Yemeni Al Qaeda the Most Connected to AQ Central
Thats been my impression for quite some time; the history between the Yemeni al Qaeda and AQ Central brings the threat level to a higher degree. There’s a variety of national, jihad deploying splinter groups globally, all competing for the terror leaders’ recognition and ensuing status. But AQC trusts old school AQY, these were always the body guards and drivers for a good reason. They don’t need to talk it up. Its Wahishi’s chattiness that was a reason to discount him from the get-go as a stooge, a front and publicity hound. He’s got some mojo, but the old guard is often unjustifiably dismissed as actually rendered harmless by Saleh’s deals. Its those old reliable ties that are the most troubling. Identity politics is the norm in Yemen including in al Qaeda.
If all the certified al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen called bin Laden at once, possibly the first call he would answer would be from Fahd al Qaso, the last man standing from the 2000 Malaysia meeting, (the al Qaeda summit where the Cole bombing and 9/11 were solidified). Al Quso was last sighted in Shabwa, where al Awlaki is. Where exactly is Jaber Elbanneh and Jamal Al Badawi, besides overshadowed by the AQAP vids, magazines and statements? Nasir al Wahishi was close to UBL, and I dont want to know the details (beyond what we can extrapolate from the fact that Yemeni al Qaeda wear women’s clothing, make-up and invented the butt bomb). The primary issue with catastrophic attacks is, who does AQC trust with the essential information, who is the most trusted conduit? That’s often a function of decades of history, shared culture, personal relationships and the ease of familiarity. There’s an overlapping Zawaheri branch quite well connected, but it sometimes goes through different and occasionally official channels, methinks. Somehow when Yemeni jihaddists want to attack Saudi Arabia, its a big issue, but not the prior years (the quietness period) when they attacked and killed civilians in Iraq.
LONDON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s Yemen wing is probably the most dangerous of its regional offshoots since it is closest to the leadership and seeks to attack oil giant Saudi Arabia, a U.N. counter-terrorism official said.
Richard Barrett, Coordinator of the U.N. Taliban-al Qaeda Sanctions Monitoring Committee (ed-the 1267 committee) , added the menace of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was compounded by its ability to hide in unstable Yemen and the boldness of its ambition, shown by an attack on Saudi Arabia’s security chief in August.
“The most dangerous group is AQAP,” he told Reuters on Monday, saying it was seeking to attract Saudis in militant circles, “a lot” of whom were intent on attacking the kingdom.
“I don’t know for sure but if you look at the relationship between al Qaeda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and any group outside, the closest is with (al Qaeda) people in Yemen.”
“That’s where they try and keep the closest contact. Although al Qaeda in the Maghreb and al-Shabaab (in Somalia) may be more active, it’s the Yemeni (al Qaeda) people who are the closest,” he said in an interview.
From a base believed to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in Yemen, has made a determined effort to foster self-managing affiliates further afield in southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East to hit the “infidel” West and its local allies.
Barrett suggested other al Qaeda wing including in north Africa and the Horn of Africa probably carried out more frequent attacks but the peninsula group’s affinities with Gulf Arabs at al Qaeda’s core gave it extra clout in the global network.
“AQAP is the key group for the leadership because its members are from the Arabian peninsula and can move around easily, and are culturally attuned to many within the leadership,” said Barrett.
And yes, I’m refusing to call them AQAP on purpose, just because that is their preferred name and I’m cranky, damned cranky. Its like the Houthis who would have preferred to have been called the Believing Youth or the Shabab al-Moumineen, but noooo, it was just too way many letters for me. The Houthis it is.
