.Yemen permits wanted al Qaeda leaders to operate in the open
Even as the US has stepped up cooperation with Yemen in targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known terrorists wanted by the US government continue to operate in the open while the Yemeni government looks the other way.
The US has increased military and intelligence support to the weak Yemeni government and President Ali Abdullah Saleh over the past several months as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has grown more bold. The terror group has been plotting to target the Yemeni state as well as US and other foreign targets inside and outside Yemen, according to US intelligence officials.
In the fall, the US deployed special operations forces to Yemen to work with the country's army and security serves to root out al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The terror group has opened large training camps in Sana'a, Abyan, and Shabwa provinces over the past year. Camps in these provinces were targeted in US airstrikes on Dec. 17, while a high-level leadership meeting was hit a week later in Shabwa on Dec. 24.
The Yemeni government has denied US involvement in the attacks against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and claimed Yemen took action because the group was "trying to show that they can undertake terrorist activities in an open fashion."
"There was intelligence that they were targeting the British Embassy and a number of government institutions as well as private schools," Abu Bakr al Qirbi, Yemen's foreign minister, told The New York Times. "The second reason is that they have become more vocal, trying to show that they can undertake terrorist activities in an open fashion. So the government had to respond to that."
US officials have praised Yemen for its support against al Qaeda; after the Dec. 17 strikes, President Barack Obama phoned President Saleh to offer thanks. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman also "commended" the Yemeni for confronting al Qaeda.
"The fact of the matter is that Yemeni officials and government ought to be commended for taking on the al Qaeda threat that exists in their country," Whitman said on Dec. 28. "Yemen has a growing al Qaeda threat and the government has taken the important steps to address it."
But for years Yemen has refused to keep wanted al Qaeda operatives behind bars or transfer them to the US for trial. Two wanted al Qaeda operatives, Jamal Ahmed Mohammed Ali al Badawi and Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso, have operated openly in Yemen despite being wanted for their roles in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, that killed 17 US sailors.
Another wanted al Qaeda operative, Jaber A. Elbaneh, was a member of the Buffalo Six, an al Qaeda cell based in Lackawanna, New York.
The US government has a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrests of Badawi, Elbaneh, and Quso, yet the Yemeni government has rebuffed efforts by the US to have them extradited to the US.
Two radical clerics known to support al Qaeda have also operated freely in Yemen. Abdulmajid al Zindani manages a radical Islamic university despite being designated a terrorist by both the US and UN. Ansar al Awlaki, a radical cleric who provided spiritual support to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers as well as to a Muslim US Army major who murdered 13 US soldiers in a shooting spree, has delivered sermons via teleconference across the globe while running a jihadi website.
Both Awlaki and Quso have gone underground in Yemen since the US airstrike on Dec. 17.
LWJ
The US has increased military and intelligence support to the weak Yemeni government and President Ali Abdullah Saleh over the past several months as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has grown more bold. The terror group has been plotting to target the Yemeni state as well as US and other foreign targets inside and outside Yemen, according to US intelligence officials.
In the fall, the US deployed special operations forces to Yemen to work with the country's army and security serves to root out al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The terror group has opened large training camps in Sana'a, Abyan, and Shabwa provinces over the past year. Camps in these provinces were targeted in US airstrikes on Dec. 17, while a high-level leadership meeting was hit a week later in Shabwa on Dec. 24.
The Yemeni government has denied US involvement in the attacks against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and claimed Yemen took action because the group was "trying to show that they can undertake terrorist activities in an open fashion."
"There was intelligence that they were targeting the British Embassy and a number of government institutions as well as private schools," Abu Bakr al Qirbi, Yemen's foreign minister, told The New York Times. "The second reason is that they have become more vocal, trying to show that they can undertake terrorist activities in an open fashion. So the government had to respond to that."
US officials have praised Yemen for its support against al Qaeda; after the Dec. 17 strikes, President Barack Obama phoned President Saleh to offer thanks. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman also "commended" the Yemeni for confronting al Qaeda.
"The fact of the matter is that Yemeni officials and government ought to be commended for taking on the al Qaeda threat that exists in their country," Whitman said on Dec. 28. "Yemen has a growing al Qaeda threat and the government has taken the important steps to address it."
But for years Yemen has refused to keep wanted al Qaeda operatives behind bars or transfer them to the US for trial. Two wanted al Qaeda operatives, Jamal Ahmed Mohammed Ali al Badawi and Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso, have operated openly in Yemen despite being wanted for their roles in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, that killed 17 US sailors.
Another wanted al Qaeda operative, Jaber A. Elbaneh, was a member of the Buffalo Six, an al Qaeda cell based in Lackawanna, New York.
The US government has a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrests of Badawi, Elbaneh, and Quso, yet the Yemeni government has rebuffed efforts by the US to have them extradited to the US.
Two radical clerics known to support al Qaeda have also operated freely in Yemen. Abdulmajid al Zindani manages a radical Islamic university despite being designated a terrorist by both the US and UN. Ansar al Awlaki, a radical cleric who provided spiritual support to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers as well as to a Muslim US Army major who murdered 13 US soldiers in a shooting spree, has delivered sermons via teleconference across the globe while running a jihadi website.
Both Awlaki and Quso have gone underground in Yemen since the US airstrike on Dec. 17.
LWJ
posted by madtom at 12:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home