Saleh, Padilla, Elbaneh and Abu al Feda
Gulf news: In June, Abu Al Feda a/k/a/ Rashad Mohammad Saeed a/k/a Abul Fida’a negotiates directly with Yemeni President Saleh and Ghalib al-Qamish, the head of the PSO, who promise not to restrict the movements of released al-Qaeda in exchange for no attacks in Yemen.
He pointed out to promises from authorities to solve the problems facing him and his colleagues after their release. So far, the Yemeni authorities say they have released about 315 Al Qaida suspects for lack of evidence against them.
“It was also agreed to cancel measures imposed on those who are released, like house arrest, the monthly signing of official register and taking permission if you wish to go another province in Yemen,” he said. “The youth should be allowed to travel wherever they wish in the country and outside the country if they get visas like normal citizens.”
He also said those who lost their jobs because of imprisonment would be returned to their jobs. “I and my brotherly youth will be committed not to do anything that may undermine the security or damage the public interests of society,” he said.
News Yemen describes Abu al Feda as a major figure in Al-Qaeda and former Taliban leader: In October, Abu al Feda affirms the truce is still holding: “The Yemeni government will not enter open confrontations with Mujahideen after the incident”. He said that Yemen was the best country to deal with Mujahideen (combatants) when it has adopted the dialogue method.
In 2000, Abu al Feda sponsors Jose Padilla for training in Afghanistan. The form used is identical to that filled out by the Lackawanna crew in 2001 including Gaber Albanna who of course is currently in the wind.
Prosecutors say the sponsor listed on the form, Abu Al Feda, is the same name on a piece of paper Padilla had when he returned to the United States.
Prosecutors also say a cooperating witness who went to an al Qaeda camp will testify that he filled out an identical form.
CNN has learned that witness is Yahya Goba, one of the so-called Lackawanna Six, the group of six Yemeni-American men who spent the summer of 2001 in al Qaeda camps and are now serving seven to 10 years in prison for providing material support for a terrorist organization.
A seventh man who went with the group, Jaber Elbaneh, was among a group of terrorist suspects who escaped from a Yemeni jail two weeks ago.
Informed sources note that Abu al Feda is working officially in the PSO as colonel, has direct contact with the president, and has significant authority among the Jihadist groups. That’s pretty much what the news articles say as well.
Padilla’s trial is scheduled to begin January 22, 2007.
Al-Wasat/ News Yemen
Rashad Mohammad Saeed (Abul Fida’a), a leading Yemeni in al-Qaeda and the Taliban government said that the killing of Fawaz al-Rabei and Mohammad al-Dailami “is not the end of al-Qaeda’s file in Yemen, because it is an ideology related to fundamental issues of this Umah(nation). He is a vetern Afghan Arab who fought the Soviets, and reached the level of a vice minister in Taliban government in Afghanistan. He was highly respected among Qaeda figures.
He was seen in some videos near Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and was very close to Osama Bin Laden in person. He was his neighbor for over a year in Afghanistan and he was the one who brought him his wife Amal al-Sada from Ibb Yemen to Afghanistan, which shows the level of confidence he enjoys among Bin Laden’s close aids.
He left the whole thing after Sept. 11, and returned to Yemen.
Abul Fida’a refused in an interview with Al-Wasat weekly newspaper to talk more about the story, but he condemned “bloodsheds by any organization”. He confirmed that what happened for al-Rabei and al-Dailami was “horrible and may have bad impacts in future”.”The Yemeni government will not enter open confrontations with Mujahideen after the incident”. He said that Yemen was the best country to deal with Mujahideen (combatants) when it has adopted the dialogue method.
Abu al-Fida’a warned US Embassy in Yemen not to intervene in affairs of other peoples. “We are annoyed, like others, for its practices”, said Abu al-Fida’a referring to the US embassy in Sana’a.
He revealed that one of those involved in attacks on oil facilities in Marib and Hadhramout last September was one of the al-Qaeda escapees from the Political Security prison in Sana’a last February. He expected that other escapees might remain in Yemen. He called them to get the chance to better their situation in the society. “The legislative and personal interest is to settle their situations to continue productivity instead of losing them in events which have not moral positive consequences in this nation”, said Abu al-Fida’a.
The former leading member in Taliban government denied Yemen is included in the strategic plans of al-Qaeda. He said America has not potential interests in Yemen, saying that the latest events were “only a result of suffocation that those young people feel”.
Abu al-Fida’a, who came back to Yemen less than a month after Sept. 11 events, called regimes “to think of decisive solutions away from US
interventions, like Yemen”.“The results of dialogue in Yemen are positive and president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the head of the Political Security Organization, Ghalib al-Qamish, have showed true determination to solve the problems for personal and humanitarian concepts”, he said.
He said that the latest events in Yemen would not affect the dialogue and understanding as “keeping bloods, security and stability are the
goals of all”.He denied he knows al-Tharhani, the bodyguard of the presidential candidate Bin Shamlan, who was said by th epresident to be al-Qaeda member during his electoral campain. Abu al-Fida’a challenged America to face al-Qaeda without alliances and threats against states, organizations, groups and parties to pressure them to cooperate with them against al-Qaeda.
“The US administration has trends against Arabs and Muslims and this feeds the al-Qaeda ideology and extends its network,” he said.Abu al-Fida’a said that “war against al-Qaeda has given it some benefits such as the unity of Jihad groups under one flag, moving Jihad from centralization into decentralization, finding locations for recruiting combatants, publicly, attracting America to direct war with al-Qaeda instead of using other regimes and jaws as US agents and making al-Qaeda more dynamic by recruiting new bloods.
He said that Qaeda now is under the control of a thought, rather than aa person which gives it more strength.
Abul Fida denied the news spread that Osama Bin Laden is dead saying that “intelligence services use this technique to get lions out of the dens”. “The organization will keep going even if sheikh Osama is dead or martyred..” “Since Sept.. 11, Sheikh Osama withdrew his personal influence over the group and let the thought take over..”. He said that the news that Osama’s Yemeni wife had returned to Yemen are not true.. “she is living with the Sheikh”.
He said that after Iraq comes Darfur.. “I call the American people to avoid having more of their sons returning in coffins. Bush wants to retrieve his image damaged in Iraq through Darfur. After settling things in Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan, we call for peace and coexistence”
On Taliban rule, he said it was devoted to people , and that until this moment, Taliban is the main player in the Afghani arena
Update: Padilla stoned and cold.
Update: Earlier interview: A former member of Al Qaeda who underwent military training in Afghanistan, Abu Al Fida’ indicated, “all the young men do not see or think about carrying out an attack in Yemen.” Therefore, he believed that the security services should have the ability to deal with former Al Qaeda members without needing to imprison them and nurture their feelings of hatred and anger, to the extent that some might begin to wish they had indeed carried out an attack to justify their situation. He blamed the policies adopted by the Yemeni security services for the growth of Al Qaeda inside the country’s jails and for indirectly promoting its message.
