Old Open Source Intel Analysis
Power and Interest News Report,March 2004:
There is collusion between the GPC and Islah….Politics were more of a factor, as GPC and Islah both wanted to neutralize the reformed, and reformist, Marxists.The upshot of the elections was the increased role of Islah. Sheik al-Ahmar, its leader, became chairman of the council of representatives, a position he still holds. Islah, as Yemeni scholar Paul Dresch points out, is not a radical Islamic party, but an Islamic party with some radical members. Al-Ahmar is not interested in disturbing the status quo, but some other members of his group are — especially Sheik al-Zindani, who in the wake of the elections was appointed to the five man presidential council.
As Yemen moved closer to a civil war, Zindani played an important role. He worked in various positions in Yemen’s past, including, crucially, the minister of education. But it wasn’t until the war with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan that he really found his legs. He was a key recruiter in Yemen, which sent more soldiers than any other country besides Saudi Arabia. It was also there that he met Osama bin Laden and, according to reports, became his mentor. After returning from Afghanistan, Zindani became the leader of Islah’s radical faction, and continued as a mentor to the “Afghan Arabs.” He is known for his fiery taped sermons, which, among other topics, blame U.S. President George W. Bush and Jews in general for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and was accused of using his fighters to kill southern leaders in the period between unification and civil war.
The Yemeni civil war began in 1994 and was widely expected to be a stalemate. But Zindani rallied his “Afghans” to fight on behalf of the North. While doing so they preached their Wahabbi-influenced version of Islam to the northern army. —-
But his security was not of the no-strings-attached variety. The radical faction was allowed to muscle their ideas into the South, destroying, among other things, Yemen’s only brewery. Saleh was indebted to both Islah, for supporting him despite Saudi objections, and to Hashid tribesmen for their fighting. —
Zindani may in fact be the most dangerous person in Yemen, but he is also the one man the government fears to go after. … With Zindani now on America’s Most Wanted List, the game has become considerably more treacherous.
