كاتب أمريكي : الرئيس اليمني حليف القاعدة

[عدني وافتخر]

Vets Hotline

A new threat


by Stan Lowe, Chairman (retired), Wyoming Veterans’ Commission
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 9:43 AM MST

Though conditions have stabilized remarkably in Iraq, as reported in this column’s Feb. 11 article, “‘Huge success’ for Iraq,” news items from several Internet sources and a Jan. 27 Christian Science Monitor article, “Ex-Detainees Rejoin Al Qaeda,” disturbingly report that al Qaeda is regrouping in Yemen drawing upon released inmates of the Guantanamo Bay detention center (commonly called Gitmo) for ******ship roles.

Ali al-Shihri and Muhammad al-Awfi are the two former Saudi ex-Gitmo detainees. A U.S. counterterrorism official reports that they joined al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, which merged a month ago with the Saudi branch to form “Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula.”



Shihri is described by the official as being “one of the top terrorists” in Yemen with the title of “deputy and senior operations commander,” and Awfi is a commander too.

Shihri is suspected of being involved in terrorist attacks in Yemen, including a car bombing last September near the U.S. Embassy in that country’s capital, Sanaa, which killed nearly a dozen people.




On Jan. 26, the embassy received another telephone call threatening a second attack.

Thomas Hegghammer, Islamist scholar at Harvard University, opines that this merger of the Yemen and Saudi branches “basically removes all doubt that al Qaeda now intends to use Yemen as a launching pad for operations in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf.”


Two other ex-Gitmo Saudi inmates also are feared to have resumed their terrorist careers.

These inmates and Shihri and Awfi were among 117 Saudis transferred in September 2007 from Gitmo to Saudi Arabia for treatment in its highly-praised rehabilitation program.



It is structured to counter violent ideology lessons taught in al Qaeda training camps so radical jihadists can reintegrate into civilized society.

About 3,200 militants, nearly half of them still in Saudi prisons n plus several Saudi extremists caught in Iraq or who attempted to go there n have received religious and psychological counseling as part of the Saudi rehab campaign.

Other ex-Gitmo inmates have returned to violence too, according to Geoff Morrell, spokesman for the Pentagon.

“Since 2002, 61 former detainees have committed or are suspected of having committed attacks after being released from the detention camp,” he stated, but he didn’t reveal the number of victims and how many were Americans.

About 250 inmates remain at Gitmo, many of whom, Morrell said, “are still bent on doing harm to America, Americans and our allies.”

This information makes one wonder what might happen if any of those dangerous ones escape from wherever President Barak Obama places them when he shuts down Gitmo next year.

Approximately 60 inmates have been cleared for release, Morrell stated, “but their home countries will not take them or the U.S. believes they could be harmed by their governments if returned.”

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s position is deeply worrisome. He rejected the Bush *****istration’s offer to release Gitmo’s 94 Yemini inmates to Saudi Arabia for treatment.

Instead, Saleh wants them returned home to Yemen’s rehab center within three months.

Yemen’s rehab program, according to The Christian Science Monitor, “has been much less aggressive and successful than its Saudi counterpart.”

Thomas Joscelyn explained why in his Feb. 17 press release.

“The Yemini government is duplicitous, with longstanding ties to Islamist groups, including al Qaeda. President Saleh’s regime has not only provided a permissive environment for al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations, it has … often been unwilling or unable (or both) to crack down on al Qaeda operatives,” he said.

Further, he reported that some of the terrorists that bombed USS Cole have “escaped” (the quotes are in the release) from their Yemen prison on multiple occasions.

Is there any doubt why al Qaeda has chosen Yemen as its new home from which to launch its new wave of terror?

How will the Obama *****istration respond to protect U.S. and allied troops in the Gulf?

"الحكومة اليمينيه لها علاقات مزدوجة ،و طويلة الأمد مع جماعات اسلامية بما في ذلك تنظيم القاعدة. نظام الرئيس صالح لم يقدم سوى بيئة تسمح لتنظيم القاعدة والمنظمات الارهابية ذات الصلة ،فقد كان في كثير من الأحيان... غير راغبة أو غير قادرة (أو كليهما) للقضاء على عناصر تنظيم القاعدة "
وعلاوة على ذلك ، ذكر أن بعض الارهابيين الذين قصفو يو اس اس كول "قد هربو" من السجون اليمنيه في مناسبات متعددة.
هل هناك أي شك لماذا تنظيم القاعدة اختار اليمن وطنا جديدا يمكن من خلاله اطلاق الموجات الجديدة من الإرهاب؟
وكيف تستجيب إدارة أوباما لحماية الولايات المتحدة والقوات المتحالفة معها في منطقة الخليج؟
[فقط الأعضاء المسجلين والمفعلين يمكنهم رؤية الوصلات . إضغط هنا للتسجيل]