Fahd al Quso Free in Yemen
Excuse me while my head explodes; however, I didn’t think Mueller’s visit was to praise Yemeni democracy. Apparently Bush’s call wasn’t either.
Suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen on October 12, 2000, killing seventeen US sailors and injuring forty-nine others. Two convicted facilitators of the terror plot escaped twice and now both are free in Yemen, apparently with the Yemeni government’s approval.
Jamal al-Badawi was reported released on October 16, 2007. Now Newsweek reports that the US believes Fahd al-Quso is also free in Yemen. Both al-Quso and al-Badawi escaped from Yemeni jail in 2003. They were indicted in absentia in the US charged with 50 offenses each including conspiracy to murder and the murder of U.S. nationals; conspiracy to murder, the murder and attempted murder of U.S. military personnel aboard the USS Cole and the USS The Sullivans; and providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist organization.
Both later were recaptured in Yemen in 2004. A Yemeni court sentenced Al-Quso to ten years in connection with the Cole bombing and Al-Badawi was sentenced to death, which was later reduced to 15 years. Both escaped jail again in 2006 and al-Quso remains free. President Saleh said at the time that he was in contact with all the escapees. Al-Badawi surrendered in October 2007 and was allowed house arrest. After strong US protests, al-Badawi was returned to jail, at least for a day where he was seen by US officials. When FBI Director inquired as to al-Badawi’s status during a recent visit with Yemeni President Saleh, “Saleh gave no clear answers about the suspect, Jamal al-Badawi, leaving Mueller ‘angry and very frustrated’, said one (Newsweek) source, who added that he’s rarely seen the normally taciturn FBI director so upset.” Newsweek also notes, “U.S. officials only recently learned that another indicted Cole bomber, Fahed al-Quso, broke out of a Yemeni jail along with Badawi two years ago and remains a free man.”
The paper noted, The cases last Friday prompted President George W. Bush to have his own phone call with Saleh—a leader he once warmly praised for his cooperation in the War on Terror. “We are not fully satisfied yet,” said one national security official familiar with the conversation.
In January, we were honored to publish a letter from Gary Swenchonis to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Gary is the father of Gary Swenchonis Jr. who was killed aboard the USS Cole. Mr. Swenchonis asked President Saleh to imprison his son’s killers according to the Yemeni court’s verdict. Apparently Saleh has a greater loyalty to these fanatical terrorists than he does to the US, the concept of justice or Yemeni courts. But that’s no surprise.
During a Mideast trip earlier this month, FBI Director Robert Mueller made an unpublicized detour to Yemen in order to press an issue of serious concern to Washington: why has the Yemeni government refused to turn over an accused Qaeda terrorist charged in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors? The meeting between Mueller and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh did not go well, according to two sources who were briefed on the session but asked not to be identified discussing it. Saleh gave no clear answers about the suspect, Jamal al-Badawi, leaving Mueller “angry and very frustrated,” said one source, who added that he’s rarely seen the normally taciturn FBI director so upset.
The fate of Badawi is one of a number of terror-related cases that has generated tension with Yemen. U.S. officials only recently learned that another indicted Cole bomber, Fahed al-Quso, broke out of a Yemeni jail along with Badawi two years ago and remains a free man. Yet another accused Qaeda operative, Jaber Elbaneh, a 41-year-old American citizen with a $5 million bounty on his head (stemming from charges that he was part of a suspected Buffalo-area terror cell), was recently seen walking into a Yemeni court—and then nonchalantly walking back out again. The cases last Friday prompted President George W. Bush to have his own phone call with Saleh—a leader he once warmly praised for his cooperation in the War on Terror. “We are not fully satisfied yet,” said one national security official familiar with the conversation.
