Horn of Africa in a steady decline towards chaos
Actually al-Badawi escaped twice. BDAfrica
Horn of Africa in a steady decline towards chaos
Written by Douglas Farah
November 30, 2007: Al Qaeda and its affiliates in recent years have made no secret their desire to open new hot war fronts that will drain the willpower of the West.The Horn of Africa is clearly part of that strategy, and the inroads the radicals have made are now clear. Perhaps the most dramatic public setback has been the government of Yemen’s decision to pardon Jamal al-Badawi, a key architect of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
The bombing left 17 US sailors dead, and was the announcement of al Qaeda’s continuing presence in the region. In 1998, the group successfully bombed two US embassies in East Africa. Al-Badawi, who recruited the Cole bombers, was originally sentenced to death, had escaped from prison once, and was recaptured. He suddenly swore allegiance to Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Last week, Badawi was set free.
The pardon came just days after Frances Fragos Townsend, President Bush’s top counterterrorism adviser, had been in Yemen praising that nation’s contributions to the war on terror. Who played who like a fiddle?
Compounding the insult, US officials say they have strong reason to believe a number of other al Qaeda figures have been released by the Yemenis, including Jaber Elbaneh, an FBI fugitive who was indicted for providing material support to al Qaeda as part of the investigation into a terror cell in Lackawana, New York, in 2003.
