually seek these so-called revolutions. You cannot say, ‘Okay the United Nations is doing this today, so we need to act to it.’ We have to see the whole picture. What I see here is basically chaos, and that is the plan to send these countries into chaos, that is not going to settle down as the regime goes. What we are going to see in the Middle East and these Arab countries is not yet to come. This is just the beginning and it’s not going to be a nice game for the people in the Arab world, and they are not going to be the beneficiaries. The United States is not going to be right there doing this, and managing this in Libya as they speak to remove the president unless they have another game to their advantage that they already planted in the books. Press TV: When you say the end game of Yemen, and how you see things developing there, do you mean the future of Yemen once President Saleh steps down is going to be a new regime that would be following the policies of the US and Israel? Tillawi: The United States will not let go of these Arab countries. Let’s not forget that the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh was actually doing what the United States wanted him to do. Moreover, Mubarak was doing exactly what they wanted him to do. The idea now is to send the Arab world into chaos. The idea is to divide the Arab world. I guarantee you Ali Abdullah Saleh is not going to be the problem. All of the people who are uniting into removing him, the same groups and same people, we will end up seeing South Yemen and North Yemen. No one wants to talk about this. We will even be seeing a lot more different enclaves in Yemen that will be asking for autonomy. This is the plan that they made. It’s very hard to convince people of this plan when the millions are out there in the streets fighting for freedom. We had put these people under pressure for forty years to come out and ask for freedom. However, the end game is not going to be freedom; it’s going to be chaos, and more dividing of the Arab countries. Instead of 22, you will have about 30 Arab states by the time they finish with them. Press TV: If you could give us an answer on the issue of al-Qaeda that’s being raised in Yemen. Especially by the United States when it says, there is a threat of al-Qaeda coming back because of the chaos. What do you think about these kinds of statements? Tillawi: You asked a good question. As far as al-Qaeda in Yemen (is concerned), it was never believed that al-Qaeda was actually in Yemen. These were groups that were set up there by the United States led by a guy who was in Guantanamo Bay for six years as a prisoner; a Saudi guy. All of a sudden he goes back to Yemen, and was the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen. Now you are not going to hear about al-Qaeda in Yemen because they have used them and are finished with them.
