In Yemen, a significant number of leaders in the security forces, military and business community have sympathies and ties to al-Qaeda, or the international jihaddist network if you prefer. The Yemeni regime at a minimum turns a blind eye to facilitation of terror activities (financing, travel, training, documents). Most suicide bombers in Iraq are from Yemen and North Africa, US officials reported. The case can be made that tools of the Yemeni state support terrorism.

Many dedicated hard core Islamics support the regime. The Salifi movement endorsed President Saleh in September's presidential election, issuing a fatwa that it is impermissible to vote against him. It is against Salifi precepts to oppose a Muslim ruler, ie- Saleh has not been labeled an apostate. Similarly, during the recent Sa'ada war which the state fought against Shia rebels, the Ministry of Defense issued a fatwa labeling the fight a prescribed jihad. Numerous Islamic extremist groups joined the war on behalf of the regime as did thousands of Salifi tribesmen. Islamists fighting for Saleh is nothing new. During the 1994 civil war in Yemen, the Islamists fought the Southern socialists forces based on a fatwa ruling that the Southerners were apostates for advocating a secular government.

Days prior to Yemen's September election, two terror attacks against oil facilities were thwarted. There have been no successful terror attacks in Yemen since the 2002 Limburgh tanker bombing. The thwarted attacks, which President Saleh and the state publicly tied to the opposition candidate (total hogwash I must say) certainly impacted the election. About six weeks later a previously unheard of group calling itself al-Qaeda in Yemen issued a statement claiming responsibility. Many disputed the authenticity of the statement, which could have been cooked up in Saleh's kitchen.

Now there is a new statement announcing a leader of the group, Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi, who is one of the 23 escapees who dug out of a maximum security prison with spoons in February 2006. Its widely suspected the escapees had some inside help at a high level. I do not automatically accept this new "al-Qaeda statement" or the prior one at face value. The announcement may be true. However, it may be a regime ploy to divert attention from some of its many failings or to elicit support and aid from Western governments. Top level a-Qaeda representatives have previously reported they were pleased with Saleh, the Political Security Organization and their methods of accommodating released al-Qaeda prisoners. I'd like to know if this is the same website that published the earlier statement. To follow are excerpts of the statement from the Italian News Agency, AKI

A man identifying himself as Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi - one of 28 (ed-23) terrorist suspects who in February 2006 fled a high security prison in Sanaa - has claimed in an audio message posted on Islamist internet forums that he is the leader of al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen. The man who also uses the battlename Abu Hureira al-Sanaani, said his group's full name is al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Yemen... "I have been nominated leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen and I say no to any surrender to government forces. Ignorance and Islam can never blend together. Several tyrants have tried to insert ignorance in Islam but they have all failed," the man said in the 20 minute-long recording.

"They want us to renege our beliefs and to repudiate some of our principles. But during this time when they have been waging their crusader war, the enemies are being defeated as is happening in Afghanistan at the hands of the mujahadeen," Yemen authorities have for some time suspected an al-Qaeda presence in the country blaming the terror network for a failed attempt to attack two oil plants last September.Source: AKI

Al-Wahishi's name is not on the list of 22 escapees published by the Yemen Times in February 2006 or at News Yemen, although it is on a list of issued by the Yemeni government and published by Reuters.

Shortly after the February escape, the regime released an Afghan Arab who was a Yemeni Intelligence Officer acquitted in the bombing of the USS Cole, along with 11 others, UPI reported. Since then several others have been released either through rehabilitation, mediation or escapes. However, they just arrested my good friend the journalist, again. And the US has praised the increasing level of press freedom in Yemen, by which they must a reduction in attacks on journalists. I think they ought to count again.

Posted by: JaneNovak at 02:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 758 words, total size 5 kb.