Vacationing in Yemen...

[m21sniper]

SANAA (Reuters) – Armed Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped two U.S. tourists, a husband and wife, near the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday and were demanding the release of a jailed relative, Yemeni security officials said.

The couple's Yemeni driver and translator were also taken hostage, the officials said. The kidnappers were demanding the release of a family member in jail over a land dispute that was before the courts, a tribal source said.

"Armed tribesmen ambushed a car carrying tourists and their Yemeni driver and took them to their area," one of the security officials said. Another official said that the kidnapping was not thought to have broader political motives.

Yemen, bordering the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, surged to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.

Kidnappings of foreigners and Yemenis are common in the impoverished Arabian peninsula country, where hostages are often used by disgruntled tribesmen to press demands on authorities.

Most hostages taken in Yemen have been freed unharmed, but in 2000 a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire and in 1998 four Westerners were killed during an army attempt to free them.

The fresh kidnapping came just under a week after two young German girls held hostage for nearly a year in Yemen were rescued near the Saudi Arabian border.

The girls were members of a family of five who have been held by kidnappers who the Yemeni government believes have links to al Qaeda. Three other foreigners kidnapped alongside the family were found dead last year.

The United States and Saudi Arabia want Yemen to focus its efforts on fighting al Qaeda, fearing the global militant group will take advantage of Yemen's instability to spread its operations to the neighboring kingdom and beyond.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by David Stamp)

------------

Idiots.

[Joeaksa]

Idiots. We should leave them in their hands for a couple of years then ask them if their next vacation might be in Montana or at Dollywood?

Like the three kids "hiking on the Iraq boarder" who are now in jail in Iran for just under a year.

Where these idiots get the feeling that it would be fun to do things like this is beyond me. Yemen is a hotbed of terrorism...

[cairns]

I was slated to go there once and didn't go (this was about ten years ago). Even then, we were strenuously warned about kidnapping and hired armed security personnel. Kidnapping and Kat are their way of life. They go along with the jambia (a Yemeni dagger) worn to prove you're a man. Truly an 11th century culture.

Why anyone on Earth would go there for a holiday is beyond me. It's 140 degrees in the shade.

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by cairns

Why anyone on Earth would go there for a holiday is beyond me. It's 140 degrees in the shade.

Yeah, but it's a dry heat.

[Joeaksa]

Midland... there isnt much there but there sure is a lot of it!

If you are into gas and oil it might be fun for a while but thats about all there.

[s_morrison57]

Idiots is a good call.

[Seahawk]

To paraphrase a few lines from the movie Masada for these chuckle heads: Vacation? We visited a rock, in the desert, next to a poisoned sea.

There is simply, and I have been there, no there, there. Vacationing in Yemen: I remember when I had my first toke.

In the Parthenon of bad ideas, I'm thinking Athena is pissed.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

To paraphrase a few lines from the movie Mossada for these chuckle heads:

One of the best books ever, written by one of the best authors ever. Wish the movie was closer to the book.

Masada, based on The Antagonists, was written by Ernie K. Gann.

[BGCarrera32]

Well it was either Yemen or Detroit so...

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by BGCarrera32

Well it was either Yemen or Detroit so...

Not a whole lot of difference there. At least the terrorists are out in the open in Yemen... and I am not kidding one bit here.

[McLovin]

Two bad things I know will never happen to me:

1) Get the whole family kidnapped in Yemen.
2) Get gored in the throat by a bull during a bullfight.

I'm guess I'm just lucky that way.

[GH85Carrera]

Sniper, you are 100% correct. Those are the very definition of idiots.

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Two bad things I know will never happen to me:
[snip]

I started to give this a "+1" but then I decided not to tempt fate.

[Rot 911]

I am curious how these ideas pop into people's heads? I mean are they just sitting around the kitchen table one evening talking about vacation hot spots and someone throws out "Yemen?"

[Jim Richards]

Why just the other night, the missus and I were talkin'...

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by cairns

...

Why anyone on Earth would go there for a holiday is beyond me. It's 140 degrees in the shade.

- they are obviously CIA

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Two bad things I know will never happen to me:

1) Get the whole family kidnapped in Yemen.
2) Get gored in the throat by a bull during a bullfight.

I'm guess I'm just lucky that way.

Do not forget the "running of the bulls" in Pamplona. Sorry kids, just not in the mood to run with pissed off bulls anytime soon...

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

I am curious how these ideas pop into people's heads? I mean are they just sitting around the kitchen table one evening talking about vacation hot spots and someone throws out "Yemen?"

Thats a good one! Needed a chuckle this afternoon....

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

I am curious how these ideas pop into people's heads? I mean are they just sitting around the kitchen table one evening talking about vacation hot spots and someone throws out "Yemen?"

Heh heh. I bet if you call several travel agencies and ask what country is the bottom of the barrel insofar as requests from people interested in going there, most would say North Korea or Somalia... followed quickly by, "But hey, next up the list is Yemen, and I can get you a bargain rate at any Holiday Inn Express there any time."

[Rick Lee]

I will confess to wanting very badly to visit the NK border from the Chinese side and to also visit NK on an organized tour. But I'd not even think of doing something like Al Gore's "journalists" did last year. I have very little sympathy for people who wind up in trouble like these folks have. I'm sure their families are upset, but it should not be the job of the US gov't. to rescue people from their stupid decisions and that goes for a lot of other areas in American life.