Attacks on Al Qaeda have alienated powerful Yemeni tribes

Of course these tribes were already anti-Western and US or they would not have tolerated Al Qaeda in their area. However, now the whole tribe will be out to avenge the deaths of their members in what was in effect a type of collective punishment. I still find it difficult why there is not a complete revulstion of the US public against these sorts of tactics. The Yemeni government for its purpose seems content to go along with US policy even though at first they were reluctant. As long as Al Qaeda did not bother the Saleh govt. they were not pursued with any vigor to put it mildly. However when it comes to Houthis they feel quite free to name an offensive Operation Scorched Earth. The West says nothing about these tactics nor of the bombing by Saudi Arabia. This is from the Guardian.


Al-Qaida Yemeni air attacks on al-Qaida fighters risk mobilising hostile tribes
Killing of tribal leader's wife and children sparks condemnation of Sanaa and the west
Hugh MacLeod and Nasser Arrabyee in Sanaa
The Observer,
When Yemeni MiG-29 aircraft sent missiles crashing into a suspected terrorist training camp in al-Majalah, a remote area of Abyan in the south, the local reaction quickly turned from horror to anger.

The raids, a week before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to blow up a Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, succeeded in killing key figures in the Yemeni wing of al-Qaida which helped train him. Mohammed Saleh al-Kazimi, the leader of al-Qaida in Abyan and head of the local Ambor tribe, along with his wife and children, was among them. But they were far from the only casualties.

Local sources said about 50 people were killed, and some 60 injured. It was said that the al-Qaida fighters had been living in the village alongside their families, training at a camp just metres from the homes. But the deaths of women and children enraged some locals.

"Kazimi has the right to live with his family, and if he is a member of al-Qaida then he should have been punished alone," said Mukbel Ali al-Ambori, a leader of the Ambor tribe. "But 45 women and children and more than 1,000 animals were killed."

Officials accused one of the leaders of Yemen's southern separatist movement, Tarek al-Fadhli, a powerful local tribal chief, of allowing al-Qaida to run the camp under his protection.

The deputy prime minister for defence and security affairs, Rashad al-Alimi, said 24 al-Qaida suspects were killed, most of them Ambor tribesmen, but also two Saudis, two Pakistanis and an unknown number of Egyptians, as well as five other unidentified foreigners. A security source said five al-Qaida operatives were injured and later arrested in the southern port city of Aden.

The recriminations in the aftermath of the al-Majalah raid underline the dilemmas facing the Yemeni government and its deeply unpopular western allies, as they combat the emerging terrorist threat in the country's east and south. Later this month Gordon Brown will host an emergency summit on Yemen.

Abdulmutallab is believed to have received al-Qaida training at a similar camp to the one devastated a week before Christmas. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the failed attack, saying it was retaliation for the US military support to Yemen in its offensive against the militants. But disentangling a hostile local population from the al-Qaida fighters and leaders who have infiltrated the region will be a hugely difficult task.

Senior Yemeni officials told the Observer that al-Qaida had been successful at buying the loyalty of local people.

"No one gets recruited free of charge. Al-Qaida come with resources to pay people," said Abdel Karim Aryani, an adviser to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. "The religious appeal helps, but poverty is at the root of all Yemen's problems, including al-Qaida."

Speaking to the Observer two days before the Abyan air strike, the commander of Yemen's British- and US-trained counter-terrorism forces warned of the difficulties of attacking al-Qaida where it is hosted by local tribes.

"Al-Qaida touch on very sensitive issues in tribal areas. They come in the name of God and religion and talk about Palestine and the occupation of Iraq and people sympathise with them," said Brigadier Yehya Abdullah Saleh, a nephew of the president. "We don't want to fight with the tribes, so it is better to take out al-Qaida members one by one when they are separate from the tribes, or we risk a big war."

New details on the pre-Christmas raids suggest that US support and effective intelligence-gathering helped Yemen strike a serious blow against al-Qaida, but that its top leadership, including a member of the al-Qaida cell that attacked the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, narrowly escaped death. And reporting by the Observer reveals the extent to which al-Qaida has integrated itself with powerful tribes that control large swaths of Yemen's rugged east and parts of its south.

The poorest country in the Middle East, Yemen remains a tribal society, as complicated to rule as Afghanistan, where clan elders and the armed men they command often trump the authority of the central government.

The Yemeni people are among the most heavily armed in the world. In a population of 25 million, there are believed to be some 60 million guns, while carrying arms is a rite of passage for young men growing up inside the traditions of their tribe.

The authorities said they were compelled to launch the all-out offensive on AQAP after receiving intelligence that an eight-man al-Qaida cell was poised to launch a wave of car bombings and suicide attacks against western targets. According to an official statement, the targets included the British embassy in Sanaa, previous targeted in a foiled attack in 2005, as well as schools – presumably those teaching western students, such as the capital's many language centres, one of which Abdulmutallab studied at – and oil companies.

As the air force pounded Abyan at dawn on 17 December, counter-terrorism forces stormed an al-Qaida safe house in Arhab, 70km north-east of Sanaa. In the ensuing gun battle three of the would-be suicide bombers were killed, said a security source, including Hani al-Shalan, a former Guantánamo prisoner released to Yemen in June 2006.

Qasem al-Raimi, a top military commander of AQAP, escaped the Arhab raid along with Hezam Mujali, a leader of the suicide bombers. Hezam's brother Arif was captured, along with six others, and taken for interrogation. In February 2006, Raimi, the military commander, had escaped from a maximum-security prison in Yemen along with Nasser Wahayshi, now the leader of AQAP.

In Sanaa, meanwhile, counter-terrorism officers raided homes, arresting 14 suspected al-Qaida operatives who were to have provided assistance to the suicide bombers.

But the attacks on Arhab and Abyan prompted an angry response by local tribes. Meeting at their traditional gathering place, leaders of the Arhab tribe discussed how to secure the release of several of their members arrested in the raid, including the brother of an MP, Sheikh Mansour Ali al-Hanaq, whose relative fought with the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Prominent members of the Arhab tribe include one of Yemen's senior religious scholars, Sheikh Abdel Majid al-Zindani, who was listed in 2004 by the US as a specially designated global terrorist for his suspected links to Osama bin Laden. It is not known if he attended the meeting.

At the site of the Abyan air strike a couple of days later, al-Qaida member Mohamed Saleh al-Awlaki urged a gathering of thousands of tribesmen to stand by al-Qaida.

"The war in Yemen is between al-Qaida and the US, and not between al-Qaida and the Yemeni army," shouted Mohammed, who was filmed with his face uncovered. "Victory is coming soon," he promised.

Awlaki was a relative of Fahd al-Kusaa, once imprisoned for his involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole, and also a cousin of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Yemeni preacher who lectured some of the 11 September hijackers and was in contact with Nidal Hassan, the US army psychiatrist, in the months leading up to his massacre at Fort Hood.

Local sources and Yemeni security officials said AQAP's leaders, Nasser Wahayshi and his Saudi deputy, Saeed al-Shihri, who was released from Guantánamo in 2008, travelled to Abyan to mourn the death of Kazimi, the tribesman who had led the local al-Qaida cell.

After the funeral the senior AQAP men were tracked, most probably by US drones, back to a farm in Rafdh in Shabwa, 600km east of Sanaa, belonging to Fahd al-Qusaa, the USS Cole bomber.

An official statement said the farm was being used for a meeting chaired by Wahayshi and Shihri. On 24 December, a day before the failed Detroit terror attack, missiles slammed into the farmhouse, killing at least five confirmed al-Qaida members: Mohammed Awlaki and four of his relatives. Brigadier Saleh, the head of Yemen's counter-terrorism forces, told the Observer that the war against al-Qaida in his country is far from over, urging more assistance for his troops from the US and Britain.
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About this articleClose Yemeni air attacks on al-Qaida fighters risk mobilising hostile tribesThis article appeared on p13 of the World news section of the Observer on Sunday 3 January 2010. It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.06 GMT on Sunday 3 January 2010. Latest from world newsMost viewed Latest Most commented Last 24 hours
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Obama administration prepares public opinion for Yemen attacks

US involvement in Yemen has been going on under the radar for some time. Recent events have made US actions more obvious. My guess is that the US is also helping Yemen against the Houthis as they have reported being bombed by US planes. In return Yemen has agreed to go after Al Qaeda. The result will likely be further destabilising of an already weak government facing opposition now on three fronts. This in turn will create a demand for more US involvement. This will then lead to Obama's third surge, more debt, and more cutbacks in the US social safety net. This is from wsws.


Obama administration prepares public opinion for attack on Yemen
By Patrick Martin
31 December 2009
Five days after the unsuccessful attempt by a Nigerian student to set off a bomb aboard a Detroit-bound passenger jet, US military and intelligence officials are said to be preparing expanded military action against targets in Yemen, the Arab country where the student allegedly received terrorist training and was equipped with an explosive device.


A series of US media reports suggest that new US-backed military attacks inside Yemen are imminent. Citing “two senior US officials,” CNN reported: “The US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets for a potential retaliation strike.”

The network said the officials “both stressed the effort is aimed at being ready with options for the White House if President Obama orders a retaliatory strike.” CNN continued: “The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airliner incident and its planning. US special operations forces and intelligence agencies, and their Yemeni counterparts, are working to identify potential Al Qaeda targets in Yemen, one of the officials said.”

The network said the Obama administration and the long-time Yemeni dictator, Field Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh, had reached an agreement to allow the US to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets and armed drones, used for remote-control assassinations, in Yemeni airspace. Talks were still ongoing on whether Saleh will give permission for the entry of US helicopter-borne Special Forces.

The report comes after a series of statements by top administration officials, including Obama himself, pledging that “all elements of US power” will be used in response to the failed attack on Northwest Flight 253. The White House has been under heavy fire from its Republican opponents over the evident security failure, and a military action would serve to divert public attention from the ongoing revelations of how the CIA and other US agencies ignored warnings about the impending attack.

Yemen’s foreign minister, Abu Bakr al Qirbi, told the BBC that his country was seeking stepped up military aid, presumably as part of a package deal—in effect, a bribe for allowing the country’s territory to be turned into a battlefield for US commandos.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Obama administration was discussing nearly tripling its military and counterterrorism aid to Yemen in the coming year. US aid jumped from $4.6 million in 2006 to $67 million this year, and would rise to as much as $190 million in 2010, according to “a senior military official.”

Reuters, citing unnamed “defense and counterterrorism officials,” reported that “the Obama administration was exploring ways to accelerate and expand US assistance to Yemeni forces to root out the Al Qaeda leadership in the country, while keeping the role of the US military and intelligence agencies as behind the scenes as possible.”

The news agency reported a clash between Yemeni security forces and Al Qaeda fighters in the western Hudaydah province, around the town of Deir Jaber.

The Los Angeles Times cited a Yemeni terrorism expert as the source of an estimate that Al Qaeda has “as many as 2,000 militants and sympathizers exploiting the country’s economic and political chaos to create a base for jihad at the edge of the Persian Gulf.” This is ten times more than other media estimates of the number of such militants in Yemen, and 20 times the number of Al Qaeda forces said by US officials to be in Afghanistan now.

The Times report is part of an effort by the US media to portray Yemen as a lawless hotbed of terrorism and a major threat to the United States, in order to justify in advance an American attack, or even a full-scale invasion.

It was followed by an even more apocalyptic comment by “terrorism expert” Steven Emerson, interviewed Wednesday morning on CBS’ “Early Show.” He said that while the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was still “number one” for terrorist activity, the area surrounding the Gulf of Aden, including Yemen and Somalia, was “fast coming up the ladder.”

“Yemen possibly could surpass Pakistan in the next year, given the terrorist trajectory for providing a haven for Al Qaeda,” he claimed. In light of the fact that the Obama administration is mobilizing 100,000 American troops as well as hundreds of warplanes and drones for combat along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, such a comparison is extremely ominous.

Emerson took particular note of “literally scores of American Muslim students studying and being trained in Yemen to this day…. There’s a pool of potential terrorists out there that have Western passports that can board planes without visas.”

The clear goal of such far-fetched claims is to create a pogrom atmosphere directed against all young American Muslims, particularly those of Arab or East African origin.

These comments were made one day after press reports of an alleged abortive attempt by a Somali man equipped with explosive powder and a syringe to board a passenger jet in Mogadishu, the capital city. This is the same modus operandi as that of the Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. The Somali was arrested by African peacekeeping troops on November 13 and never succeeded in getting on the plane.

The Washington Post, the leading newspaper in the US capital, published an editorial Wednesday noting that in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt, allegedly originating in Yemen, “some are asking whether the United States should launch a military offensive in that impoverished Arabian nation.” The editorial continued: “The answer, of course, is that it already has.”

Citing a series of raids conducted by Yemeni and US forces, the Post praised the Obama administration for having “significantly stepped up US counterterrorism operations in Yemen,” including the dispatch of CIA and Special Forces personnel. But it warned: “Still, Yemen’s steady slide toward failed-state status in recent years means that it, like nearby Somalia, will probably demand concerted and multifaceted US engagement for years to come. More than Special Forces and missile strikes are needed.”

While declaring that “US ground troops are not needed, for now, in Yemen or Somalia,” the newspaper suggested that such forces may well be required in the future. It declared, “in those countries, as in Afghanistan, a strategy limited to counterterrorism will not eliminate the threat.”

Once again, as in the case of Afghanistan and Iraq, American imperialism is preparing a military bloodbath in an impoverished country, using a terrorist attack—in this case a failed attempt—as the pretext. According to reports by the UN and Yemeni government statistics, some 35 percent of the adult population of the country is unemployed. Yemen is the poorest of the Arab countries, has exhausted its very limited oil export capacity, and now faces severe water shortages.

But Yemen possesses, like Afghanistan and Iraq, a highly strategic geographic location, adjacent to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, and the Red Sea, controlling access to the Suez Canal. Yemen also borders on the Gulf of Aden, the shipping route for much of the oil leaving the Persian Gulf.


US military forces are already deployed across the strait of Bab el Mandeb in Djibouti, the former French Somaliland, which remains a virtual French colony. Djibouti hosts thousands of French and US troops who could quickly move into Yemen if so ordered by Paris and Washington. A large US and NATO war fleet patrols shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden and south along the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.

Yemen: One more surge.

At one time not so long ago Obama was opposed to a surge, the one in Iraq. Now that he has seen that surge worked, or sort of worked, he is keen to start as many of his own as he can. First there was the surge in Afghanistan, then the drone surge in Pakistan, and now the surge in Yemen. I guess Somalia cannot be far behind. It doesn't really matter that Al Qaeda seems to be actually a very small group globally or that much of their attempted attacks are botched, for they will help keep the US spending more and more when its debt increases are unsustainable. More and more restrictions will be placed upon citizens so that the government will look more and more like Big Brother and the rights that are so proudly trumpeted as the jewels of the free world will have all have been lost sold out to fund the war on terrorism.

- News From Antiwar.com - http://news.antiwar.com -

Obama Vows ‘Accelerated Offensive’ in Yemen

Posted By Jason Ditz
Taking time out from his Hawaii vacation to comment on last Friday’s lap bombing on a Detroit bound airliner, President Barack Obama vowed an “accelerated offensive” against militants in Yemen.

The president said he would not rest and would commit “every element of national power” to the new mission of attacking those speculatively accused of some vague complicity in the failed bombing.

Several Congressmen are already chomping at the bit to use the lap bomber as a justification for a war in Yemen, and the Yemeni government, which would presumably be further aided in its assorted civil wars by the US, eagerly declared that the attacker had been to Yemen.

With the scent of terrorism in the air, President Obama will likely be able to parlay the lap bomber into a justification for anything and everything he might want. Officials are already talking of scrapping plans to close Guantanamo Bay over it, and America’s role in the attempted assassination of US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki last week can now readily be justified on speculation that the bomber’s alleged al-Qaeda links can be combined with Awlaki’s alleged al-Qaeda links to form alleged links between the two.

Of course, the Awlaki assassination bid and the US attacks on Yemen have been going on since before a Nigerian set his lap on fire on an airplane, and we’re only now starting to get the full extent of the war in Yemen the Obama Administration is already covertly fighting. The failed bombing is just a nice Christmas present for the president, giving him easy cover for the assorted wars he is already fighting and further wars he might plan to start in the future.