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Yemen's leader of 32 years is running out of patience. Look -- he already said he will step down when his nth term ends in 2013. He already promised he will not secretly transfer power to Junior in the middle of the night. Doesn't seem to satisfy these protesters who are pouring out into the streets. What more do they want? But not to worry, it appears that he knows exactly what to do if all else fails. The following report from NPR:
"I am going to reveal a secret," Saleh said at Sanaa University. "There is an operations room in Tel Aviv with the aim of destabilizing the Arab world. The operations room is in Tel Aviv and run by the White House."
He said opposition figures meet regularly with the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa to coordinate efforts.
"Regrettably those [opposition figures] are sitting day and night with the American ambassador where they hand him reports and he gives them instructions," Saleh said. "The Americans also talk with the government officials about this [the protests], but they tell them, "Allow these people to demonstrate in the streets.'
"We say that this is a Zionist agenda," he said.
In another sign of defiance, Saleh fired five of Yemen's 22 provincial governors Tuesday, a government official said. Three of the governors were dismissed for criticizing Saleh's crackdown on protesters, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the reasons for the decison.
WaPo writes that "the allegation, presented without evidence, appeared to reflect growing desperation on the part of a leader who has long enjoyed U.S. support, and it drew a swift rebuttal from the Obama administration."
President Saleh whose country received $300 million in aid last year has obviously forgotten Dictator 101? Rule #1: Do not let them see you sweat. Oops! Too late now.
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