Top US General Extremely Concerned About Terror Safe Haven in Yemen
Good, he should be worried. Lots of options he says, also good. (ed/up-Actually the options he refers to are regarding Somalia.) The issue is not just the ungoverned territories, its that they exist in an nation with a minimal and erratic counter-terror posture and a significant level of subversion of the administration.
US concerned about terror safe haven in Somalia, Yemen
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US chairman of the joint chiefs Admiral Michael Mullen said Wednesday he was “extremely worried” about the potential for safe haven for terrorists in Somalia and Yemen.
“A significant objective in Afghanistan and Pakistan is to not have a safe haven, and I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia as I am in Yemen,” Mullen said. “I am extremely concerned about that.”
Asked if Ethiopia pulling its troops out of Somalia soon presented a greater risk, and what the United States would do, Mullen said that was not his call.
“It wouldn’t be the US military, quite frankly (deciding). It would be, what would be the policy be of the United States of America and other countries? And there are lots of options there,” Mullen stressed.
“What I certainly want to do, though, is express actually the same concern … and I have that, pay a lot of attention to it, and I think we need to be mindful of where it could go in future,” Mullen added.
The following is a bit of a very well written and researched article on the Guantanamo detainees published by West Point, but it’s recommendations are dangerous.
CTC :For the remainder of the Yemeni detainees, which would likely be a sizeable portion, the United States may find that its best option is to silently partner with the Yemeni government and support a modified hostage system, which has a long tradition in Yemen as a tool of governing….
The hostage system would also further fracture al-Qa`ida in Yemen by exacerbating tensions and loyalties within the group. Such a system would force Qasim al-Raymi and numerous others to ask themselves whether they are more loyal to Nasir al-Wahayshi—the amir of al-Qa`ida in Yemen—or to someone such as Ali al-Raymi—who was once in Guantanamo and is now being held by the Yemeni government. The answer is far from clear, but even forcing individuals in al-Qa`ida to face such a question would likely do more to disrupt the group’s Yemeni branch than have years of counter-attacks. This system would require the United States to temper many of its criticisms of Yemen’s opaque practice of individual deals with terrorists, such as Jamal al-Badawi and Jabir al-Banna. Years of Guantanamo, however, have removed the good courses of action from the table and left the United States with only a limited set of options.
This is a stupendously bad idea. It gives the jihaddists a specific and localized grievance against the US.
The fact that Saleh boxed himself into a corner by negotiating with terrorists doesn’t mean that the US foreign policy has to be bounded by sympathy for his difficult position. Reinforcing tribal norms is not what the US is about, individual responsibility is.
The practice of taking hostages is partly what prompted Yemen’s 1962 republican revolution and is a major cause of unrest today- nearly all the recent kidnappings of foreigners had as their cause, relatives held hostage. The Yemeni government’s practice of taking hostages (or arbitrary arrests we can call it) prompted weekly protests in the capital. Its a clear human rights violation, no matter how often the regime does it.
Furthermore the US has every right and an obligation to criticize and censure a regime that knowingly and duplicitously released the convicted terrorists that murdered 17 US sailors in a sneak attack. The minute we stop standing up for our military we are doomed, because they are the ones who stand up for us. A silent betrayal is still a betrayal. Its really that simple.
Update:
Q Admiral, Ethiopia is pulling its troops from Somalia by the end of this month. When that happens, it’s likely that Somalia will become an Islamic state under the Islamic Courts Union. What does that mean for the U.S. military?
ADM. MULLEN: Part of our — a significant objective in Afghanistan and Pakistan is to not have a safe haven. And I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen. And I try to pay a lot of attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I’m extremely concerned about that.
And I think — certainly we, but the international community — we need to do all we can to impede the arrival of more safe havens out of which we can be threatened.
—————————-
Q Specifically, what can the U.S. military do if the Islamic Courts Union takes over in Somalia?
ADM. MULLEN: Well, I’m — as far as the — it wouldn’t be the U.S. military, quite frankly. It would be, what would be the policy be of the United States of America and other countries? And there are lots of options there.
What I certainly want to do, though, is express, actually, the same concern you lay out in your question. And I have that, pay a lot of attention to it, and I think we need to be mindful of where it could go in the future.
——————————————————-
Q Just to follow up on that, if you — I mean, given the nature of this attack, I mean, what kinds of worries does that create for you about the ability to prevent future ones? And wouldn’t you say future ones are probably going to happen, if there was this broader intent? And what can the U.S. military do to assist in prevention?
ADM. MULLEN: Well, I think it’s less the U.S. military — I think, certainly, we have a part — than it is literally governments throughout the world. And one of the things that is facilitated by ungoverned spaces — it could be Somalia, it could be Yemen, it could be North Africa, ungoverned spaces there, and clearly it was facilitated by the availability of camps and training grounds in Pakistan — and it is that ability to operate and train over an extended period of time in very sophisticated tactics that, to me, is very powerful.
Not just here. I mean, since — certainly 2001 would be the signature event for the United States, but there have been camps in which this kind of training has been taking place for year — for years. So we — again, the international community — I think have to go to great lengths to make sure those opportunities are not presented to them.
—————————————–
Q Admiral, you mentioned that you have concerns regarding Yemen. Do you have any information you can share with us about safe havens in Yemen?
ADM. MULLEN: If you just look at the — nothing — not any intelligence I would share with you, for sure. But if you just look at the incidents which have occurred there and the broad concern with respect to the ability to operate there, that there is potential there that I worry about a great deal, without getting in any kind of detail.
————————————-
Q Thank you. Roughly half of the detainees at Gitmo right now are Yemeni. Is there any dialogue going on between this government and President Saleh’s government regarding possibly re- upping their terrorist rehabilitation program, or the return of those detainees?
ADM. MULLEN: I’m pretty much removed from the discussions about what I would call policy objectives with respect to the detainees. So I’ve — I’m — I just don’t know enough to be able to answer that question one way or another.
