| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Hunt For a 2nd Most Wanted Al-Qaida Suspect Underway In Yemen |
| 2002-11-20 |
| Source: Jihad Unspun Tribal sources have confirmed on Friday that an intensive military buildup and operations were underway in various areas of Mareb and Jawf. They claim that those operations are aimed at hunting down remaining al-Qaida elements still at large. Among those wanted men is Mohammed Hamdi Al-Ahdal, also known as Abu Assim. "The Americans were able to get one of the two al-Qaida suspects (Qaed Salim Sunian al-Harethi), now the other needs to look above his head for any approaching planes," a tribal figure said on condition of anonymity. Kinda seems appropriate to use planes to take the bastards out, doesn't it? I guess Predators are too expensive to just crash into them. Guess we need a combination Predator and Tomahawk... It was also mentioned that President Bush has given broad authority to "a variety of people" in his administration to launch attacks like the missile strike that killed al-Harethi, his national security adviser said last week. "The president has given broad authority to a variety of people to do what they have to do to protect this country," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the television show Fox News Sunday. "It's a new kind of war. We're fighting on a lot of different fronts." An attack similar to the one on Al-Harethi and targeting Al-Ahdal could not be ruled out. "Hello, CENTCOM? This is the President's dry cleaner. Lookee here, I want to order Predator attack on someone..." In accordance with these developments, several military patrols had been stopping vehicles at checkpoints for inspections of weapons and identification. One tribal leader said that Americans had been seen working along with Yemeni military special forces, especially in Marib province. An Interior Ministry official told AP that the military operations were part of "new security arrangements" which the government had approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The official added that the Cabinet decided to establish five new "security outposts" in the Jawf governorate, but he would not elaborate. "You got a license for that rocket launcher, Mahmoud?" "Yeah." "What's yer business in Jawf?" "We're going elk hunting..." Sheikh al-Okaimi, the Sheikh of Jawf denied reports in the local press that said military units belonging to the special forces started the hunt for al-Ahdal. Sources have ruled out that he might be hiding in al-Jawf. In a statement to Yemen Times, Sheikh al-Okaimi strongly denied any presence to Abu Assim in al-Jawf and the deployment of military forces. "Abu Assim has never been seen or found in the al-Jawf," he said. "Certainly not. There's nobody living who's claiming to have seen them, anyway..." Al-Okaimi refuted the allegations by Shiekh Al-Shaef, who said that members of al-Qaeda network were behind the attack on his house. "The attackers are a group of tribesmen belonging to his own tribe named Aal Asha'abi," he said. "They just happen to hang around at the club with the al-Qaeda guys..." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #7 They were smart. They cut a nice deal with us where we train their soldiers and hand over intel, and Pres. Sana hammers on people he and we don't like. Conveniently, these are often the same people. Or something like that, with lots of gray areas and daily variations. |
| Posted by: Dan Hartung 2002-11-21 07:14:41 |
| #6 Not just a big freeking horse, Steve, a big freeking flying horse... Too bad we already named a booster "Pegasus". |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2002-11-20 19:25:11 |
| #5 I imagine he wet his pants when the Hellfire struck... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2002-11-20 15:01:19 |
| #4 It's the old "Arabs support the man on the strong horse" theory Bin Ledan talked about. The Yemanis looked around and saw the biggest freeking horse in the world riding their way. And the Texan riding it was pissed. |
| Posted by: Steve 2002-11-20 14:29:05 |
| #3 Fred and Steve, what's the reason why Yemen is cooperating with us? I remember that not so long ago these guys hated our guts. News reports after the Cole attack said that the FBI was frustrated at how Yemeni authorities obstructed the investigation. Now we're flying Predators in their airspace and helping their military run proper checkpoints. Somebody over there suddenly got religion-at-gunpoint or what? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-11-20 14:06:04 |
| #2 I think he's used up his quota of luck: Yemen said yesterday its security forces were looking for a suspected al Qaeda member who narrowly escaped a missile attack by an unmanned CIA plane that killed six of his comrades earlier this month. In the first apparent admission that Yemen consented to the strike, Interior Minister Rshad Alimi said: "This operation was carried out as part of security coordination and cooperation between Yemen and the United States." Mr. Alimi also said in a statement carried by the state news agency, Saba. that the seventh al Qaeda member left the car moments before it was hit by a missile in the Marib province on Nov. 3. "See you guys later, hey, what's that?"...KABOOM |
| Posted by: Steve 2002-11-20 13:25:39 |
| #1 Do you think the other people in this guy's carpool will come down with "Hellfire Flu" all of the sudden? "Yeah, my car's in the shop... my wife's sick... dog's got worms... ran out of baby formula... um... can't drive today, Mohammed... sorry..." |
| Posted by: Laurence Simon 2002-11-20 13:05:52 |