Growing Al Qaeda Threat from Yemen
This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar in London.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an increasingly powerful, increasingly dangerous organization, and it's operating beyond the control of Yemen's weak, beleaguered central government.
Yemen is fighting two wars; a civil war in the north and one against al Qaeda. Increasingly, the U.S. is training Yemeni troops in counterterrorism and providing them with weapons.
"For many years now, al Qaeda has had a presence in Yemen," says Peter Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism for London's Metropolitan Police and a CBS News consultant. "The internal conflict and instability there give it an operating base and a training base, and we've seen just how dangerous this can be."
For a time, the government, based in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, effectively had a truce with the local branch of al Qaeda, welcoming many home after the end of a 1990's war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Skilled fighters, they were useful in combating rebellion in the south.
By the end of the decade, however, that truce had come to an end as more militant leadership took over the group.
It was the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda which claimed responsibility for training and equipping Abdulmuttalab, and the government has now confirmed he was twice issued visas to study in the country, and he spent a number of months there prior to the Christmas attempt.
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The first al Qaeda strike against a U.S. target in Yemen was the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. A boat packed with explosives rammed the naval vessel in Aden port killing 16 people. That followed an earlier, failed attack against another American warship, USS The Sullivans. Those events led to increased security cooperation between the U.S. and Yemen.
"Since October 2000, after the attack on the USS Cole, there was this close cooperation. There was American support for our counterterrorism units," Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Baker al-Kerbi told CBS News in an exclusive interview.
"The American support for our counterterrorism involves both training, logistics, some firepower now used by our counterterrorism units," added al-Kerbi, who said Yemen was getting similar help from the U.K., France and Germany.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Monday the growing U.S. presence in Yemen includes Special Operations Forces, Green Berets, and American intelligence agents. The Pentagon provided Yemen with close to $70 million in overt military and counter-terrorism assistance in 2009.
Following attacks on al Qaeda in neighboring Saudi Arabia in 2008, militant commanders in that country ordered their fighters to move across the border to Yemen, and in Jan. 2009, the Saudi and Yemeni wings merged, creating al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Saudi officials have said about 26 of their most wanted militant suspects - a group of about 85 in all - were known to be in Yemen.
"They are a threat not only to Yemen, but they are also a threat to all our neighboring countries," said al-Kerbi. "That is why there is very close cooperating between Saudi Arabia and Yemen."
The leader of AQAP, a Yemeni named Nasser al Weheishy, claims to have been close to Osama bin Laden and to have worked for him as his secretary.
At least a dozen former Guantanamo Bay inmates are known to be among AQAP's ranks, including a deputy commander.
"I think it's likely that they (ex-Guantanamo detainees) have helped al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, increased their capability, and they are thinking what these people can bring is a great deal of experience, and that is invaluable in any terrorist organization," said Peter Clarke.
In September 2008, AQAP again directly attacked the U.S. in Yemen, with a multiple car bomb attack against the U.S. Embassy.
But the threat that emerged on Christmas Day reaches well beyond the Arabian Peninsula, right onto American soil.
Among those being sheltered in Yemen is Anwar al Awlaki, the American-born radical preacher who counseled Maj. Nidal Hassan, the U.S. soldier charged with killing 13 comrades in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
Special Section: Tragedy at Fort Hood
The formation of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has created an organization that is, in many ways, similar to al Qaeda in Afghanistan - pre-9/11 - under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden.
In this instance, not only fighters but experienced commanders, tacticians, and bombmakers have been brought together, and AQAP has shown a capacity to be diabolically creative.
An August attack claimed by the group saw a suicide bomber target the head of counterterrorism in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in a Royal Palace, using a bomb smuggled into the complex inside his body.
The bomber, one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted men, arrived from Yemen after persuading bin Nayef that he wanted to surrender and repent. To get into the palace meeting room, the culprit avoided detection at two airport security checks, palace security and spent thirty hours in the close company of the Prince's own secret service agents, all without anyone suspecting a thing.
The bomber borrowed a trick from the narcotics trade. The al Qaeda member carried a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inside his rectum. In that case, the bomb was initiated by an electronic signal from a cell phone.
Al Qaeda bragged then that it was continuing work on new and even more dangerous ideas. The device used by Abdulmutallab was of different composition - the chemical explosive PETN and a syringe containing a fluid initiator, which he was caught trying to inject into the package of PETN.
In its statement claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt, an Al Qaeda spokesman claimed: "The Mujahedeen brothers in the manufacturing section had succeeded in developing a very sophisticated explosive device. It had been tested for effectiveness and the trial tests proved to be successful. It had also been tested against detection machines."
The spokesman went on to warn that the device would be perfected.
By Sheila MacVicar
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an increasingly powerful, increasingly dangerous organization, and it's operating beyond the control of Yemen's weak, beleaguered central government.
Yemen is fighting two wars; a civil war in the north and one against al Qaeda. Increasingly, the U.S. is training Yemeni troops in counterterrorism and providing them with weapons.
"For many years now, al Qaeda has had a presence in Yemen," says Peter Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism for London's Metropolitan Police and a CBS News consultant. "The internal conflict and instability there give it an operating base and a training base, and we've seen just how dangerous this can be."
For a time, the government, based in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, effectively had a truce with the local branch of al Qaeda, welcoming many home after the end of a 1990's war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Skilled fighters, they were useful in combating rebellion in the south.
By the end of the decade, however, that truce had come to an end as more militant leadership took over the group.
It was the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda which claimed responsibility for training and equipping Abdulmuttalab, and the government has now confirmed he was twice issued visas to study in the country, and he spent a number of months there prior to the Christmas attempt.
More Coverage from CBSNews.com:
Confusion Reigns Over Flight Security
Key Travel Agencies Lack Permanent Heads
Obama: We Will Keep America Safe
Christmas Incident Renews Scanner Debate
Al Qaeda: We Planned Flight 253 Bombing
Tracing Bomb Suspect's Journey to Detroit
U.S. Failed to Catch Suspect's Active Visa
Abdulmutallab Shocks Family, Friends
Who Is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?
Tightening Security in U.S.
The first al Qaeda strike against a U.S. target in Yemen was the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. A boat packed with explosives rammed the naval vessel in Aden port killing 16 people. That followed an earlier, failed attack against another American warship, USS The Sullivans. Those events led to increased security cooperation between the U.S. and Yemen.
"Since October 2000, after the attack on the USS Cole, there was this close cooperation. There was American support for our counterterrorism units," Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Baker al-Kerbi told CBS News in an exclusive interview.
"The American support for our counterterrorism involves both training, logistics, some firepower now used by our counterterrorism units," added al-Kerbi, who said Yemen was getting similar help from the U.K., France and Germany.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Monday the growing U.S. presence in Yemen includes Special Operations Forces, Green Berets, and American intelligence agents. The Pentagon provided Yemen with close to $70 million in overt military and counter-terrorism assistance in 2009.
Following attacks on al Qaeda in neighboring Saudi Arabia in 2008, militant commanders in that country ordered their fighters to move across the border to Yemen, and in Jan. 2009, the Saudi and Yemeni wings merged, creating al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Saudi officials have said about 26 of their most wanted militant suspects - a group of about 85 in all - were known to be in Yemen.
"They are a threat not only to Yemen, but they are also a threat to all our neighboring countries," said al-Kerbi. "That is why there is very close cooperating between Saudi Arabia and Yemen."
The leader of AQAP, a Yemeni named Nasser al Weheishy, claims to have been close to Osama bin Laden and to have worked for him as his secretary.
At least a dozen former Guantanamo Bay inmates are known to be among AQAP's ranks, including a deputy commander.
"I think it's likely that they (ex-Guantanamo detainees) have helped al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, increased their capability, and they are thinking what these people can bring is a great deal of experience, and that is invaluable in any terrorist organization," said Peter Clarke.
In September 2008, AQAP again directly attacked the U.S. in Yemen, with a multiple car bomb attack against the U.S. Embassy.
But the threat that emerged on Christmas Day reaches well beyond the Arabian Peninsula, right onto American soil.
Among those being sheltered in Yemen is Anwar al Awlaki, the American-born radical preacher who counseled Maj. Nidal Hassan, the U.S. soldier charged with killing 13 comrades in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
Special Section: Tragedy at Fort Hood
The formation of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has created an organization that is, in many ways, similar to al Qaeda in Afghanistan - pre-9/11 - under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden.
In this instance, not only fighters but experienced commanders, tacticians, and bombmakers have been brought together, and AQAP has shown a capacity to be diabolically creative.
An August attack claimed by the group saw a suicide bomber target the head of counterterrorism in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in a Royal Palace, using a bomb smuggled into the complex inside his body.
The bomber, one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted men, arrived from Yemen after persuading bin Nayef that he wanted to surrender and repent. To get into the palace meeting room, the culprit avoided detection at two airport security checks, palace security and spent thirty hours in the close company of the Prince's own secret service agents, all without anyone suspecting a thing.
The bomber borrowed a trick from the narcotics trade. The al Qaeda member carried a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inside his rectum. In that case, the bomb was initiated by an electronic signal from a cell phone.
Al Qaeda bragged then that it was continuing work on new and even more dangerous ideas. The device used by Abdulmutallab was of different composition - the chemical explosive PETN and a syringe containing a fluid initiator, which he was caught trying to inject into the package of PETN.
In its statement claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt, an Al Qaeda spokesman claimed: "The Mujahedeen brothers in the manufacturing section had succeeded in developing a very sophisticated explosive device. It had been tested for effectiveness and the trial tests proved to be successful. It had also been tested against detection machines."
The spokesman went on to warn that the device would be perfected.
By Sheila MacVicar
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Answer: NEVER !!
The Republican Party are just Praying Fervently for a Terrorist Attack, just to get Anyone in the Oval Office Other than President Obama, Very Evil, Very Sad, Very Desperate & Very Distasteful. This is How EVIL these People are, The Man's been President for 11 Months and these A!! Holes want the WORSE THING to HAPPEN, To AMERICANS for POLITICAL GAINS in 2010 & Especially 2012
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At least eight American troops have been killed this year in attacks on so-called Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and 40 more have been wounded, said a senior U.S. military official who, like others interviewed on the issue, declined to be further identified because of the issue?s sensitivity.
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The insurgents? success in attacking the hulking machines, which can cost as much as $1 million each, underscores their ability to counter the advanced hardware that the U.S. military and its allies are deploying in their struggle to gain the upper hand in the war, which entered its ninth year last month.
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The attacks also raise questions about how vulnerable a new, lighter MRAP, the M-ATV, which is now being shipped to Afghanistan, are to the massive explosive charges that Taliban-led insurgents have been using against its bigger cousin. The insurgents are also hitting MRAPs with rocket-propelled grenades that can penetrate their steel armor, according to U.S troops in Afghanistan, several of whom showed McClatchy a photograph of a hole that one of the projectiles had punched in the hull of an MRAP.
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The Pentagon has spent more than $26.8 billion to develop and build three versions of the largest MRAPs, totaling some 16,000 vehicles, mostly for the Army and Marine Corps, according to an August report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.Another $5.4 billion is being spent to produce 5,244 M-ATVs, the smaller version that U.S. defense officials contend offers as much protection as the large models do, but is more maneuverable and better suited to Afghanistan?s dirt tracks and narrow mountain roads.
Fox News is to experts as the Special Olympics are to winners -- show up and you are one.
------------------------
by Mortar-29 December 29, 2009 3:34 PM EST
Look at Lawyers denegrating the Special Olympics. How nice.
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My apologies. It IS in bad taste to denegrate ANY institution by comparing and contrasting them to Fox News.
They will report stories from both sides.
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There you have it. You've been indoctrinated well.
If you want complete reporting, try NPR. Better yet, try the BBC.
http://pacificgatepost.com/2009/12/napolitano-incompetence-in-ascendance.html
How can someone this incompetent retain her job, and why has the task become so unimportant?
A far worse problem is that it is much deeper than just Homeland security. It extends to most in this administration... As a matter of fact, over the last several years, the Democratic party has changed so much that it wouldn't be a stretch to say that most Democratic leaders of our past wouldn't even recognize it, they would be switching parties.
jayrh
Have you ever been diagnosed with a serious mental illness?
******************
Hey BeckieBest,
jayrh got the psychological disorder of Hate-Liberals Syndrone. Only a specialist can treat that.
We have a president who has Mulim roots... He apologizes to the Muslim world, won't let his administation use the word terrorism. He thinks he can talk Iran out of a nuclear program... When that doesn't work, he threatens to threaten them. It goes on and on... Don't take my word for it though, these ties are not hard to find... Obama says he is a christian. Why? Because he has listened to an anti-semite like Jeriamiah Wright for years???
I've seen more than one article on Media Matters that have supported Muslim groups with ties to radical Islam...
I look at these posts and I see numerous people from the left that are actually spreading radical Islamic propaganda!
What is my country coming to???
Have you ever been diagnosed with a serious mental illness?
I can assure you, I do not suffer from progressivism!!!
Love - It's not one person or administrations problem. It is the system. The system is broke and always has been. The issueing of VISA's is broke. We just hand them out like candy. We no what contries these people are in or coming from. So, STOP letting them get visa's. Not just the bad guys but everyone. WE DON"T NEED THEM COMING HERE FOR ANYTHING.
*************************
Hey nasadawg,
Read about these Visas on the internet, especially the H1B and L1 Visas. Why do we have them?
Because American Corporations claim we need foreigners with Brains since we cannot produce them here. According to American Corporations, we need Foreign Visa holders or our Hi-Tech Economy goes down the toilet.
There is only one solution to this. The West must eliminate its need for oil from this region, and allow them to return to the 11th century where they belong. The money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan would have hybridized every new vehicle in the US _and_ built a solar energy grid that would supply 70% of our electricity. We could already be using 40% less oil, and these people could go back to herding camels. It is our dependence on their oil that drives our military presence and funds their terrorists. We must eliminate it.
**************************
Hey kbbpll,
Excellent Idea!
I am buying a burro this afternoon and dumping my car at the Auto Wrecking yard.
Well said.