Armies of Liberation

Truth to power:

Washington, DC – Kirk S. Lippold, Former USS Cole Commander and Senior Military Fellow at Military Families United, released the following statement concerning the recently reported news that the Obama Administration is nearing a deal to send a considerable portion of the estimated 100 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi “terrorist rehabilitation centers.”

“The impact of turning Yemeni detainees over to either Saudi Arabia or Yemen is an unacceptable compromise to our national security. Saudi Arabia has proven ineffective in rehabilitating terrorists and Yemen has consistently proven to be an untrustworthy and unreliable partner in the war on terror.

Transferring Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia will inevitably lead to more terrorists on the battlefield. It will endanger the lives of our military for a second time. Currently, one in seven former GITMO detainees has rejoined the fight. If President Obama transfers these detainees to Saudi Arabia or Yemen, he is putting the national security interests of the United States second to nations that still form the cradle of al Qaeda recruiting efforts and their campaign of terror. In addition, this transfer says to our troops and their families that the campaign promise to close GITMO is more important than their safety and their lives.

The lenient treatment of those who attacked USS Cole is the starkest evidence of the Yemeni government’s complicity in supporting those who carried out the attack. The lead co-conspirator, al Badawi, is currently held in minimal security, if in jail at all. The government’s joke of a trial, where he received the death penalty and then escaped twice before being recaptured, demonstrates their inability to even wage the most basic war tactics against al Qaeda. The USS Cole families and many of America’s military families have already paid too dear a price in the war on terror. With each detainee transfer, it becomes more and more evident that the President’s priorities do not lie with our men and women in uniform and those who bear the burden and the sacrifice of the War on Terror – the families.”

The WSJ finds the US under Bush and Obama oddly reluctant to push Saleh on the Cole bombers (lets not forget al Quso), preferring to indulge him instead, while Yemen descends into a failed terrorist state.

The root of the problem is the government’s tacit non-aggression pact with al Qaeda. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh tells American officials he can’t push too hard, and for too long the U.S. has indulged him. The Saudis used to play this same double game. Then al Qaeda attacks killed some 200 people and jolted them into a crackdown. The Kingdom has been free of terrorist violence for the past three years.

But the threat is now regathering in Yemen. In 2002, a CIA Hellfire missile took out Abu Ali al-Harithi, the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen. His replacement was also captured, but then the government backed off. A new generation of leaders emerged after 23 Yemenis, including at least a dozen al Qaeda members, dug a tunnel out of a Yemen jail cell to a nearby mosque. The escape had all the signs of an inside job, and most of the escapees are still free.

Among them is Nasir al-Wahayshi, a 33-year-old who now runs al Qaeda in Yemen. In January, the group “merged” with the Saudi al Qaeda chapter, with al-Wahayshi now “emir of the Arabian peninsula.” By the Yemen foreign minister’s own estimate, between 1,000-1,500 al Qaeda and like-minded fighters are in the country. The U.S. embassy was attacked with a mortar last March and six suicide bombers blew themselves up in front of the compound in September, killing 13.

The U.S. is in talks with the Saudis and Yemenis about the Gitmo detainees. American officials favor putting them through a Saudi rehabilitation center before release. That’s almost as risky as sending them directly to Yemen. Eleven former Saudi Gitmo inmates who went through rehab are back on the government’s most wanted terrorist list. Said Ali al-Shihri turned up in a January video as al Qaeda’s No. 2 man on the Arabian peninsula based in Yemen. If some of the Yemenis rejoined the global jihad — and the odds suggest they would — all that alleged “global good will” won for closing Gitmo will have come at far too high a price.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has other unfinished terrorist business in Yemen. Jamal al-Badawi has confessed his role in recruiting the suicide bombers and renting the skiff used in the U.S.S. Cole attack, in sworn testimony to the FBI admissable in U.S. court. Seventeen Americans died in the 2000 bombing. A Yemeni court convicted and sentenced him to death, but he twice escaped from prison. Recaptured, he supposedly pledged loyalty to President Saleh and was freed in 2007. In response to U.S. pressure, Yemen only last fall put al-Badawi back in custody.

For unexplained reasons, the Bush and Obama Administrations have been reluctant to push Mr. Saleh to hand over al-Badawi and others behind the Cole bombing to the U.S. for trial. The al-Badawi case is a good test of Yemen’s willingness to stand up to al Qaeda and reverse its descent into a failed terrorist state.

Who? ISAI

However, it seems that his deportation from Bosnia and Herzegovina, either to Serbia or Bahrain, will be delayed for some time. The Bosnian Federation Prosecutor’s Office is also hoping to question Al Hamad with regard to a handful of murders allegedly committed by Mujahideen fighters.

(Read on …)

Bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, was released in Yemen this week Yemeni authorities confirm. The US Military Tribunal sentenced Hamdan to five years, including time served, and returned him to Yemen in November. He served the next and last month of his sentence in jail and is now free.

Follow up measures by the Yemeni government are likely to be lax, considering even terrorists convicted of murder in Yemen get amnesty. (I am referencing the perpetrators of the 2000 USS Cole terror attack that killed 17 US sailors. The terrorists, according to the WaPo, are all free.) Like the terrorists Yemen has already freed, Hamdan gave a pledge to refrain from violence. Yemen’s rehabilitation program strives to convince the jihaddists that President Saleh is not an apostate. The program is widely understood to be a mechanism of expedited release.

The sentence meted out to Hamdan is in stark contrast to that given to that given to Ali Hamza Bahlul, who was sentenced to life in prison for solicitation to commit murder. Bahlul created jihaddist recruiting videos for bin Laden. The reasoning behind his conviction is very similar to that used by the International Criminal Court to convict Rwandan radio station operators of incitement to murder for broadcasting calls to kill Tutsis’s duing the Rwandan genocide. Bahlul is both clearly guilty and clearly a continuing threat. Next up for the Military Commissions is al-Nashiri, allegedly a major figure in the USS Cole bombing along with several other terror attacks and plots. If there is another trial.

Focusing on the Military Commissions themselves, its clear they have been conducted with a high degree of professionalism. As one of the victims’ family members told us, “Thank God we have individuals who are willing to see that justice is served… We are extremely proud of the prosecutions professionalism, dedication and their diligence in their work.”

In Yemen, the same backwards farce continues. The latest outrage by that psychotic mafia is the attempted assassination of a blogger and the imprisonment and torture of several others. Torture in Yemen is real torture. See our earlier report, Witness Testimony From the Dungeons of Yemeni Prisons and note some of these victims are 10 and 12 year old children. What is the Obamamessiah to do?

Not only does Yemen torture its children, but it has been documented to be committing crimes against humanity by withholding food and medicine from the civilian population in the war torn Sa’ada region, while bombing them. Tom Joscelyn of the Long War Journal sent me a breakdown of the remaining Yemeni detainees by “red flags”. And the vast majority have three of more indicators. Some of them are bad dudes (and some not), and recidivism rates are high for committed jihaddists.

News today from the Obama camp is that he will order Gitmo closed within weeks of his ascention to power. What the plan is after that is unclear. If they come onto US soil, and are found not guilty, they will be able to apply for political asylum to remain in the US according to current law. If they are relased to Yemen, they will be freed to operate in an environment that lacks of counter-terror restraints and encourages jihaddists mentality.

Defense

Minister Bogollagama spoke of Sri Lanka’s deeply rooted democratic tradition, which he traced to the granting of universal adult franchise in 1931 and said that the trappings of democracy, manifested by the right of the people to go to the polls periodically and elect a government of their choice or in the many magnificent edifices housing the seat of Parliament, the Presidency or the Palaces of justice, do not qualify a country to be a true democratic state. Real democracy becomes alive in a state where the government is accountable to the people and where the rule of law is upheld by a fearless and independent judiciary.

Speaking further, the Foreign Minister drew the attention of the assembled august gathering to the similarity of the methods employed by the LTTE and the terrorists who had staged the multiple attacks on Mumbai last month and said that the fact that these attacks were committed by terrorists getting in from the Arabian Sea aboard a hijacked vessel, underscored the need for the international community to beef up maritime security. He recalled his address to the Shangri-La Forum in June 2007,where he had pointed out the Al Qaeda suicide attack on ‘USS Cole’ in October 2000,as a copycat of the LTTE’s attack on a Sri lankan naval vessel ‘Abheetha’ in 1991,which had been even acknowledged by the Sea Tigers chief, Soosai.

An analysis by Starfor finds similarity between the Mumbai attack and the ‘93 NY landmarks plot. The point being the long shelf life of a good plot and the web connecting major players and groups. I remain hopeful that the Mumbai attack was not the sign referenced in the November 9 statement in al-Quds Al-Arabya.

Update: Judge refuses the plea which includes the condition by the five detainees that they are immediatelyh sentenced to death, that’s their request which the judge refused.

Both are also accused in the USS Cole bombing, which they should hopefully be tried for as well.

Its unclear at this point if this is a formal pleading or just an admission of guilt. In a letter to the court, they requested a hearing to announce their confessions. The court is determining if it is proper to plead guilty in a death penalty case or if a defense is automatically required. The two also fired their lawyers amid the lawyers’ charges the defendants were overly influenced by Khalid Sheik Mohammed in making the guilty plea.

BY CAROL ROSENBERG Miami Herald

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Confessed al Qaeda kingpin Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four 9/11 accused co-conspirators offered to plead guilty Monday to orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The surprise turnabout came in what was meant to be a routine pre-trial hearing at the war court, or military commission.

The Pentagon seeks the death penalty in their case.

But the defendants made no mention of the death penalty or ”martyrdom” as Mohammed calls it, during the morning session before Army Col. Stephen Henely.

(Read on …)

The Miami Herald sent a reporter to Gitmo for the trial, and you can see the difference in the depth of the reporting from the majority of the big outlets that are just reprinting the AP version.

Bin Laden cohort defiant after getting life sentence
A military jury convicted Osama bin Laden’s media secretary of three war crimes charges then condemned the terrorist to serve life in prison; he responded with defiance.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — A military jury Monday convicted Osama bin Laden’s media secretary of war crimes for creating an al Qaeda recruiting video that prosecutors argued incited suicide bombers. Within hours, the jury ordered him to serve life in prison.

The convict, Ali Hamza al Bahlul, about 40, responded by breaking his week-long boycott of the trial with a 50-minute anti-American monologue.

He declared his devotion to Allah, berated the United States for the plight of the Palestinians and, noting his election-eve conviction, announced that radical Islam’s war with the West would persist with whoever succeeds President Bush.

”We have fought and we fight and will fight any government that governs America,” said Bahlul. He waved a poem he wrote in Arabic in praise of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The Storm of the Airplanes, and said he had volunteered for that suicide mission.

Until he was convicted, the Yemeni father of four had declined to mount a defense and sat silently, occasionally smiling at the mention of his handiwork.

(Read on …)

I agree.

Gary’s such a nice guy, well to me anyway. He made a post with his take on the process and players:

Thank-God we have individuals who are willing to see that justice is served against terrorists. Otherwise if the liberals had their way they would all be released….

The Military Commission has treated my wife and myself with great respect. They have worked their butts off on this trial. And did an excellent job in court at obtaining justice for our son and his 16 mates. All the military people here at Gitmo have been kind to us and have been supportive of us as well. We are extremely proud of the prosecutions professionalism, dedication and their diligence in their work. And of all the sailors, air force, army, marines, and coast guard members. We were and are impressed with their professionalism and will remember them for ever.

Check Gary’s blog for the whole post.

Witness: Gitmo detainee wants Americans targeted

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Osama bin Laden’s former media aide produced a video portraying the United States as evil to motivate suicide attacks by al-Qaeda recruits, an ex-FBI agent testified at a war-crimes trial Wednesday.
Prosecutors ran a video allegedly put together by Ali Hamza al-Bahlul showing bin Laden and other terror group leaders calmly describing why they believe Muslims must wage jihad and defeat “American infidels.” It also had footage of al-Qaeda training camps, Israeli soldiers beating suspects, U.S. presidents visiting troops in the Middle East and wounded Muslim children.

“Muslims don’t like to die,” former FBI agent and al-Qaeda expert Ali Soufan testified. “This is to instigate recruitments for suicide bombings.”

The video also shows news images of the USS Cole, then cartoonish images of an explosion in an amateurish attempt to depict al-Qaeda’s bombing of the Navy warship in 2000.

The slender, bearded 39-year-old Yemeni defendant, who is refusing to speak during his trial, pounded the defense table when the video showed Muslim women being manhandled by security agents. He leaned forward with interest when images of bin Laden appeared.

Soufan testified that al-Bahlul, whom he interrogated in 2002, considers all Americans – even Muslims – to be enemies.

“He believes this war is only the beginning. It is Armageddon,” Soufan said. “He said America only understands blood.”

(Read on …)

from Gary Swenchonis Sr., father of Gary Swenchonis Jr., killed in the terror attack on the USS Cole, October 12, 2000

October 10, 2008
President Saleh,

It’s that time of year again; yet another anniversary of the attack on the USS Cole in Port Aden, Yemen on October 12th, 2000. In that attack, our son and sixteen of his mates were brutally murdered, and 39 other sailors were wounded.

Since the last time I wrote you a year ago, many changes, some positive and some not, have occurred in relation to the attack on the Cole and the status of your corrupt regime. First and foremost, we wrote our Texas representative and members of Congress asking for a Congressional Hearing into why our government still supports your dictatorship after you gave the plotters and planners of the Cole attack reduced sentences and pardons for the murders of 17 American Sailors. The rest of the convicted killers conveniently escaped from your prisons. And some remain free to this day, eight years after the attack.

Our Senators have kept us informed as to our requests. We received word recently from them that next year Congress will hold Judiciary Committee hearings. We are extremely grateful to the politicians who have decided that its way past the time to review and hopefully take action against you and your regime. And to put an end to all your worthless and broken promises that you made to two American presidents and our government.

It can now be stated as fact, President Saleh, that FBI Agent John O’Neil and his team were correct in their suspicion that you and your government knew much more about the pending attack on the Cole than you admitted after the attack. Unfortunately, Ambassador Bodine and President Clinton refused to let the FBI follow up on their leads and question members of your government and family after the attack. Instead FBI agent O’Neil was kicked out of your country for wanting to conduct a proper investigation. How ironic that he would be killed in the 9/11 attack less than one year later; an attack that-if Presidents Clinton and Bush had heeded his requests-would not have happened in all probability.

(Read on …)

Congress will hold judicary meetings next year on the USS Cole bombing and investigation in 2009. The next step after that is congressional hearings.

This article is from the year 2000. I hadn’t seen it before so I need to throw it somewhere. The letter is an allegation and was never turned over.

NYT

One of the suicide bombers who attacked the destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden last year had been arrested — and released — just 17 months earlier by Yemeni authorities on charges of conspiring to kidnap Americans working in Yemen.

The suspect, Hassan Said Awadh Khemeri, a Yemeni who had trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden, was one of several suspects in the Cole attack who had been arrested in prior cases but released, according to interviews with officials in Yemen and the United States.

These interviews suggest that Yemeni authorities knew more about the men who attacked the Cole than they have acknowledged, and that they failed to scrutinize the ties of men long suspected of extremist activity.

American law enforcement officials complain that Yemeni officials have withheld information about the Cole plot from the United States. Indeed, several American investigators suspect that some Yemeni government officials knew about the attack before it was launched on Oct. 12 last year.

One Yemeni official familiar with his country’s investigation has charged that crucial evidence that he says links Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to the bombing has never been turned over to the F.B.I.

The evidence cited by the official included a letter believed to have been written by Mr. bin Laden and found in the house of one of the suspected Cole plotters in Yemen. It could provide the firmest link yet between Al Qaeda and the bombing, which killed 17 American sailors. (Read on …)

The Pentagon has charged Gitmo detainee Abdelrahim al-Nashiri in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing which left 17 US service members killed and 49 wounded in the port of Aden, Yemen. Charges include:

• conspiracy to violate the law of war
• murder in violation of the law of war
• treachery or perfidy
• terrorism
• destruction of property in violation of the law of war
• intentionally causing serious bodily injury
• providing material support to terrorism
• attempted murder

But never fear: the Yemeni government talked to his guarantors.

Fahd al-Quso, convicted USS Cole bomber freed by Yemeni authorities, was involved in recent terror attacks and is supposedly being hunted. His family warned the Shabwa governor in a letter not to take action and expressed willingness to disclose the source of international financial transfers recieved by al-Quso.

Yemen Post

In a letter directed to Interior Minister, Political Security and Shabwa Governor, the family of Fahd Al-Qas’e, one of those accused of attacking USS Cole, warned against any assault or taking any measure against him.

Al-Qus’e was convicted in 2004 by the State Specialized Penal Court of being trained at the hands of Jamal Al-Badawi for using the camera to make footages of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 off Aden’s coasts.

According to the indictment, Al-Qus’e got the keys of the building from which he took footages of bombing after receiving signals on pager with the code 1010.

He also traveled to Afghanistan where he was trained on how to make explosives, anti-aircrafts missiles and other weapons.

Though he was sentenced for 10 years, Al-Qas’e was released after serving a short term in prison. He is now hunted by security forces following a series of terrorist acts that targeted oil facilities and foreign interests.

Further, security authorities also summoned his guarantors after they tracked money transfers from foreign parties outside the country.

However, the family asserted that these transfers come from relatives and sons who are living abroad, hinting that none can hold them on account for that only when these sums are exploited for acts that undermine security and stability.

They also expressed their readiness to talk with security over the source of these transfers, maintaining they reject any measure that runs counter to law.

In related news, the Sana’a-based U.S. Embassy renewed its request for extraditing Jabr Al-Bana, a Yemeni-American citizen to face the accusations raised against him in the United States.

The Embassy spokesman stated on Saturday that talks are underway in order to secure extraditing Jabr Al-Bana and Jamal Al-Badawi accused of plotting the attack that targeted USS Cole in 2000. The operation left 17 American Marines dead and dozens others injured.

US Embassy pursues extradiction or at least imprisonment in Yemen:

News Yemen The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a said the United States believes that Jamal al-Badawi and Jabr al-Banna, wanted by US, should be extradited to the United Sates to be tried before a US court.

(Read on …)

Bingo! Good stuff.

Coddling Terrorists In Yemen
By Ali H. Soufan
Saturday, May 17, 2008; A17

Seven years after al-Qaeda terrorists Jamal al-Badawi and Fahd al-Quso confessed to me their crucial involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole, and three years after they were convicted in a Yemeni court — where a judge imposed a death sentence on Badawi — they, along with many other al-Qaeda terrorists, are free. On Oct. 12, 2000, when I flew to Yemen to lead the FBI’s Cole investigation, I had no idea how uncooperative the Yemeni government would initially be. Nor could I have imagined how disconnected from reality the U.S. ambassador to Yemen then, Barbara K. Bodine, would prove.

I have hesitated in the past to share my view of the conflict between Bodine and the FBI’s counterterrorism leader, John O’Neill. I feel compelled, however, to respond to Bodine’s recent comments, which slander the efforts of many dedicated counterterrorism agents and divert attention from the significant terrorist problem within Yemen, our “ally” in the “war on terror.”

A recent Post report on Yemen allowing al-Qaeda operatives to go free offered insight into the challenges the FBI faced. Bodine was quoted in the article not urging the Yemeni government to rearrest the terrorists but, instead, denigrating the agents who investigated the attack. She faulted the FBI as being slow to trust Yemeni authorities and said agents were “dealing with a bureaucracy and a culture they didn’t understand. . . . We had one group working on a New York minute, and another on a 4,000-year-old history.”

In fact, our team included several Arab American agents who understood the culture and the region. Even so, such comments were irrelevant. The FBI left Yemen with the terrorists in jail.

It is true that while tracking the terrorists we worked “on a New York minute.” We owed that much to the sailors murdered on the Cole and to all innocent people who remained targets as long as the terrorists were free.

It is also true that we did not trust some Yemeni officials. We had good reason not to:

When the FBI arrived in Yemen, some government officials tried to convince us that the explosion had been caused by a malfunction in the Cole’s operating systems. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh even asked the U.S. government for money to clean up port damage the United States “caused.”

After we took representatives from various security agencies aboard the Cole and proved to them that the explosion was caused by an external attack, some Yemeni officials claimed that those responsible had died in the attack and that there was no reason to keep investigating. Similar excuses and smoke screens were rampant.

We faced constant threats to our safety, not just from terrorists. Members of the Yemeni parliament, in fiery speeches broadcast on official television, called for “jihad” to be declared against us. The hotel where we stayed was shot at and received at least one bomb threat, prompting an evacuation.

Rather than supporting us, Bodine declared John O’Neill, a man greatly respected by his Yemeni counterparts, persona non grata.

Many American officials in Yemen, including members of Bodine’s team, shared our frustration. Even victims of the Cole were offended by her. I’ll never forget one sailor telling me that Bodine visited the ship soon after the attack and acted “as if we had just inconvenienced her country.”

We had other reasons to be suspicious. For example, the State Department issued a “Search for Justice” poster offering a reward for information related to the bombing. After the poster was translated into Arabic, it ended up warning anyone against helping us. Was it a mistake, or calculated interference?

Ultimately, many Yemeni officials cooperated with us. We developed partnerships based on mutual respect and understanding — thanks to the dedication of agents on the ground.

Using DNA, we eventually discovered the bombers’ identities, and, through other forms of forensics, we were able to identify more terrorists, track them down and prosecute them in Yemeni courts. Working together, we disrupted further terrorist plots and protected U.S. interests. We were successful, and the release of al-Qaeda operatives cannot be blamed on the FBI.

FBI Director Robert Mueller was in Yemen last month demanding that the terrorists be held accountable for their crimes. It is difficult, however, for one hand to clap alone. The U.S. government needs a coordinated strategy on Yemen.

If Yemen is truly an ally, it should act as an ally. Until it does, U.S. aid to Yemen should be reevaluated. It will be impossible to defeat al-Qaeda if our “allies” are freeing the convicted murderers of U.S. citizens and terrorist masterminds while receiving direct U.S. financial aid.

The families of the victims of the USS Cole, and all Americans who want to see terrorists face justice, should be assured that this is not over. Many determined agents will not rest until justice is served. Their efforts, thankfully, receive unconditional support from Mueller. In the FBI, we believe that fidelity to our fallen heroes’ bravery exemplifies true integrity and real patriotism.

The writer was an FBI supervisory special agent from 1997 to May 2005.

Ew-rah. That needed to be said.

Update: published also on Al-Sahwa, website of the Islah party.

So if he’s really in jail, then its not a problem is it? The fact that the story doesn’t say Saleh agreed to it indicates he’s not. And furthermore, there would be a lot less tension about Yemen’s refusal to extradicte al-Badawi if he was in jail, where he should be. The US never asked for him until recently.

U.S. “uncertain” about USS Cole bomber’s incarceration

Sana’a, May 10, 2008 (yemenonline) – The U.S. State Department asked the Yemeni authorities to allow some of its embassy officials in Sana’a to visit USS Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi without a prior permission.

A State Department source said that this request comes as U.S. doubts regarding al-Badawi’s incarceration are growing.

Source: Radio SAWA

On October 12, 2000, two suicide bombers on an explosives laden dingy attacked a US destroyer in the Gulf of Aden, killing 17 US service members and injuring 49 others. The perpetrators of this terror plot are all free in Yemen despite being found guilty in court and sentenced to jail.

If Saudi Arabia pardoned 9/11 highjacker Mohammed Atta while imprisoning a completely innocent journalist on terrorism charges, the US would be in an uproar. But that’s exactly what is going on in Yemen. The USS Cole bombers are free. My good friend, the journalist al-Khaiwani, is on trial in terrorism court. Sentencing is May 21.

Regular readers are familiar with the Yemeni regime’s habitual accommodation of al-Qaeda terrorists, but this is a great article from the WaPo on the bombers. Besides what I’ve written, its the first comprehensive treatment of what happened to the bombers after the trial. Much of details we published on the last anniversary, but the WaPo incorporates the recent updates on the release of
mastermind Jamal al-Badawi and apparently now, also Fahd al-Quso. The article also has some interesting quotes.

One thing that’s new to me is al-Nashiri was in Taiz after the bombing, but the Yemeni government insisted he was out of the country. This type of obstruction is actually quite in character with the regime’s approach to the USS Cole investigation and, generally speaking, to the murderers of US soldiers whether on the Cole or in Iraq:

Amid the friction, U.S. and Yemeni investigators soon identified the ringleader of the attack as Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national of Yemeni descent who served as al-Qaeda’s operations chief in the Arabian Peninsula.

At the time, Yemeni authorities insisted that Nashiri had fled the country before the Cole bombing. But a senior Yemeni official said that was not the case and that Yemeni investigators had located Nashiri in Taizz, a city about 90 miles northwest of Aden, soon after the attack. The official said Nashiri spent several months in Taizz, where he received high-level protection from the government. “We knew where he was, but we could not arrest him,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation.

Nashiri eventually left Yemen to prepare other attacks on U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials said. He was captured in the United Arab Emirates in November 2002 and handed over to the CIA. He was detained in the CIA’s secret network of overseas prisons until he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006.

Sooner or later attention will turn to the fact that regime affiliated persons are using tools of the state in a variety of ways to produce and facilitate suicide bombers of all nationalities that kill our troops in Iraq. In 2005-2006, over 1800 Yemeni jihaddists went to Iraq with the assistance of Yemeni military commanders and others within the Yemeni administration. That’s another part of the paradigm that needs coverage.

It’s nice to see some US governmental outrage about the release of the USS Cole bombers. The families need to know that, so do our soldiers and the rest of the country.

Q: “After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaeda operatives were responsible, we’re back to square one,” said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. “Do they have laws over there or not? It’s really frustrating what’s happening.”

A: Yes, Yemen does have laws and they are quite consistently applied. This is no anomaly. One way to discern what the laws actually are is to compare the lenient treatment of al-Qaeda with harsh treatment of a) criminals and tribal kidnappers, b) the Houthis and the 700,000 people in Sa’ada or c) the southerners and their leaders. It is often said that Saleh is bending to public pressure on the al-Qaeda issue; however he refuses to bend to public pressure on any other issue, be it the south, Sa’ada, reform or even the fuel riots. It is an alliance, whether financially or ideologically driven. To stipulate that Saleh is unable to move against al-Qaeda in any way presupposes that the movement was always or has become as powerful as the military and tribal legs of the regime. The alternate view is that Saleh chooses not to antagonize al-Qaeda because it benefits him in some way or another. The current rash of missing mortars and nightime bombings of government buildings is a result of Saleh’s policy of appeasement, one way or another.

From the article:

Yemen’s interior minister, Rashad al-Alimi, said the deal-cutting was necessary because al-Qaeda has rebuilt its networks in Yemen and is targeting the government.

“Our battle with al-Qaeda is a long one,” he said. “It isn’t our battle only. Our tragedy — and what makes things worse — is that al-Qaeda is united. And our coalition is divided, even though we have a common enemy.”

Some Yemenis have questioned whether their government has other motives. One senior Yemeni official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Badawi and other al-Qaeda members have a long relationship with Yemen’s intelligence agencies and were recruited in the past to target political opponents.

Al-Qaeda functioning as a paramilitary of the Yemeni regime at the behest of the intel agencies and their commanders raises the question of the terms of the quid pro quo.

Findlaw

Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek bin ‘Attash, a Yemeni national, has been charged with conspiracy, attacking civilians and civilian objects, causing serious bodily injury, murder, destruction of property, hijacking, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. Bin ‘Attash is specifically accused of having been instructed by Osama bin Laden to obtain a US visa so he could travel to the US and receive pilot training in order to participate in the eventual hijacking. It is also alleged that he applied for a US visa in 1999 but was denied, after which the government claims he continued to do research for al-Qaeda and facilitated travel for the 9/11 hijackers. (Read on …)

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. (Read on …)

Defense News

U.S. Navy Yet To Return to Aden
By christopher p. cavas
Published: 10 Apr 15:23 EDT (11:23 GMT) Print | Email

Once terrorists have chased out United States forces, do those forces go back?

Not in the case of Yemen and the USS Cole.

The Navy confirmed April 10 that no port visits have been conducted in the port of Aden since the Oct. 12, 2000, terrorist attack on the destroyer Cole. Seventeen American sailors were killed and 39 wounded in the attack, which took place during what was intended as a brief refueling stopover.

Aden is in a key location for U.S. and coalition forces, who routinely operate out of nearby Djibouti and patrol the Horn of Africa region.

(Read on …)

But they are not asking for not Saleh’s boy, al-Hilal.

Hamden’s lawyers are seeking access to Attash, al-Nishiri and bin Al-Shibibh.

I find it hard to believe there is not enough evidence to try Attash and al-Nishiri for the USS Cole bombing.

Miami Herald: Pentagon prosecutors are challenging a military court’s decision to let Osama bin Laden’s driver send written questions to alleged senior al Qaeda members held incommunicado at Guantánamo.

(Read on …)

OK I understand they have to charge what they have the proof on, but how about charging bin Attash with the USS Cole bombing?

Yahoo News: The Pentagon is charging six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks on America, and will seek the death penalty….

The New York Times reported in Monday’s editions that the others are Mohammed al-Qahtani, the man officials have labeled the 20th hijacker; Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and leaders of Al Qaeda; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been identified as Mohammed’s lieutenant for the 2001 operation; al-Baluchi’s assistant, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi; and Waleed bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who investigators say selected and trained some of the hijackers.

From my article, The USS Cole Bombing, A Seven Year Prespective

Bin Laden made a deal with the Yemeni government in 1999, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. After A l-Qaeda operative Khallad bin Attash was arrested in Yemen, Bin Laden contacted a Yemeni official and bargained for Attash’s release. The Yemeni regime released Attash and promised not to confront al-Qaeda. In exchange, Bin Laden pledged not to attack Yemen. This pattern of negotiation continues today.

In 1999, Attash returned to Afghanistan. In January 2000 Attash along with Yemeni Fahd al-Quso attended a high level al-Qaeda meeting in Malaysia at which the attacks on the USS Cole and the World Trade Center were discussed and planned. Attash, who was captured by US forces in Pakistan in 2003, confessed to organizing the Cole attack according to a military transcripts released at his hearing held at Guantanamo Bay. Al-Quso who helped prepared the bombing of the USS Cole was found guilty in a Yemeni court.

Wow. In December, Condi postponed the Forum for the Future at the last minute, scheduling difficulty I think she said. Also some other foreign ministers said they coldn’t come. Now its rescheduled for Dubai.

Its not so much that the regime is refusing to extradite al-Badawi; its that they didnt keep him in jail for his 15 year term. Instead he escaped twice, surrendered twice and was given a conditional release in October, dragged back to jail for a day and then released again. Al-Wasat newspaper put him in Marib after the second release. The guy is a convicted killer who perpetrated a terror attack on an American warship, killing 17 US sailors including Gary Swenchonis whose father’s letter AOL recently posted. The fact that the Yemeni regime is more interested in placating al-Qaeda than the US says a lot about the sincerity of Yemen’s partnership in the GWOT, if we are still allowed to call it that.

Jan 24,2008-Exclusive – Yemenonline – Well informed foreign source told Yemenonline that Forum for Future meetings are to be held in Dubai instead of Yemen after US Administration managed to prevent its holding in Yemen last December 2007. American stance was based on the Yemen authority’s rejection to hand over Jamal Al-Badawi American authorities consider him to be the key mastermind of USS Cole bombing in 2001. Political observers consider Washington’s stance to be a punishment for the Yemeni government following the latter’s adherence to its position. According to a previous statement by a source at the Foreign Ministry, handing over Al-Badawi to US authorities would subject the Yemen government to legal questioning. The foreign source also stressed that Japan is the organizer of the current forum’s activities and it binds itself to 2008 program, while Germany was in charge of 2007 activities which include organizing Future Forum last December in Sana’a. Yemenonline previously published this news before being officially announced.

The Forum for the Future was previously held in Morocco, Bahrain and Jordan.

Oh good. Someone is actually saying something:

AFPYemen had been slated by the Group of Eight most industrialised nations to hold the fourth forum in November, but it was postponed then because of Rice.

A foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday that “Yemen has decided to excuse itself from hosting the fourth Forum of the Future … because it has not received a commitment from the Group of Eight on a new date.”

However, the Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anyonymity, said the real reason was because “security concerns” meant Rice would stay away.

“The American administration is also unhappy with the Yemeni authorities for allowing Jamal al-Badawi, an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen wanted by the United States for terrorism, to live at home rather than being kept in detention.”

Badawi was sentenced to death in September 2004 for his part in the USS Cole bomb attack, which killed 17 sailors, and which was claimed by Al-Qaeda. An appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.

January 12, 2008

President Saleh,

It has been over seven years now since our son and his mates were brutally murdered in your country on October 12, 2000 when terrorists attacked the USS Cole and murdered 17 innocent young sailors and injured 39 more.

Let me begin by thanking all the Yemenis who called us at our home and sent letters of condolence. The kindness, compassion, warmth and sympathy expressed in those calls and letters comforted us and gave us a strength that we carry with us today.

Unfortunately we never received a letter of condolence from you or your government sir. You never even denounced that horrible tragedy, nor did anyone in your government. On the contrary, your government hindered the investigation at every turn. But then, so did our own; US Ambassador Bodine continually obstructed the FBI’s investigation.

When the trials were held in Yemen, the resulting sentences were a mockery of justice considering the heinous crime and multiple loss of life. Then those sentences were reduced upon appeal. Now it is my understanding that one or more of the killers recently received a conditional pardon from you. This is despicable sir!

But we expected no less from you or your government from the beginning. We pleaded with our government to have the killers extradited for trial to another country where the government is not in league with terrorists. I want you to know that I am doing everything in my power to see to it that Yemen is placed on the United States list of countries that “Support and Sanction Terrorists Acts”.

The Clinton Administration’s agreement with you to refuel the USS Cole in the harbor at Port Aden was signed with our son’s blood. Most Americans know now what we knew then, that the negotiations should never have been conducted considering your past connections to terrorists and that some members in your administration support terrorists. These include high ranking members of the military, security and intelligence services.

We Americans also know that most Yemenis want a real democracy, not the pseudo-democracy that you are the Dictator of now. I don’t want to see the good people of Yemen punished. I want to see dictators like yourself and other corrupt people in your government disposed of by Yemenis who want true freedom.

The USS Cole tragedy is one of the most shameful and embarrassing events in United States history. US leaders covered up their own mistakes by blaming others including the ship’s captain, Commander Lippold, who is another victim of the Cole tragedy. To add insult to injury, the Bush administration continued to appease terrorist supporting governments like yours.

However, the truth is leaking out slowly but steadily, at least in this country. The tragedies 10/12 and 9/11 could have been averted if only people such as yourself and your cronies would have worried more about their citizens instead of their own egos, political futures and fortunes.

To their credit, some US politicians after 9/11 stated how they had all failed to protect the American people by ignoring the wake-up call of the USS Cole Tragedy. But mostly, the Political Speak after 9/11 was, “This is not the time for pointing out the mistakes made by officials before 9/11. There will be plenty of time after this emergency has passed to deal with those in our government who failed the American people.”
As so often happens with American leaders who make serious mistakes that cost so many people their lives and so much suffering, “later” never came. Instead both political parties closed ranks and deflected responsibility for the USS Cole attack and 9/11. Incredibly, US politicians returned to dealing with corrupt foreign governments such as your own. It was business as usual.

You Sir and your government do not deserve any support from the US in the form of grants, weapons or advisors until you and your government join the other civilized countries in denouncing acts of terrorism and you stop providing support and refuge for them.

You and your government could make a good start by offering a sincere apology and condolences in writing to the victims’ families of the Cole Tragedy. But I seriously doubt that any such action will ever materialize on your part. We all know that would anger the “influential persons” in your government who support killers like Bin Laden.

You could also cease the charade of justice with regard to our son’s killers. At least, keep them in prison for the allotted time they initially received from the court. Why were the killers not given extended sentences for multiple prisons breaks? Instead, their sentences were reduced after their escapes!

These men killed innocent young men and women going about their daily duties, at your invitation, in a country that is supposedly a US ally. How many other people have these terrorists killed before our son? How many more families will find their lives shattered when they murder indiscriminately again?

I read about journalists, activists and everyday people in Yemen who risk their lives, their careers and even their own families to speak out about your corrupt dictatorship. I admire and respect these people very much. My family and friends respect their heroism. These brave Yemenis give me hope that your days in power are numbered. I believe a Free and prosperous Yemen will emerge victoriously, no matter how ruthless you are in your attempts to squash that movement.

We, the families of the sailors murdered in Yemen, have just won a lawsuit against a government similar to your own, the government of The Sudan. It is my goal to obtain the right to present a case against your government in a court of law as well. Notice I say “your government”, not the good people of Yemen. It appears that you are only threatened by the loss of money and not the loss of human lives, which is why it is so important that your government, President Saleh, be placed on the list that support terrorism. There is ample evidence to support this designation.

There are politicians in this country (and yours) that still know right from wrong, politicians that will be responsible and correct one of the most shameful events in both countries’ histories. I believe that these leaders will fix this miscarriage of justice not for their own political convenience but because it’s the right thing to do. They will send a message to all potential terrorists and governments that America stands behind her citizens and their right to life, not with a bunch of eloquent words and worthless threats, but with concrete action.

The survivors and families victimized by terrorist acts are entitled to some form of Justice. I believe a Bill will be enacted to prohibit our government from dealing with individuals such as yourself, a supporter of fanatics like Bin Laden who has brought so much death, misery, and suffering to thousands of people.

I do not hate you President Saleh, nor the politicians and both US presidents that looked the other way when our son was murdered. I do pity you for the wasted opportunity that your reign represents. It is so sad to think of all the good things you could have done for your country and its peoples, and the positive changes that you alone could have instrumented.

You could have stood against tyranny, terrorism, and corruption. Yemen could have been known as a beautiful and civilized country that respected the rule of law and human life, as your people certainly deserve. Instead the world now looks at your government as just another little backwater dictatorship that oppresses its peoples, where the politicians grow richer everyday off the suffering of their citizens, where repression is the norm, and where the law is what you and a few terrorists say it is.

Your day of justice is coming, President Saleh. You must live in fear everyday, and rightly so, knowing your terrorist friends could turn on you any day. I believe a movement within your country will rise up and cast people like you where they belong, in prison.

If Yemeni people can risk their lives everyday battling your corrupt regime, then the least I can do for our deceased son and the future victims of acts of terrorism is to establish a method for dealing with governments such as yours. I hope no one will ever have to face the pain we went through when we were told over and over by US politicians, “We would like to help you, but you have no recourse. You can’t attend the trial. You have no say, no representation, and no way to gain redress for your son’s murder.”

We have stand by helplessly as the killers who murdered our son are rewarded by you and your government and while our own government does nothing to interfere with your actions. That is a horrible experience for any mother, father, wife, husband, and other family member. We have no closure. We have nothing, except flowers and empty words spouted by insincere politicians. I want to change all that.

President Saleh, I have a question. Is there even a little marker or a plaque where our son and his mates were murdered? I would think that our ally, who invited these sailors to Aden, would erect a nice monument to the dead and wounded, assuming they were sincere. Have you taken such action?

Our government told the American people that my boy and the other sailors died protecting your citizens and our people against terrorism. If only that were true, instead our son was killed due to political incompetence in this country and your administration’s support for Bin Laden. Our son was sold out by his own government and yours as well sir, just like all the other victims of terrorism. But I am his father, and I will not let that stand.

In this country we are preparing for another presidential election. Real democracies do that Sir. My hope is that a new president will be elected who will not deal with people like yourself. I hope this new president will help to correct the injustices that have been committed by the last two presidents and administrations in this country in ignoring small groups of victims of terrorist attacks, and in providing money and assistance to corrupt leaders like you who took our money and then looked the other way when our son was murdered.

Bin Laden and his fanatical followers did not carry out their horrific crimes in a vacuum. Bin Laden and other terrorists need political leaders and countries that are sympathetic to their evil ideologies. These leaders including you foster extremism and provide terrorists with a safe haven where they conducted the business of planning the murder of 17 US sailors, and later the mass murder of thousands of Americans and peoples of all nationalities. These are acts of pure unadulterated evil.

Mr. Saleh, to quote an old saying “You can kill people. But you will never kill the dream of freedom.” Make no mistake, your people and nation will be free one day from you and your supporters. They will be free from the terrorists like Bin Laden, and his oppressive followers. The dream of freedom will become a reality in Yemen. I would like to visit Yemen when your people have obtained their freedom and to know that our son had a small, yet significant part in making that dream a reality.

Gary G. Swenchonis, Sr.
and Family

Note: Petty Officer Gary G. Swenchonis, Jr. and 16 other Americans on the USS Cole were murdered by two Yemeni al Qaeda operatives while the ship was anchored in Yemeni waters. Several suspected in the bombing plot were never charged. Those convicted received light sentences, have escaped from Yemeni jails, or have had their sentences commuted. It is unclear if a single suspect remains in jail today. For more about the USS Cole Bombing see The USS Cole Bombing in Yemen: What We Know Today. Since Mr. Swenchonis does not have his own website, he asked me to publish this letter for him. Jane

Yemen Online:

US Ambassador Demands the Submission of Jamal Al Badawi for Trial in USA – Will this be a pressurizing paper on Yemen to Punish it for its Stance?!
US Ambassador to Yemen, Mr. Stephen A. Seche, confirmed publicly the necessity to turn in Jamal Al Badawi, accused in exploding US Ship “Coll” in 2000, the incident that resulted in killing 17 America sailors, for fair trial in the United States Government. He added that Sheikh Abdulmajeed Al Zendani, is still classified in the terror supporter list. As for Moayad, the verdict would be issued soon, he said.

It is clear that the American Ambassador, in spite of his diplomatic maneuver on postponing Yemen support through the Millennium Fund, was clear that the handing over of Al Badawi was the main reason for this postponement as similarly is the case with postponing the Future Forum all of a sudden before holding it by 2 days last December. The Ambassador statement confirms that the dispute is still there between Yemen and US governments on the issue of handing Al Badawi over in spite of having many Yemeni delegates to US and the confirmation of the Yemeni government that Yemeni Constitution forbids handing over any Yemeni citizen for trial in a foreign country. The question: will Yemen be punished for this position?

I think if the regime managed to keep al-Badawi in jail, perhaps there would be less pressure to hand him over. He did escape twice already. And more:

almotamar.net - The US ambassador to Yemen Stephen Seche on Monday praised the democratic process in Yemen, saying the latest presidential elections an evident of the strong trend towards democracy. He pointed out that his meeting Monday with Yemeni female journalists to discuss and assess the local issues as added evidence on Yemen’s progress in the democratic process.

Washington’s ambassador to Yemen said signing the agreement of the millennium project that was scheduled last October of funding amount of $20 million was not cancelled but postponed.

At the press conference organised today by Yemeni Female Journalists Forum for the US ambassador he pointed out that most of he joint projects between the American and the Yemeni governments are of security and military fields containing exchange of intelligence information aimed at guaranteeing security of the Yemeni land and sea borders as a friendly country and offering full support for the creation of specialised establishments in fighting terror.

In his answer to questions of the female journalists for whom he made the conference the ambassador said Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zandani, president of Al-Eman University and member of the Islah Party Higher Committee is accused by America over financing terror and that sheikh Mohammed al-Mouayad, member of Islah Shoura council and his companion are accused of direct conspiracy of financing Hamas , explaining that sentencing in the case of sheikh al-Mouyad would be issued soon inside the United States.

According to a press release issued by the Yemeni Female Journalists Forum the US ambassador asked he Yemeni government to hand over Jamal al-Badawi who is condemned of cases in Yemen by killing 17 American seamen to the United States as part of the security cooperation between the two countries on fighting terror.

The release, a copy of which almotamar.net received a copy, mentioned that the ambassador praised the democratic process in Yemen, saying the latest presidential elections an evidence of the strong orientation towards democracy, indicating that his meeting with the Yemeni female is another proof on Yemen progress in the democratic process.

Democratic progress? (……) Fill in the blank, I’m tired.

ah, Al-Badawi is currently imprisoned, my buddy al-Qirby says:

almotamar.net - Yemen’s Foreign Minister Dr Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said Tuesday that Jamal al-Badawi who is now spending an imprisonment sentence over the explosion of the American destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni regional waters, is a Yemeni citizen and the Yemeni law and constitution do not allow handing him over.

Minister al-Qirbi clarification came in his comment on statements of the US ambassador to Sana’a on Monday during his meeting with Yemeni female journalists. The American ambassador asked in his statements the Yemeni government to hand over Jamal al-Badawi to the United States as part of the security cooperation signed between the two countries.

Al-Jumhouria newspaper for today quoted the foreign minister as explaining that the American ambassador concerning the issue of sheikh al-Mouayad imprisoned by the American authorities and his receiving a sentence punishment is still too early and there is still an appeal.

The minister said since the beginning Yemen considered the way of arresting al-Mouayad as violating the international law and rules of human rights and that Hamas was being supported by many countries and Arab organisations and that is not considered a crime.

In conclusion of his statements al-Qirbi praised the level of the Yemeni-American relations and that they are good in all fields, calling on all journalists not invest the news in a mistaken way offending the homeland.

Al-Qirby should encourage Yemenis in other countries to obey the laws of their host countries, regardless of whether he personally agrees with those laws or not. Collecting money for Hamas is illegal in the US. It in no way violates international law for the US to enforce its own laws, public opinion not withstanding. Al-Moyyad is on video (with audio) standing on McDonald avenue in Brooklyn, New York taking money for Hamas. It could have been Coney Island Avenue, but either way, the handover of the cash inthe US is on video. I know everyone in Yemen is sorry for al-Mayyad, but he broke the law. Whether the sentence is too harsh is another question, as is whether there were any proceedural mistakes in the trial. Whether taking money for Hamas should be illegal in the US is a matter of opinion, not law. I was going to say Americans can’t break the law in Yemen and get away with it, but then there’s American Jaber Elbaneh who was tried in absentia for the Marib attack after surrendering earlier to the regime.

Currently in Marib? Good relations with the PSO we know already.

AFP s reporting that the independent the Yemeni paper al-Wasat published a report that Jamal al-Badawi was RELEASED AGAIN by the Yemeni authorities. Al-Badawi you will recall is under indictment in the US for 53 counts of terrorism related to the USS Cole bombing. He was sentenced to death in Yemen. The verdict was reduced to fifteen years in jail. He escaped twice (2003 and 2006). Al-Badawi surrendered and was conditionally released in October by the Yemeni government. When that became public, the regime spouted a number of explanations, including he was visiting his family for a few days before returning to jail. Subsequently, a US official saw him in Aden jail.

The US postponed Yemen’s USD 20 million Millennium Challenge Award (that could have led to USD 700 million if they actually reformed). Last week (at the last minute) Condi canceled the “Forum for the Future” that was to be held in Yemen. Unconfirmed reports indicate the US wants al-Badawi extradited to the US, and Yemen has refused.

I’ve been published in al-Wasat several times. I met the editor Jamal last year when he visited DC. Jamal is the guy who was kidnapped and beaten in August of 2005 when he published a story about corruption. The report on al-Badawi is not a story he would publish lightly, without good sources. If I had to bet on who is telling the truth here, its not the Yemeni regime.

Yemen denies Cole bomber freed from jail
2 hours ago

SANAA (AFP) — Yemen denied on Wednesday reports that an Al-Qaeda fighter convicted of taking part in the bombing of the USS Cole had been freed from jail for a second time, saying he had never been released.

(Read on …)

Yemen On Line:

Sources reveal: the extradition of Jamal Badawi behind the postponement of the Forum future
sources informed Yemenonline that the postponement of the Forum for Future came against the backdrop of the failure of the negotiation of United States and Yemen in the issue of Jamal Mohammad Ahmad Badawi - second defendant incident bombing the American destroyer (USS Cole) in 2000 in port of Aden , which claimed the lives of 17 American sailors.

The Yemeni delegation recently returned from the United States after a series of talks held with the American security departments on the issue of “handing over al-Badawi,” without reaching an agreement appropriate in view of the United States’s request for the extradition of Al-Badawi, while Yemen remained apologize to respond to the request “for violating texts Constitution, which prohibits extradition of any Yemeni citizen to a foreign country before being convicted prosecuted. “According to that result was postponed date of the Forum for Future , “for an indefinite period”, according to the same sources, which asserted that the controversy on the subject will continue, “and not conducive to a result, the Forum for Future will take place in Sana’a.”

An article from Al-Attariq weekly newspaper, issue no. 529, October 30, 2007:

In light of U.S.A objection about al-Badawi’s release, will the Islamic Extremists come back to face the Southerners again?

ADEN IS HERE:

The American TV channel (CNN) uncovered in its report at 4p.m last Saturday, the objection and indignation of the American Administration due to the release of Gamal Badawi by the Yemeni authorities. Al-Badawi is the second defendant in the case of the attack on the American destroyer (U.S.S Cole) which took place in Aden port in October , 2000 and resulted in the death of seventeen members of the marines. The USA announced a reward of $5 million for anyone with information on the culprits. That objection by the American Administration according to the CNN appeared in a statement issued by the most prominent character in counter-terrorism in the National Security Dept. of the American Dept. of Justice, recited by the its spokesman Dean Boyed when he said: we are extremely displeased and disturbed by the decision of Yemeni government to release al Badawi.

This American protest was included in a letter by the American president George W. Bush to his Yemeni counterpart delivered by his assistant of counter-terrorism affairs in her last visit to Aden for several hours on Monday before.

The official Yemeni information indicated that the US message included the American Administration’s confirmation and support for Yemeni Unity which reflects the stability in the area and renewed the USA commitment to the development of Yemen. Those sources didn’t mention to the topic of Gamal Badawi’s release or the al-Qaeda Organization. It seems that the American Administration didn’t receive then any confirmation concerning AL-Badawi, or it is agreed to keep the whole matter away from publication, particularly what Bush’s letter included.

Soon afterwards, the American Administration declared its attitude through the statement issued by Dept. of Justice via the American (CNN) and in co-ordination with AL-Arabia TV channel, stating the Yemenis Authorities had carried out such an action as a bargain with the stringent Islamite’s – AL-Badawi and AL-Qaeda- to employ them in its conflict against the Southern disunity powers which seem to dominate the public in the south, in contrast with the situation in 1993 and 1994 war when Sana’a then employed both the Yemeni “Jihad” Organization and Afghan Arabs in its dispute against the Yemeni socialist party .

On the same time, sources confirmed the presence of Gamal Badawi in his residence and shim in the days before the official declaration of giving up himself to the authorities on the 16th of October, 2007 and his release on the 24th of the same month. The involved authorities denied this news.

The way he was released and its causes were not sufficient. It is a legal release by the court of law which is known as a conditional release and that doesn’t apply to the defendant being a fugitive, once he escaped Jail in Aden and later in Sana’a?

Definitely, the Yemeni Authorities are going to issue an explanation referring them to the dialogue outcomes and that as the program of the Yemeni Govt. with the stringent Islamite’s from al-Qaeda Organization. This step may be taken to have more than a message.

If it is read roughly for once, it may guide us to the fact that the authorities intend to re-employ these people to fight the Southerners, while a profound reading will introduce a very serious message to the American Administration indicating that Sana’a are still the owners of a lot of sources in its hand. Al-Badawi and his companions are the strongest to face the USA itself, if the other counterpart attempts to support or patron the southern political powers which appeal for a poll right due to the recent news indicating that Brother Ali Salem Al-Beech, the former vice president had delivered his Omani passport to the Omani Authorities and left Muscat for London accompanied by a high official American diplomat and after the latter had brought him a passport issued by the UN especially given to political refugees with the real rank for former presidents .

We can imagine that Sana’a accepts the official American point of view concerning the Southerners, solving it in a frame of a number of reforms for the whole Yemen, standing on a local rule with rest competences to fight corruption and a number of items included in the president’s Election program, in addition to his last proposal suggesting to amend the political system into a presidency system instead of the current system (parliamentary – presidency ) which supposedly will depend on a federal base and that’s what all incidents guide to silently . Nevertheless, it looks that Sana’a won’t endure the alteration of the American attitude more than that aiming at using the Southern case as a means of pressure on Sana’a to carry out several serious basic reform leading to a pure American project within the American strategy to subdivide the area.

The release of Gamal Badawi by the Yemeni Authorities is an apparent procedure to fight southern and internally to inform the Americans that the fire will catch everybody related. It’s a trial to make the American Administration to decline its pressure on Sana’a in connection with the southern case and get back to the level of reforms within the Yemeni Union Frame and that what Bush’s message confirmed in his last one-according to the Yemeni officials .

Each side remains observing his opposite counterpart’s step carefully and looking at each other’s obligations. Hence we can understand why the last meeting held last Saturday in Aden devoted on, in presence of the president Ali Abdulla Saleh himself, the prime minister and the governors of the four states of Aden , Lahej , Dhaleh and Abyan, where the four states were mentioned more than four times in the news, which produce an impression that there is intention to create a circulation or a huge administrative square including the four states together, planned for it and it is this way we have got to understand, so that this square would form one of the regions of the Yemen Republic with vast ruling competence in a new political presidency system. The question remains if Sana’a will succeed in probing the American Administration to secure its attitude towards Yemen unity? Will it succeed in dealing with files of the southern case and hold a political dialogue to exceed or overcome the recent squares of the southern project within a political and popular support for it, unknown in the previous decades.

On the other hand, the question will remain existing if the American Administration will stand still at the same pressure boundary imposed on the government for the reforms, urging the president to carry out his election program as soon as possible and which is going to solve the problems? Or is it a political maneuver through which all the tools of the ruling party are taken off paving the path for the birth of the Southern project seriously?

Nobody knows except Allah.

Edited by Ayman Mohamed Naser Mohamed
Editor – in – chief
Owner
Attariq Weekly newspaper

Al-Badawi, the $700,000 mistake. After the 23 escaped, they slowly surrendered on the condition of security guarantees (pardons). The pardon of the first seven who surrendered was arranged by al-Fadhli. Al-Badawi’s release was the culmination of a long standing and unchallenged pattern.

Al-Sahwa

The Millennium Challenge Corporation MCC has suspended the grant of $ 20.6 million scheduled to be donated to Yemen until unidentified time. A spokesman at the US embassy n Yemen said to al-Sahwa.net the board of the corporation has decided to suspended the grant secheduled to be signed on Wednesday until unidentified time. The spokesman added the board is now considering the future of Yemen at the corporation.

The suspended grant is considered to qualify Yemen for two years after that Yemen will get about $700-800 million from the MCC.

In this regard the director of the corporation John Danilovich has postponed his visit to Yemen which was expected to be during coming week.

The decision of suspending the delivery of the grant came as punishment due to a press release issued by the Yemen news agency Saba regarding the release of Jamal al-Badawi, al-Qaeda member accused of bombing the US destroyer Cole in Aden port. The release created an angry US reaction among all the US circles and ministries. The US Justice Ministry said” We are so angry for the Yemeni government decision of releasing al-Badawi.”

The Yemen Observer is owned by President Saleh’s press secretary, Faris Sanabani. This latest official version of the ever evolving story does not take into account that his relatives said they visited him at home and, according the the AP, other witnesses saw him in Aden.

ADEN - UPDATED: More that one security official at Aden Central Prison confirmed to the Yemen Observer that Jamal al-Badawi is in prison. The Yemen Observer’s Aden correspondent is on the ground attempting to gain access to the imprisoned al-Badawi for a brief statement. More updates will follow.

Jamal al-Badawi, a high-profile Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, is in police custody, contrary to widespread media reports. Al-Badawi surrendered himself to authorities two weeks ago, according to a senior security official at the Yemeni Ministry of Interior.

The rumor that al-Badawi had been released and was being kept under effective house arrest after pledging allegiance to the authorities was denied by security officials in Yemen. A senior security official at the Ministry of Interior told Yemen Observer that al-Badawi had not been set free, nor was the sentence against him dropped as has been reported by US media.

Regarding the following International Herald Tribune article, first of all, the escape was in February 2006, but second of all, hasn’t the MSM figured out that “re-arrested” means “released” in Yemen? None of them are in jail.

IHT: Al-Badawi and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. Only four are still at large while the others were either killed or re-arrested. He with nine other suspects of the Cole attack had escaped prison in April 2003, but was re-arrested.

My thinking exactly but lets let an anonymous Yemeni analyst comment:

There are credible reports coming out from Yemen saying that Saleh decided unilaterally to temporarily abandon his interests with the US in the war on terror for the sake of crushing a possible revolution in the south using Al-Qaeda as recruits. This is no joke as it was successful in Saadah. It is the same scenario used in 1994 before Al-Qaeda was much of a concern. I wonder how this would play in the hands of the US and others. This also explains the massive growing anti-separatist religious sermons and even fatwas popping up in northern states (such as the one said on the Eid by Al-Shaibani, who literally encouraged the slaughter of those who seek to disobey the leader and secession the country).

What Saleh has done, IMO, is calculate his risk/reward ratio and realized that trouble to his throne at home is much more of a credible threats than a few blasting comments from the US, which he feels is still in need for him in the long run.

We have been watching the protests growing in the South since May. And we all recall the northern war in Sa’ada against the Shiite rebels, during which the regime used terrorists to train and indoctrinate Salafia tribesmen, as well as to fight the rebels. The tactics used by the Afghan Arabs in the 1994 civil war included a lot of assassinations. However, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if al-Badawi directed one of these nineteen year old suicide bombers to blow himself up in the middle of a crowd of protesters. And then Saleh would cry that he needs more money from the US to fight terror.

Meanwhile, my good friend, the quite heroic and courageous editor Abdualkarim al-Khaiwani is on trial this week on entirely bogus terrorism charges.

Democracy advocate on trial for terrorism; terrorist home receiving well wishers: this is Yemen in a nutshell.

The following article says US embassy in Sana’a has not yet commented on Jamal al-Badawi’s pardon. They owe a comment to the families of those sailors killed in the bombing and to every member of the US military.

The news of the glowing praise by Bush of Yemen’s efforts on the counter-terror front is coming from the official news sources, which is nothing more than a propaganda machine. The regime once published official news that some index had rated Yemen as a 2.4 on a scale of 1-3, when the actual scale was 1-6. I don’t know if Townshead made any public comments or if this all regime spin. If it is spin, the US needs to unspin it. If its not, the US is in much worse shape than I thought. I thought they might wake up a tad when it came out that Abu Bakr al-Raibi was never actually in jail, just transported to and from his house to court in prison clothes.

The reason the Yemeni administration is partially co-opted by al-Qaeda is that the Afghan Arabs fought for Saleh in the 1994 civil war, after they returned from fighting for bin Laden in Afghanistan. They were later rewarded with state positions. These Bin Laden loyalists are currently in the PSO and the military and in a variety of high level positions, governorships for example.

SANA’A, Oct 24 — US President George W. Bush praised Yemen for its success in the field of combating terrorism.

This came in a message to President Ali Abdullah Saleh conveyed by the assistant to President Bush for Internal Security and Combating Terrorism Affairs, Francis Townsend.

In his message, President Bush confirmed his country’s support for Yemen in development, education, military, security, and fighting against terrorism.

(Read on …)

Guest Post, oped by Abu Yemen

October 17, 2007

Yemen Security Service Attempts To Mislead Others

It has been released by a Yemeni security source two days ago that the wanted Gamal Al Badawi was arrested in Aden. Al Badawi has been arrested for his role in planning and carrying out with others the attack on the USS Cole. After spending a long time in custody at a Sana’a prison, he was allegedly able to free himself with another two Al Qaeda prisoners by digging a tunnel some hundred yards long. This story was spread by the Yemeni security authorities in an attempt to avoid rendering necessary answers to the FBI and CIA team that awaited for long to bring their mission on Cole to a conclusion.

The arrest of Badawi was also published in Al Ayyam daily today (Wednesday, October 17, 2007) and the French A.F.P. news agency a day earlier.

In view of the fact that the Yemeni dictator is a qualified liar, this particular event should not be taken its face value, but instead judged on previous records of systematic packages of lies and false information which have been fed to the Yemeni public and friendly governments.

Gamal Badawi is certainly a most wanted on security lists. He and other associates were at one time awarded with jobs within the Yemeni armed forces followed their participation in rallying behind President Saleh’s military confrontations with the Yemen Socialist Party, which use to run the South Yemeni government at one time. Al Badawi and his associates were in constant contact with senior Yemeni national security officers, namely (…), and many others.

It is believed that Al Badawi is a source of information that will incriminate the president and his men in serious terrorist activities in Yemen and maybe overseas. Nobody should therefore be surprised if Badawi is killed while attempted to escape his detention. I am sure is Badawi is interrogated outside Yemen and a deal is offered to him, he might reveal a substantial amount of information.

Otay. Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi voluntarily surrendered to Yemeni security forces. I wonder if he is going to be under loose house arrest like Jaber Elbaneh. But its good he’s in some kind of custody. This is a dangerous guy. He escaped from a jail in Aden in 2003 and from a jail in Sana’a in 2006.

From the website of Yemen’s Ministry of Defense (26sep.net):

SANA’A.(26sep.net) - A security source affirmed that Jamal Al-Badawi, a leader in Al Qaeda and an escapee from the political security prison has surrendered himself to the security forces.

The source told “26sep.net” that Jamal Badawi, had escaped from prison twice in the first in Aden and from the political security prison in Sanaa within 23 persons of al-Qaeda members, where he voluntarily surrendered himself.

There’s some kind of deal here. The question is who is getting what.

Update: FREE. Did I call it or what?

SANAA (AFP) — Fugitive Al-Qaeda suspect Jamal al-Badawi, who was convicted for the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors, has surrendered to authorities, an official said Tuesday.

A witness in the southern port city of Aden said Badawi had been allowed to return to his home there….A witness in Aden told AFP Tuesday that Badawi had returned to his home there two days ago amid reports in the neighbourhood that authorities had allowed him to go home in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or al-Qaeda-related activity.

So the 15 year jail term was just a show for the US, among the many shows for the US, because this is a pardon for the killer of seventeen US sailors.

In Yemen, there is no judicial penalty for killing US military personnel either in Yemen or in Iraq. This is not a constraint of public opinion, not an effect of corruption or incompetence, no no, this is the policy and bias of Yemeni state institutions.

Oh yeah, the trial. Bets on the outcome?

AFP Neighbours of Badawi confirmed seeing him at his home.

A source close to security services meanwhile told AFP that Badawi’s surrender had come as a result of negotiations between Yemeni authorities and Al-Qaeda militants in the Arabian Peninsula country.

The authorities are pursuing their hunt for the two other Al-Qaeda prison escapees who are still on the run — Kassem al-Raimi and Nasser al-Wehaishi — who are considered among top militants in the group, the source said.

The government is also trying to start negotiations with them through tribal mediators, the source added, requesting anonymity.

The Yemeni interior ministry had accused the fugitives of masterminding a July 2 suicide bombing in Marib, 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of Sanaa, which killed eight Spanish tourists and two local drivers.

Badawi and the two fugitives are also among some three dozen Yemenis on trial on charges of planning or carrying out attacks for Al-Qaeda.

These include an abortive twin attack in September 2006 on an oil refinery at Marib and petrol storage tanks at the Dhabba terminal operated by the Canadian firm Nexen in southeastern Hadramut province.

A verdict is due on November 7.

Two weeks ago, fourteen scholars including Sheik Abdulmajid al-Zindani issued a fatwa published in Al-Motamar against the Southern protesters, in a move very similiar to the fatwa against the Houthis. Hopefully, this is unrelated to the pardon of Jamal al-Badawi and not a beginning of a replay of the 1994 incidents.

Update from the Empty Quarter:

Dar al Hayat reports that the government was in negotiations with al Badawi for over 9 months. The “informed source” said that Jamal was on the run, living in multiple places until settling in Abyan (Surprise). The source said there is a secret deal between al Badawi and the government, in which he agrees to go back to jail. No further details were released.

Its likely al-Badawi will be in jail for a few months at most and then be quietly released, probably with money, land, a car and possibly a government job. Or it could go the “house arrest” route. But what does al-Badawi gain in return for his cooperation, other than that warm fuzzy feeling that comes along with making Saleh happy? Other releases?

Seven Years Ago Today

On October 12, 2000 two Yemeni suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden dingy into an American destroyer, the USS Cole. Seventeen US service members were killed and forty-nine injured. The destroyer had been invited by the Yemeni government to refuel in the port of Aden.

In the light of historical perspective, several facts have become clear. Intelligence warnings generated prior to the attack were never forwarded to the commander of the Cole. The investigation afterwards was marred by turf wars within the US government, leaving links between the Cole bombing and the attacks of 9/11 unexplored. The Yemeni government worked diligently to limit the scope of the US investigation. Almost all the Yemenis involved in the Cole bombing are free today. The involvement of some Yemeni officials in the bombing is documented; however, the scope of that involvement is not.
(Read on …)