Lieberman: Yemen will be tomorrow's war, poor man's Afghanistan

Independent Senator of Connecticut and 2000 Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said on Sunday that Yemen will be "tomorrow's war If we don't act preemptively."

The battle in Yemen is increasing as each day passes. On Christmas Day, 35 people were killed in air raids by Saudi Arabian forces in the northern region of Sa’ada. The United States will continue to assist the Yemeni government with intelligence, weaponry and tens of millions of dollars in aid. Even though hundreds of civilians have been killed in air raids, the Obama administration congratulated the Yemen government’s forces in the region and reiterated the President’s support for the military operations. According to Fox News on Sunday, Connecticut Independent Senator and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Joe Lieberman, sat down with “Fox News Sunday” and said that if the United States doesn’t act pre-emptively in Yemen then it will be tomorrow’s war, “Iraq was yesterday's war, Afghanistan is today's war. If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war.” The Hill reports that Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, also a guest on the show, concurred with Lieberman's assessment and said preemptive strikes should be option worth considering but added that “it’s a big complex issue.” Lieberman continued that the focal point in the war on terror should be in Yemen as two recent attacks were connected to the nation and an al-Qaeda presence is continuing to grow. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army officer who killed 13 people at Fort Hood last month, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet from Netherlands to Detroit, were connected to Yemen in one way or another. As the Obama administration continues to escalate US presence in Yemen, Lieberman congratulated the President’s efforts but did caution that the administration should not release the 90 Yemeni who are currently being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reports Alter Net. “I know the president made a promise he'd close Guantanamo because of what it represented in world opinion. But today it's a first-class facility. It's way above what's required by the Geneva Convention or our constitution. It would be a mistake to send these 90 people back to Yemen because, based on the past of what's happened when we've released people.”