.Experts: Obama faces no easy decisions with Yemen
Washington -- President Barack Obama faces no easy decisions when weighing how to fight al-Qaida in Yemen, experts say.
"It's not just, 'let's go get these guys.' If we could have just gone and gotten them, we would have done that," James Carafano, a counterterrorism expert at the Heritage Foundation, said.
"You have to have good intelligence. You have to worry about collateral damage. You have to worry about the safety of (U.S.) personnel. ... And then you have to worry about what's the opportunity to collect intelligence and take prisoners for interrogation. All those things have to align before you decide what you are going to do and when," he added.
Some options bandied about by experts include air strikes, covert operations and bolstering the military might of Yemen to root out terrorists. The debate comes follows the Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida's claims this week that it aided attempted bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria. He is in a federal prison in Milan, accusing of trying to detonate powerful chemical explosives hidden in his pants as Flight 253 was about to land in Detroit.Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, says Obama should coordinate with Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh on a response.
The former member of the House Armed Services Committee said she also thinks more money should be given to Yemen, but worries that the Yemen president's political problem complicate monetary assistance.
"Whatever is done needs to be a (U.S.-Yemen) coordinated approach," said Miller. "You don't want to limit what those resources are. But you have to be certain if we send in a lot more money or additional armaments that it is being used to combat terrorism. ... If they think they have (an) airstrike where they can hit al-Qaida, then hit them and hit them hard."
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, urges Obama to treat future suspected terrorists in similar incidents as enemy combatants who can be interrogated.
"One of the things he has to do is stop this trend of making our efforts on terrorism a law enforcement issue," said Rogers, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee.
"When the first thing you do to a guy like that (the Flight 253 suspect) is to read them their Miranda rights that you have the right to remain silent, you clearly are going to lose valuable information. And the key to an incident like that is time. Because as much information as you can get as soon as you can get it allows the United States government to disrupt other events.
"There may be 25 more just like him. He clearly ran into them, saw them, was around them at training. And every tiny detail he can give us means something," added Rogers, a former FBI agent.
Miller on Wednesday announced she's introducing legislation that will clarify federal law so that the president has authority to treat all terrorists as enemy combatants.
"Abdulmutallab's actions were a terrorist act and not a criminal act," Miller said. "He committed an act of war. Instead of being treated as a common criminal, this individual should have been given over to the military so they could have interrogated him with the most aggressive interrogation methods this administration would condone.
"... I believe the President has the authority to treat terrorists as enemy combatants and hand them over to the military. This legislation will clarify without a doubt that authority and will give our country the essential tools we need to deal with terrorists who commit acts within our borders," said Miller.
Miller said the president has authority to detain enemy combatants captured on the battlefield, but that Congress needs to clarify that authority includes suspects captured on U.S. soil, who would be tried before military tribunals.
"This conflict is global in nature -- we need to ensure that individuals who wish to cause harm and destruction within the U.S. are caught and held as enemy combatants, so they can be tried in a proper military commission," Miller said.
Detnews
"It's not just, 'let's go get these guys.' If we could have just gone and gotten them, we would have done that," James Carafano, a counterterrorism expert at the Heritage Foundation, said.
"You have to have good intelligence. You have to worry about collateral damage. You have to worry about the safety of (U.S.) personnel. ... And then you have to worry about what's the opportunity to collect intelligence and take prisoners for interrogation. All those things have to align before you decide what you are going to do and when," he added.
Some options bandied about by experts include air strikes, covert operations and bolstering the military might of Yemen to root out terrorists. The debate comes follows the Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida's claims this week that it aided attempted bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria. He is in a federal prison in Milan, accusing of trying to detonate powerful chemical explosives hidden in his pants as Flight 253 was about to land in Detroit.Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, says Obama should coordinate with Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh on a response.
The former member of the House Armed Services Committee said she also thinks more money should be given to Yemen, but worries that the Yemen president's political problem complicate monetary assistance.
"Whatever is done needs to be a (U.S.-Yemen) coordinated approach," said Miller. "You don't want to limit what those resources are. But you have to be certain if we send in a lot more money or additional armaments that it is being used to combat terrorism. ... If they think they have (an) airstrike where they can hit al-Qaida, then hit them and hit them hard."
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, urges Obama to treat future suspected terrorists in similar incidents as enemy combatants who can be interrogated.
"One of the things he has to do is stop this trend of making our efforts on terrorism a law enforcement issue," said Rogers, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee.
"When the first thing you do to a guy like that (the Flight 253 suspect) is to read them their Miranda rights that you have the right to remain silent, you clearly are going to lose valuable information. And the key to an incident like that is time. Because as much information as you can get as soon as you can get it allows the United States government to disrupt other events.
"There may be 25 more just like him. He clearly ran into them, saw them, was around them at training. And every tiny detail he can give us means something," added Rogers, a former FBI agent.
Miller on Wednesday announced she's introducing legislation that will clarify federal law so that the president has authority to treat all terrorists as enemy combatants.
"Abdulmutallab's actions were a terrorist act and not a criminal act," Miller said. "He committed an act of war. Instead of being treated as a common criminal, this individual should have been given over to the military so they could have interrogated him with the most aggressive interrogation methods this administration would condone.
"... I believe the President has the authority to treat terrorists as enemy combatants and hand them over to the military. This legislation will clarify without a doubt that authority and will give our country the essential tools we need to deal with terrorists who commit acts within our borders," said Miller.
Miller said the president has authority to detain enemy combatants captured on the battlefield, but that Congress needs to clarify that authority includes suspects captured on U.S. soil, who would be tried before military tribunals.
"This conflict is global in nature -- we need to ensure that individuals who wish to cause harm and destruction within the U.S. are caught and held as enemy combatants, so they can be tried in a proper military commission," Miller said.
Detnews
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