Excerpts: Defecting Syrian officer directing military uprising against
Assad. Yemeni Nobel laureate 'Mother of Arab Spring'. At least 6,000
West-based websites promote terrorism. Yemen president will retire for
appropriate replacement. Yemen's main pipeline blown up October 08, 2011

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 8 Oct.’11:”Force only option to topple AssadL
Syryian) Colonel”

SUBJECT: Defecting Syrian officer directing military uprising against Assad

QUOTE:” he was directing a military uprising against the Syrian leader from
within Turkey”

FULL TEXT:ANTAKYA, Turkey – The most senior officer to defect from Syria’s
armed forces has said there is no option but to topple President Bashar
Al-Assad by force and he was directing a military uprising against the
Syrian leader from within Turkey.

Colonel Riad Al-As’aad, who is now living under Turkish government
protection in Hatay province on the Syrian border, said some 15,000
soldiers, including officers, had already deserted, and he was waiting to
move his command inside Syria.

As’aad, a slim, softly-spoken man dressed in civilian clothes and
open-collared shirt, said rebel soldiers were forming brigades around the
country who were setting up ambushes against government forces to prevent
them entering villages. Morale in the Syrian army, he said, was low.
“Without a war, he will not fall. Whoever leads with force, cannot be
removed except by force,” As’aad told Reuters in a Syrian refugee camp in
Hatay.

“The regime used a lot of oppressive and murderous tactics so I left, so
that I will be the face outside for the command inside, because we have to
be in a secure area and right now there is no safety in all of Syria,” he
said.

As’aad sat in the shade of a tree as Syrian refugee children laughed and
played in the background. Music rang out from a nearby tent that served as a
makeshift school.

As’aad, who has been in Turkey for more than two months, is under constant
guard by Turkey’s gendarmerie and his exact location is kept secret for his
own security.

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 8 Oct.’11:”Nobel recognition for mother of Arab
Spring”

SUBJECT: Yemeni Nobel laureate ‘Mother of Arab Spring’

QUOTE: “Yemeni Tawakkul Karman (Nobel laureate) ‘I dedicate it (the prize)
to all the activists of the Arab Spring’ “

FULL TEXT:OSLO, Norway – Yemeni Tawakkul Karman, one of three women awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize Friday[7 Oct.], said she had dedicated her unexpected
win to all activists of the Arab Spring.

“I dedicate it to all the activists of the Arab Spring,” Karman told
Al-Arabiya Television, refering to protesters who took to the streets in
several Arab countries demanding democracy.

“I am very happy. I didn’t expect this at all,” she said, adding that “the
project for freedom and dignity has become a reality.”

“This is an honour for all the Arabs, Muslims and women,” said the woman who
has become a leading figure in the months-long nationwide-protests against
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“We are heading towards a beautiful future for our nation,” added the
32-year-old Karman, who has been holed in Sanaa’s protest encampment for
around four month, in fear of being hunted by the partisans of the veteran
leader.

“We will work to reach all our (protest) goals, not short of one,” she
added.

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Liberian President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman
of Yemen for their work on women’s rights, which the prize committee
described as fundamental to the spread of peace around the world.

By citing Karman, the committee also appeared to be acknowledging the
effects of the Arab Spring, which has challenged authoritarian regimes
across the region.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women “for their nonviolent
struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full
participation in peace-building work”.

“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women
obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels
of society,” the prize committee said.

Prominent female leaders, rights groups and international organizations all
hailed the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to three women who have fought for
women’s rights.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it a “wise decision.”

Prize committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said he hoped the prize would
bring more attention to rape and other violence against women as well as
women’s role in promoting democracy in Africa and the Arab and Muslim world.

Johnson Sirleaf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa’s
first democratically elected female president in 2005.

Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for years until 2003 and is still
struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of UN peacekeepers.

Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took
office.

She is running for reelection this month and opponents in the presidential
campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to
campaign. – Agencies

Her camp denies the charges.

The committee cited Johnson Sirleaf’s efforts to secure peace in her
country, promote economic and social development and strengthen the position
of women. – Agencies __

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 7 Oct.’11:”6,000 West-based websites promote
terrorism - (Saudi) Official”

SUBJECT: At least 6,000 West-based websites promote terrorism

FULL TEXT:;RIYADH — There are at least 6,000 websites operating in Western
countries that support terrorism and extremism, according to Western
experts, said Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Hadlq, Director of the General
Administration for Intellectual Security at the Ministry of Interior.

The official urged the private sector to support the anti-terrorism
programs.

“The success of the security forces in combating terrorism has prevented the
deterioration of the economy. This shows that the first beneficiaries are
businessmen. So they should contribute to the anti-terrorism programs,”
Al-Hadlq was quoted as saying by Al-Hayat Arabic daily.

He said that it was important to identify the enemies of the country,
whether they be Al-Qaeda or other groups.

Al-Hadlq said certain groups should not be called “Jihadees” because this
belittles “Jihad”. Rather, extremists should be called “deviants”.

He said the Ministry of Interior has a hard and soft approach to terrorism.

This means, he said, that it uses ideas to counter extremist ideologies, but
also employs harsh tactics such as shutting down or blocking websites, and
dragging criminals to the courts.

He said more in-depth studies should be conducted on the Internet and the
dissemination of evil and deviant ideas. — SG

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 8 Oct.’11:”Yemen President Says Ready to Quit
within Days”,Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Yemen president ready to retire for appropriate replacement

QUOTE:” (re opposition:) ‘impossible to let them destroy the country’
whereas there were ‘sincere men, whether they be military or civilian’ who
were capable of governing Yemen”

FULL TEXT:Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, faced with more than eight
months of street protests demanding his ouster, said on Saturday[7 Oct.] he
is ready to step down within days but would not hand over to his foes.

"I don't want power and I will give it up in the coming days," the veteran
leader said in a televised speech during which he launched a tirade against
his opponents.

Saleh, 69, said it was "impossible to let them destroy the country," whereas
there were "sincere men, whether they be military or civilian" who were
capable of governing Yemen.

The president, who has been in power for 33 years, has refused to hand over
power under the terms of a transition plan drawn up by Yemen's oil-rich Arab
neighbors in the Gulf.

In an early reaction, Yemen's new Nobel Peace Prize winner and leading woman
activist Tawakkul Karman said Saleh's latest apparent offer could not be
trusted and that protests would continue.

"We don't believe this man and if he wants to step down, okay, that belongs
to him," she told al-Jazeera television.

"He has to hand over the power; he has to give the power that he has stolen
to the revolution people, the revolution rule. We don't believe him," Karman
said. "We are continuing our peaceful revolution."

Anti-regime protesters in Yemen have since January occupied squares in main
cities and held demonstrations. They have been backed by opposition parties,
some of which the Saleh regime accuses of having armed militias.

They also have been supported by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected
along with his First Armored Division and has been providing protection for
protesters camped out at "Change Square" in Sanaa.

Saleh has opposed domestic and international calls to quit, insisting that
change should come about through the ballot box.

He has repeatedly refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered power
transfer deal under which he would hand over to his deputy Vice President
Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.

The opposition has rejected any talks with Saleh before he steps down.

U.N. envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar left Sanaa on Monday [2 Oct.] after urging
the country's leaders to agree on a political deal.

"It's up to Yemeni leaders to reach a political agreement... and they must
not fail to take up their responsibility," state news agency Saba quoted him
as saying.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 7 Oct.’11:”Blast hits Yemen’s main oil pipeline -
tribal source”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: ‘Yemen’s main pipeline blown up”

QUOTE:”a tribal head …said the attack was probably the work of tribesmen
seeking concessions from the government, not Al Qaeda”

EXCERPTS:SANAA (AFP) - Yemen’s main oil export pipeline was blown up on
Thursday[6 Oct.] in the Wadi Obeida region, east of Sanaa, a local tribal
chief told AFP, ruling out an attack by Al Qaeda.

“The pipeline was sabotaged at around 5:00pm (1400 GMT) and the explosion
holed the line and sparked a fire,” said Sheikh Mohsen Mabkut Ben Mayili, a
tribal head in Marib province.

He said the attack was probably the work of tribesmen seeking concessions
from the government, not Al Qaeda. It was the sixth act of sabotage this
year on the pipeline to Ras Issa terminal on the Red Sea, he said.

Some 125,000 barrels a day normally flow through the line, accounting for
the bulk of Yemen’s oil exports. . . .

Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA