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| US backs CIA control of elite forces in Yemen: report |
| 2010-11-02 |
[Al Arabiya] Support is growing in the U.S. military and administration of President Barack B.O.Obama for shifting to the CIA operational control over elite special forces teams secretly in Yemen, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, as an alleged Saudi bombmaker became a key suspect behind two parcel bombs posted to the U.S. on cargo planes. Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said the foiled mail bombing plot by suspected al-Qaeda Islamic fascisti in Yemen has added urgency to an administration review of expanded military options. Officials said such a shift would allow the United States to strike suspected thug targets unilaterally with greater stealth and speed, the report said. Allowing U.S. Special Operations Command units to operate under the Central Intelligence Agency would also give the United States greater leeway to strike without the explicit blessing of the Yemeni government, the paper said. In addition to streamlining the launching of strikes, it would allow the Yemeni government deniability because the CIA operations would be covert, The Journal said. The White House is already considering adding armed CIA drones to the arsenal against Islamic fascisti in Yemen, the paper said. Yemeni officials have been reluctant to publicly acknowledge U.S. aid in its counterterrorism campaign, given the high anti-American feelings in the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 P.S. - Here is War Nerd's take on Yemen. War Nerd wasn't really right on Iraq. But Yemen sounds about right. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-02 22:48 |
| #8 P.S. - Here is War Nerd's take on Yemen. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-11-02 14:13 |
| #7 Thank you, gentlemen. I have great faith that Rantburgers will enlighten my ignorance. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-02 13:27 |
| #6 Beautiful, Al. Just to give an idea of what is going on reference CIA as operational lead, This Article sheds some light. Apprehension? Definitely. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-11-02 12:51 |
| #5 TW, If the suicide bomber incident (where 7 CIA and a Jordanian agent died) is any indication, operations will be much safer if the military conducts them. In the above case, they took a reports editor and station chief in the middle of "injun country," then let the inter-personal politics in the station get out of control. Almost every rule of operational security was broken in that incident, largely because the people in charge did not have operations experience (or even much training). Puting today's CIA in charge of operations in Yemen is like puting a bunch of librarians in charge of fighting the Hell's Angels. /with apologies to librarians |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2010-11-02 11:53 |
| #4 I have a plan for Yemen. Came to me when I was listening to an audio book about the Byzantines. You see, the Byzantine Emperor (Justinian, I think) asked the Christian King of Ethiopia to send an expedition to Yemen to punish the Jewish King of Yemen for abusing Christians. I'm not saying rolling back to those days would be ideal, but I gotta think it would be an improvement. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2010-11-02 10:15 |
| #3 Problem is, we have no strategy in Yemen. At least we have a toe hold in Pak-land. The war definitely is moving to the Gulf of Aden. Yemen is far more complex from what I see. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-11-02 09:58 |
| #2 Aren't they teaming up like that in Pakistan to target Taliban and other jihadis, newc? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-02 01:17 |
| #1 Problem is, I doubt the Farms ability to understand, much less run such operations in this day. Let the military lead. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-11-02 00:19 |