Trump's first commando raid in Yemen may have failed to reach its main goal

Military and intelligence figures told reporters that the goal of the commando raid in Yemen approved by Trump was to seize or kill the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Qassim al-Rimi. Whatever happened al-Rimi appears to have survived.

al-Rimi is claimed to be the third most dangerous terrorist in the world and a master recruiter. In the operation last week, at least one Navy Seal was killed and at least three wounded. In all, it was claimed that 14 al-Qaeda members were killed along with numerous civilians. The 8 year old daughter of Anwar Al-Awlaki, the former U.S. citizen and Al-Qaeda ideologue, was among the children killed according to her grandfather. Multiple military officials claim that al-Rimi is still alive.

An audio recording released after the incident by al-Rimi is claimed by military sources to be authentic. CNN reported:The leader of Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen has released an audio recording in which he describes President Donald Trump as the "White House's new fool" and says a recent U.S. raid against the group killed 25 people, including 11 women and children. In an 11-minute recording, AQAP leader al-Rimi condemned the January 29 raid, saying, "The new fool of the White House received a painful slap across his face."In contrast to western reports he also claimed that a number of Americans were killed. He did not make it clear whether he was not there when the Seal Team 6 with UAE commandos attacked or if he were elsewhere. There was no comment on the recording by the White House or the Pentagon.

NBC news analyst Juan Zarate, who was a national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, said that even though the raid did not take out al-Rimi it still yielded some victories in that it did kill a number of Al-Qaeda leaders and at least that cell was disrupted and valuable intelligence may have been collected. Planning for the raid had already begun with an Obama plan to accelerate counterterrorism operations in Yemen. The proposal was referred to the incoming Trump administration who also in his campaign promised to accelerate attacks on terrorism.

Trump was told by Defense Secretary James Mattis that the capture of al-Rimi would be a "game changer" an anonymous senior White House official said. A senior US intelligence official told NBC news that things went wrong from the beginning. Residents in the house under attack were alerted. As soon as the commandos landed they came under fire and fighting erupted around houses where women and children were staying with some armed women firing at them.

An MV-22 Osprey called in for backup had a hard landing. It was rendered useless and destroyed deliberately by a pair of Harrier jets and two helicopter gunships who attacked the encampment and destroyed the Osprey according to a military official. White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, called the raid "a successful operation by all standards" and claimed that the raid captured "materials and information that is yielding valuable intelligence". Apparently Trump approved approved the commando operation with no advice or consultation from intelligence officers or military commanders, according to officials familiar with the chain of events. However, it had obviously been in the planning stage for some time as Spicer notes in the appended video.

President Hadi of Yemen claims he personally signs off on each U.S. drone attack

The president of Yemen Mansour Hadi confirmed today that he personally signs off on each drone attack made by the U.S. in Yemen. This is a complete turnaround from previous policy which was to refuse to acknowledge U.S. involvement in attacks.

President Hadi was formerly vice-president under the long-ruling Saleh regime. In a deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council with the support of the U.S., Saleh stepped down and turned over power to Hadi in return for immunity for him, his family, and cronies for any crimes committed during an uprising against his regime that killed many protesters. Later Hadi, supported by the U.S., ran unopposed for president. and won. Hadi warned that Yemen is still unstable and unless proper security measures are taken could descend into a civil war worse than Afghanistan. Hadi said that unrest could continue as well if an upcoming months-long national dialogue is unable to resolve the Arab Gulf state's deep political and societal rifts.

Hadi noted that he had an excellent counter-terrorism relationship with the U.S. and said that he personally "signs off" on every drone strike conducted by the U.S. This statement is quite extraordinary since the U.S. position is that the Yemen drone program is classified. This should make the ACLU suit under the freedom of information act more powerful since so far the Obama administration claims that to even affirm or deny that the program exists would jeopardize U.S. security. The ACLU has been seeking in vain to obtain information about the drone program.

The president praised the precision of the drones and claimed that past "mistakes" were being avoided. This might be a reference to Yemeni civilians who had been killed by drones. Hadi said he had visited the center from which the drone strikes are launched and said that he could see the operations unfolding "step by step."

The Yemeni military, with U.S. aid, was able to drive Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and other militant groups from territory that they had occupied last summer. However the militants have retreated to the mountains and underground to wage a guerrilla type terror warfare which still takes its toll on the government. The government attacks upon the towns taken over by Islamic militants ruined many houses and destroyed infrastructure so that many inhabitants still remain in cities such as Aden as refugees.

Yemen is still plagued by separatist movements both in the north with Houthi rebels, and separatists in the south, as well as Islamic militants. As with his predecessor Hadi uses the threat of Islamic militants to plead for aid from the U.S. and others. There are still divisions within the Yemeni government and armed forces as well, with members of former president Saleh's family and supporters still having considerable influence.

In a recent Friends of Yemen meeting in New York about $1.5 billion was pledged to help the country bringing the total promised by international donors to $8 billion. How much of this money will go for humanitarian purposes or for reconstruction or how soon was not made clear. No one knows how much of the aid will be siphoned off through corruption either!

13 more killed in U.S. drone strike in Yemen

A tribal chief reports that an air strike in central Yemen Sept. 2 on a vehicle killed 10 suspected Al Qaeda members and 3 women companions. There were two vehicles targeted but only one was hit.

The tribal chief claimed the raid killed the guards of Abdulraouf al-Dahab and their companions but the missiles missed the vehicle of al-Dahab a local Al Qaeda leader who escaped unharmed. The plane, probably a drone, fired two missiles.

The attack and the toll were confirmed by other security and local sources. The U.S. is the only country in the area that has drones capable of making these attacks but they are rarely admitted to be drone attacks either by the U.S. or Yemeni authorities.

Dahab is the brother of another militant leader Tarek al-Dahab who overran the town of Radaa that is 80 miles southeast of Sanaa the capital.in January although he left the city later the same month after pressure from local tribal chiefs. However, militants continue actions against the governnment. Tarek was later killed.

Militant Islamists took over much of several provinces and several cities last summer but Yemeni security forces aided by U.S special forces advisors drove the militants out of most areas. However, the militants made a tactical retreat into the mountains and have struck back with many terrorist attacks. In turn the U.S. has attacked militants with drones with increaasing frequency. With Americans concentrating on the upcoming November elections little attention is paid to the U.S. involvement in Yemen.

In a separate incident Sunday a number of people were killed in clashes between pro-government tribesmen and militants in South Yemen. Two militants were among those killed in the attacks. Areas recently retaken by government forces still suffer from insecurity and constant attacks. There is also a separatist movement in the south that is also opposed to the central government of President Hadi.

Yemen: America's Dangerous Game. A film

This is the title of a film about a half hour in length. The entire film can be found at Al Jazeera here.

For years the U.S. supported former president Saleh of Yemen and he supported the U.S. war on terror in turn. Often Saleh would report that U.S. attacks were actually carried out by Yemeni forces.

However with the protests and disunity within Yemen the U.S. backed a plan by the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) that ultimately resulted in a deal that saw Saleh transfer power to his vice-president who ultimately ran as the only candidate for president and of course won. Saleh his family and relatives were all granted immunity from any prosecution for crimes during the protests. Many protesters were killed.

The Obama administration has long been carrying on secret operations in Yemen using drones, air attacks, and special forces to carry out a war against AQAM Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula. These covert operations have at times killed the wrong people and have not seem to have stopped the growth of radical Islamism in Yemen.

Quite the opposite. Militants took over several provinces and the central government has still to regain some territory. In a tribal society when members of the tribe are killed by drones this just sets up a desire for revenge and is used by militants to recruit new members.

In the film U.S. officials call AQAP the most dangerous enemy now in the war on terror. However, in Yemen new radical Islamists also are growing in number often said by media to be associated with AL Qaeda. With two separatist movements and a democratic protest movement that has been replaced by an old guard government with Saleh relatives heading security forces there could very well be much more conflict in Yemen with little progress towards democracy.