What's in Yemen?

In the comments to this post, there was mention of the buildup to invading Yemen. One suggested that it would complete a circle of American troops around Iran, but Saudi Arabia is between Yemen and Iran and the Americans have been busy there for a long time. They don't need Yemen as a base to attack Iran. They already have forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. So that's not what they want it for.

The Dry Roasted Nuts amateur terrorist was allegedly trained there. If that's the training, there's nothing to worry about. All he managed to do was flare his trousers, and not in the Sixties manner. Let them train terrorists like that and we can all relax and watch the firework show as another Alky Ada operative demonstrates his amazing exploding underwear.

Rather like all that concrete-block airport security after the Keystone Kriminals tried to blow up Glasgow airport but managed only to blow up themselves and then get beaten up by a baggage handler, we are now faced with more and deeper security because of a spontaneously combusting knob-end. Our leaders are gibbering cowards and are utterly ill-equipped to lead anything more than a Girl Scout cookie-sale stall. They are running around with their hands in the air shrieking "Terrorist! Terrorist!" when all that really happened was that someone who apparently passed university level engineering made a less effective explosive than we used to make at school, before we'd even passed O level chemistry. One kid managed to make nitroglycerine but then he had very few friends.

If there are camps in Yemen where they train suicide bombers to blow themselves up without hurting anyone else, that's fine with me. Why interfere with that? Why invade Yemen? Which is clearly what's coming.

What's in there? Oil? With peak oil either approaching or passed, the West will want to secure the remaining easily-accessible supplies before the Arabs realise what's happening and put the price up. Does Yemen have oil? Even if it does, Saudi has much more.

So if it's an encircling action, it's not encircling Iran. That would be futile anyway because not even the Americans would consider moving in on Turkmenistan. That place is seriously nuts.

Are they encircling Saudi?

Or maybe they want Yemen as a base to deal with Somalian pirates. That would be plausible, as would the idea that the UK and US would just move in rather than ask Yemen for help in that respect.

But really, trying to convince us that a graduate engineer, trained by Al Qaida, managed no more than a sparkler in his shorts after sneaking past all that security, is just silly. We've had to deal with the IRA here. We expect a better class of terrorist. Nobody went into panic-stricken clampdown when the IRA were planting proper bombs yet we are expected to go through electronic strip search because of these rank amateurs? The hooded teenagers on the streets are scarier than this. Grannies in mobility carts cause more damage than this. Crossing the street is more dangerous and the current cold snap has caused more deaths. There is no justification for invading Yemen on the basis that Mr. Fiery Trousers might have spent time there.

So what's it about? Any ideas?