Oh Saleh … ‘Eagle and fox’ once again

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FINALLY the ousted president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has fallen into the very trap that he had built through his coalition with the Houthi gang. This came after the gang issued a decision to arrest its ally for overthrowing the legitimate government.

This development signals the collapse of the coalition between the two parties. Saleh was warned about this on Aug 3, 2015 through the mythical story of “the eagle and the fox”. It was aimed to serve as a lesson for Saleh to learn from in order to prevent him from the evil of power and greed.

However, Saleh went on to up his bet on the coalition to the extent of becoming a traitor and presenting his country on a platter of bones and skulls of Yemenis to Iran through its mercenaries led by Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan Al-Houthi.

On this occasion, we would like to repeat the story of “the eagle and the fox” with the hope that Ali Saleh might learn from it.

Once upon a time, the eagle wanted to defeat the fox by convincing the latter to fly in order to observe the forest from above. The eagle started talking about things that the fox could not see from the ground. This surprised the fox to such an extent that he became enticed and wanted to see for himself.

After the eagle was certain that the fox had fallen into his trap, he asked, “Would you like to see the forest from above?”. The fox answered, “All my life I have been on the ground and I do not have wings like yours.”

The eagle said, “I would like to end our rivalry and start a new chapter of friendship with you. My gift to you is enabling you to view the forest from above; in fact, to view the whole world from above.”

The fox did not hesitate when the eagle asked him to climb on to his back. As they flew higher, the eagle became friendlier to the fox in an attempt to gain his trust. It reached a point where the eagle told the fox to loosen his grip on him because his claws were hurting him. He also asked the fox to sit further behind.

The fox agreed to the eagle’s requests. However, when he reached almost the tail of the eagle, he lost his grip and fell. It was then that the eagle became certain that he defeated his antagonist.

Despite the fact that the fox is famous for his deceptions and tricks, this time his greed to fly cast him into the trap of the eagle. The same applies exactly on Ali Saleh after he handed over Yemen to the Houthis who are executing Iran’s agenda, details of which are known to all.

Before the coup, the former president was much stronger than the Houthis. He was in a position of leaving them besieged in Yemen’s Saada Governorate in order to avert Yemen from plunging into the civil war and to save thousands of his people from dying or becoming injured.

In addition, he would have at least preserved his army, which had to surrender to the Houthis when it expressed its intention to return to power; but the Houthis had other evil intentions.

The characteristics of the Houthis are synonym to those of the masters in Iran in the sense that they never honor agreements. In fact, with great precision they carry out the directives of Tehran, which today deems Saleh as unnecessary baggage. This is exactly like the Austrian officer who surrendered his country to Napoleon Bonaparte, and the governor of Acre who surrendered his town to the crusaders.

Lessons from history are necessary for leaders. Unfortunately, Ali Saleh did not learn from these lessons when he sought illusions in his pursuit for power through his speeches. Even though more than a million or so attended to hear his speeches, majority of the 26 million Yemenis are in support of the legitimate government, and military and national resistance. If not for them and the strength of the Arab coalition, Saleh would have been thrown in Houthis’ jail long time ago.

There is still ample time for Saleh to help his country get rid of the Iranian invaders who are under the cover of Houthis. This can happen through his return to the right track and by seeking pardon. It will be more shameful for him to continue with his pursuit of power which has become unattainable for him, just like how the greed to fly had led the fox into being duped.

Finally, the hope remains on the Arab coalition and the legitimate Yemeni authority to accept Ali Saleh. This would entail everyone to overlook the errors committed, so that Yemen and its people can be saved, and the Houthis and Tehran’s regime can be expelled.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah – Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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