As I have been saying, military strikes, freezing the release of Gitmo detainees to Yemen and more mass imprisonment just amount to a band-aid and do nothing to get to the root of the problem. Slicing and dicing the intelligence failures and increasing airport security also are not a permanent fix.
Yemen will become a failed state without aid. Between the rebel tribes in the north, the secessionists in the south and al-Qaida, the Government is out-matched. Add to that its dwindling oil reserves, critical lack of water and horrendous prison system that just breeds more terrorists, and it's a certainty Yemen can't fix its problems on its own.
Saudi Arabia cleaned its country of al Qaida, but they didn't disappear, they just moved to Yemen because it was the easiest place to make a new start. They are co-opting the tribes people, offering them more than the Government offers, which makes them allies not enemies. That has to change.
And it's in Saudi Arabia's best interest to help because the newly reconstituted al Qaida Arab Peninsula (AQAP), has made it abundantly clear they are targets too. There was the August, 2009 "anal cavity" suicide bomber who tried to blow up the Prince in his presence. There was the October, 2009 shootout at the Saudi-Yemen border which killed Saudi guards and AQAP leader Said al-Shihri's brother in law, Yussef (another former Gitmo detainee) who was trying to smuggle 35 suicide vests into Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen share a border. In addition to security issues, there's a host of economic reasons for the Saudis to assist in preserving stability in Yemen.
Some good reading: Gregory Johnson's Five Suggestions on What to Do in Yemen. He argues for a holistic approach over military strikes, the need for the Saudis to pitch in and changing the U.S. displomatic structure to allow the diplomats to stay in the country longer to build lasting relationships and make use of institutionalized knowledge. He even recommends allowing the diplomats to chew Qat with Yemenis:
This also means allowing US diplomats to go to qat chews in Yemen – and even, perish the thought, chew qat with Yemenis. The US should be honest about what qat is and what it does and not hide behind antiquated rules that penalize a version of the stimulant that does not exist in Yemen. Whether or not the US knows it, it is engaged in a propaganda war with al-Qaeda in Yemen and it is losing and losing badly. US public diplomacy is all defense and no offense in Yemen, this has to change or the results of the past few years will remain the roadmap for the future. And that future will witness an increasingly strong al-Qaeda presence in Yemen.
AQAP's goal is to further weaken an already ailing Yemeni government and turn it into a safe haven for itself and al-Qaida members who are being kicked out of other countries. Yemen's problems will extend far outside of Yemen if they aren't addressed globally now, and if the U.S. were to be myopic enough to focus more on counterrorism than on supplying significantly increased developmental aid.