In poetry-loving Yemen, tribal bard takes on Al Qaeda - with his verse

Sanabani and Mashreqi realized that the historic respect accorded to poets gives them a unique power to win over illiterate tribesmen in remote areas where villagers are traditionally skeptical of all that the government has to say and offer.

"The Yemeni people are very sensitive to poetry - especially traditional poetry like this," says Mashreqi. "If poetry contains the right ideas and is used in the right context, then people will respond to it because this is heart of their culture."

And although Yemen has used force to tackle Al Qaeda cells and rebel groups, Mashreqi's poems also fit into Yemen's wider strategy of defeating Islamic extremism by appealing to their countrymen's sense of pride, honor, and patriotism.

O men of arms, why do you love injustice?
You must live in law and order
Get up, wake up, or be forever regretful,
Don't be infamous among the nations

The poems, however, also robustly argue that carrying out terrorist attacks in Yemen will succeed in scaring away much-needed foreign investment and tourism - an argument that few impoverished Yemenis can dispute.

"You have to talk to people about the dangers and effects of terrorism," says Ahmed al-Kibsi, professor of political science at Sanaa University. "Education, the media, and the military complement each other."

So far Yemen's tactics seem to be helping. Since Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh joined President Bush's War on Terror in late 2001 the country has not experienced any major Islamist attacks - although internal tribal conflicts regularly flare up, as does a long-running Shiite Muslim uprising in the country's far north.

But while there have been few successful attacks by Islamic militants in Yemen, the country has still had its troubles with Al Qaeda.

In February, at least 23 suspected and convicted Al Qaeda members escaped from a jail in Sanaa. The Yemen Observer reported that, "some of the escapees were the most important and dangerous members of Yemen's Al Qaeda network, and have been blamed for bombing the USS Cole warship in Aden."

Also, there may have been other unintended side effects of Yemen's successful campaign to persuade would-be jihadists not to carry out their attacks on Yemeni soil.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many Yemenis have instead traveled to Iraq to fight against the US-led occupation. In the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Yemenis are said to have made up the second largest contingents of Arab volunteers.

Others worry that while Yemen has succeeded in suppressing the visible symptoms of Islamic militancy, the root causes of violent radicalism remain and the Islamic militancy in the country is not defeated but is instead merely dormant.

Rising poverty, a lack of opportunity, and the arrogance and corruption of an increasingly authoritarian ruling class mean that Yemen's victory over terrorism may be only temporary.

"I've become aware of a real anger on the streets," says Robin Madrid, resident director of the National Democratic Institute's program in Yemen, adding that many Yemenis can despairingly point out second and third homes built by government ministers.

"Yemen has the potential to make excellent progress on all the fronts that we're concerned about," says Nabeel Khoury, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy, Sanaa, citing Yemen's need to tackle corruption and international arms smuggling while also extending democratization and protecting press freedom.

"At the same time, Yemen faces so many serious challenges that if it doesn't make the right decisions it risks deterioration on all these fronts," says Mr. Khoury, "with potential consequences for domestic as well as regional stability."

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