 Equal-opportunity jihad, and more evidence of the magnitude of the ongoing threat from Yemen.
"Alert: Female Suicide Bombers May Be Heading Here from Yemen," by Richard Esposito, Rhonda Schwartz, and Brian Ross for ABC News, January 22: American law enforcement officials have been told to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may attempt to enter the United States, law enforcement authorities tell ABC News. One official said at least two of them are believed to be connected to al Qaeda in Yemen, and may have a non-Arab appearance and be traveling on Western passports. The threat was described as "current" but not imminent, said the official. "They have trained women," said former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. Separately, Britain raised its terrorism threat level to "severe," its second-highest level, days before London hosts major international meetings on how to deal with militancy in Afghanistan and Yemen. Britain's threat level had been labeled "severe" for several years before being lowered last summer to "substantial." American officials say a U.S. air strike on Christmas Eve against suspected al Qaeda training camps is believed to have killed many, but not all, of a group of suicide bombers being trained in Yemen. The man accused of attempting to explode a bomb on Northwest flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told FBI agents there were a number of other people who trained with him in Yemen. "There are others who are still out there who have been trained and who are clean skins -- that means people who we do not have a record of, people who may not look like al Qaeda terrorists, who may not be Arabs, and may not be men," said Clarke. The alert comes during a week in which American law enforcement officials described an "unusually high" number of people on the no-fly list attempting to board flights to or in the United States. Six on No-Fly List Stopped in 48 Hours At least six people on the no-fly list were denied boarding in a 48-hour period between Saturday and Monday this week, according to the officials. [...] "What we don't know is whether this is because everyone is doing a better job of enforcing the no-fly list, or because the list has been expanded, or because the terrorists are attempting to probe our security," said ABC News consultant Clarke.... Read it all. With thanks to JihadWatch 
 THE United States has transferred two Algerian detainees from Guantanamo Bay to their native country. The announcement named the two man as Hasan Zemiri and Adil Hadi al-Jazairi Bin Hamlili and came on the eve of what was once President Barack Obama's target date to close the notorious facility. But a political firestorm at home over the Obama administration's plans to house some of the terror suspects on US soil and the reluctance of foreign allies in released detainees have dealt a blow to his landmark promise. Some 196 detainees remain at the US military prison in southern Cuba, including dozens already cleared for release, down from around 250 when Obama took office. Most have been held without charge or trial. Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said Tuesday that his country would accept three prisoners from the jail "as a gesture of alliance and solidarity.'' US lawmakers and the Defense Department have warned that a growing number of former Guantanamo detainees are joining militant groups to fight against the United States. A Pentagon report in April found that about 14 percent of former Guantanamo inmates either had or were suspected of having ties to militants. Obama suspended the transfers to Yemen after it emerged that the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow himself up aboard a US-bound airliner carrying nearly 300 people was allegedly trained by an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. But in its statement about the latest transfers, the Justice Department said "the United States coordinated with the government of Algeria to ensure the transfers took place under appropriate security measures.'' Hours before the transfer was announced, Obama's Republican foes unveiled legislation to restrict his ability to transfer Guantanamo detainees overseas, in the latest possible setback to his plans to close the facility. The Detainee Transfer and Release Security Act of 2010 aims to require Obama to certify that a detainee's destination country is not a state sponsor of terror, has control over its territory and does not tolerate safe havens for extremists like Al-Qaeda. The measure also called for the president to certify that there has been no confirmed case of a Guantanamo Bay detainee engaging in extremist activities after being released to the proposed destination. The legislation was unlikely to attract enough support from the president's Democratic allies to become law. The Australian
Yemen's government is trying to find ways to combat al-Qaeda, which has a strong presence in the country. Saana has launched several air raids in recent weeks on people suspected of belonging to the network. But as Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports from Aden, with a corrupt government and untrustworthy president and with the attacks so far proving ineffective, Yemenis remain uncertain about how best to deal with al-Qaeda. Al Jazeera
 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi army has lost 113 troops since the kingdom launched a sweeping offensive against neighboring Yemen's Shiite rebels in early November, a military commander said in comments published Thursday. The kingdom's well-funded but largely untested military joined the fray after Shiite rebels from Yemen crossed the border into Saudi Arabia on Nov. 5, killing two Saudi border guards. The Al Riyadh newspaper quoted Maj. Gen. Ali Zaid al-Khawaji as saying the dead include a senior Saudi officer whose body was found with those of two soldiers after a battle last week to drive rebels out of a border village. The latest toll is a significant jump from last week, when assistant defense minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said the Saudis had 82 dead and 470 wounded. The mounting toll underscores the ferocity of the fighting with the poorly armed Yemeni Hawthi rebels, who have been battling their own government since 2004 over neglect and discrimination. The rebels have gained a reputation for being wily adversaries, taking full advantage of the rugged mountainous terrain of their homes in northern Yemen. The Saudis have been relying on artillery and air power to defeat the rebels without risking manpower, but the casualties mostly come from mob-up operations in rebel stronghold villages. Saudi chief of staff Gen. Saleh ben Ali Al-Mohaya said the war "is close to a guerrilla war." Al-Khawaji, the commander of the southern Saudi region, identified the dead officer as Lt. Col. Saeed Ma'tuq al-Omari from Saudi parachutist units and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. "There are field units searching for more bodies," al-Khawaji told the paper. The world's largest oil supplier, Saudi Arabia has used its military only once before since the kingdom was established in 1932. Saudi troops played a token role in the U.S.-led effort to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991. Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, has been in the limelight since a Yemen-based wing of al-Qaida said it was behind a failed Dec. 25 plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner. FoxNews
 Britain is suspending direct flights to Yemen as part of security measures implemented in the wake of an attempted airliner bombing on Christmas Day. Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, told parliament on Wednesday that the country would introduce new no-fly lists in response to what he said was a threat from al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Yemen. "We know that a number of terrorist cells are trying to target Britain and other countries," he said. He called Yemen "an incubator and safe haven" for such fighters. "We have agreed with Yemenia airlines - pending enhanced security - that they suspend their direct flights to the UK from Yemen with immediate effect," Brown said. A Yemenia official told the Reuters news agency that Britain had requested the airline first stop in a third country for security checks if it wants to fly to the UK. The official said no other countries had suspended direct flights. The decision to increase airport security comes after a Nigerian alleged to have links with extremist elements in Yemen was accused of attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to the US using concealed explosives. Britain has already announced that full-body scanners will be set up at London's Heathrow airport within weeks. It also comes as Yemen faces increased pressure from the West to clamp down on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the December 25 incident. Yemen's government says it is winning the battle against al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters, pointing to two air attacks in December which it said killed more than 60 suspected members. Al Jazeera
 U.S. intelligence officials believe there are dozens – perhaps hundreds – of Americans who have been in e-mail contact with the radical Yemeni cleric who is believed to have inspired and directed both the Fort Hood shooter and the failed Christmas Day airline bomber, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. Efforts to learn the details of that communication, or even to target Anwar Al-Awlaki militarily, may be hindered by his status as an American citizen. In addition, ABC News reports that a new Senate report raises concerns about dozens of American converts to Islam, including "blond-haired, blue-eyed types," who are believed to be in Yemen undergoing terrorist training. The full Senate Foreign Relations Committee report can be seen here. Awlaki, a U.S-born cleric, has been in Yemen since 2004. He told Al Jazeerah that he gave Nidal Malik Hasan his blessing to carry out the Fort Hood massacre November 5. Reports say he also had direct contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was burned trying to ignite an explosive smuggled aboard a flight from Amsterdam in his underwear Christmas Day. It's not clear whether officials have been able to study the content of all the emails. In some cases, it might be innocent communication from relatives or friends, or general religious questions. The greater concern, however, is whether some could be seeking religious justification for an attack, something that would replicate what Awlaki has described about his communication with Hasan. Hasan's attack was justified, Awlaki said: "Because Nidal's target was a military target inside America, and there is no question about this. Then, also, those members of the military [i.e. the victims] were not regular soldiers; rather they were prepared and preparing themselves to go to battle and to kill downtrodden Muslims and to commit crimes in Afghanistan." This concern comes amid numerous reports that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula may be gearing up for a new strike at American interests. Sources say law enforcement and intelligence agencies may not have enough information to open preliminary investigations and learn more about the content of communication with Awlaki. As an American citizen, Awlaki still enjoys the same civil rights as anyone in the United States. Similarly, U.S. intelligence officials believe they could have used a Predator drone strike to try to kill Awlaki, but held back because he's an American, the IPT has learned. That needs to change, said a senior US lawmaker who spoke to IPT News. "Where you have people like Awlaki – who is clearly inspirational and operational in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – we need to be able to put them in position where the U.S. military and U.S. intelligence can go after them for the people they are," the same lawmaker said in an interview. "We need to be able to find, capture and if necessary kill these individuals before they do any more harm to the United States." That could mean the U.S. is gearing up to name Awlaki a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. That status could make him vulnerable to military action and allow law enforcement to learn more about those in communication with him. According to Politico's Josh Gerstein, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quietly designated Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as a terrorist group December 14. IPT News has learned that intelligence officials were trying to learn more about Awlaki's communications. He exchanged at least 18 emails with Hasan in the year leading up to the Fort Hood shooting. "He was asking about killing American soldiers and officers. [He asked] whether this is a religiously legitimate act or not," Awlaki told Al Jazeerah. Declaring Awlaki to be a Specially Designated Global Terrorist would help because this status would prohibit sending money or other forms of material support to him, said Barry Sabin, a former prosecutor in the Department of Justice's Counterterrorism section. "He becomes radioactive" with a designation, Sabin said. Robert Blitzer, the FBI's domestic terrorism chief in the 1990s and now a homeland security consultant with ICFI International, said there are things that law enforcement and intelligence officials likely are doing to build a case to monitor those communicating with Awlaki. "You're going to try your darndest to get enough information to open a preliminary inquiry," he said. Once someone is identified, you "would immediately check every record you might possibly have" on them and conduct link analysis to see if there are any other connections, Blitzer said. That includes other activities such as seeking weapons permits, which, alone, wouldn't be illegal but could mean more in connection with the communication. "You're looking at that spider web of contacts." It's reasonable to assume Awlaki's reach extends far beyond those already publicly identified. His sermons, including "Constants on the Path of Jihad," are considered to have been influential in terrorist plots in Fort Dix, Ontario, New Jersey and England. Other reports indicate there are tens of thousands of Americans and other westerners in Yemen being radicalized. At some point, they will return, like Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who killed an Army recruiter in Little Rock June 1. ABC News reported Tuesday that a new Senate Foreign Relations Committee report finds as many as three dozen Americans, most of whom converted to Islam while serving in New York prisons, have been training in Yemen and could pose a "significant threat" for attacks on America. In addition, ABC reports that the Senate committee found numerous examples of "blond-haired, blue-eyed types" also in Yemen who have converted to Islam and are feared to be undergoing training for their own possible attacks. "When are they going to go off? That's the issue," Blitzer said. In the cases of Muhammad, Hasan and Abdulmutallab, the terrorists were well educated and came from relatively comfortable backgrounds. That increases the challenge for law enforcement and intelligence. "These are well educated folks who embraced religion to the degree that they're willing to sacrifice themselves." IPT
 The United Nations security council has added the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to its list of outlawed organisations.
Two of the group's purported leaders, Nasser al-Wahayshi and Qasim al-Raymi, also face new restrictions after the move by the international body's sanctions committee on Tuesday.
Among the sanctions against the two men, who were among 23 fighters who escaped from a jail in Sanaa in 2006, were worldwide freezes on their assets and travel bans.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims to have been behind the failed attempt to blow up a Detriot-bound airliner on Christmas Day as well as other attacks inside Yemen and Saudi Arabia. "Today's actions strengthen international efforts to degrade the capabilities of AQAP," Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said.
The UN committee made its decision the day after the US state department added the al-Qaeda group to it list of proscribed organisations.
"We are determined to eliminate AQAP's ability to execute violent attacks and to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat their networks," Philip Crowley, a state department spokesman, said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was formed in January 2009 after the merger of groups in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
It has since set up bases inside Yemen and has been blamed for the suicide attack on South Korean tourists in March 2009 and an attempt to assassinate the Saudi deputy interior minister across the border in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Yemen has bolsetered its troops in three of the country's provinces in an attempt to tackle al-Qaeda and has carried out a number of air raids, which it claims have left dozens of fighters dead.
Al-Raymi was among a number of senior al-Qaeda figures reported to have been killed in a Yemeni attack on two vehicles on Friday.
The government in Sanaa is also battling so-called Houthi rebels in the north and a secessionist movement in the south. Al Jazeera
 I trust that moderate Muslim spokesmen all over the U.S. are even as I write this hastening to explain that it is not the duty of Muslims to declare jihad against Infidels, and that Al-Qaeda has in this particular gotten Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong, and that they are beginning comprehensive, transparent programs in American mosques and Islamic schools to teach against this idea. Aren't they? "Al Qaeda Threatens New Strikes," by Margaret Coker and Chip Cummins in the Wall Street Journal, January 18
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula issued fresh threats Monday against the U.S. and its Mideast allies, promising to retaliate against a surge of strikes launched in the past month against its leaders and safe havens in Yemen. The terrorist group also denied statements made by Yemeni authorities late last week that six of al Qaeda's senior leaders in the country, including the man identified as the leader of the group's military operations, had been killed in an air strike. "The Yemeni government has been making many false claims ... against the Mujahedeen leaders in the Arabian Peninsula. The latest of these claims is that it killed six of them," the group said, according to a statement posted online on Islamist Web sites. "We assure our Muslim nation that none of the mujahedeen were killed in that unjust and insidious raid; rather, some brothers were slightly wounded."... In its statement issued Monday, al Qaeda warned that it was ready to retaliate against that surge, and it urged other Yemenis to help it fight "the infidels and their agent helpers." "The duty of our Muslim nation is to declare jihad against the infidels and their agent helpers, not only on the ground, but in the sea and air as well as their Crusader warships in the Gulf of Aden," according to the statement. "As they declared it to be an open war on the people of Islam, we must declare an open war against [them]."... "They declared it to be an open war on the people of Islam"? Somehow I missed that declaration. With thanks to JihadWatch
 SAN'A, Yemen—For 10 days this summer, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab took language classes in this ancient city on the Arabian Peninsula. He lived in student housing, appearing to his fellow students to be devout, friendly and generally content. Then, he was gone. New details in the case of Mr. Abdulmutallab, charged with attempting to bring down Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253, have emerged suggesting that it was around this time that the young man met with the radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, according to a person familiar with intelligence shared among Arab states and a U.S. official.
The person familiar with Arab intelligence says Mr. Abdulmutallab met with a mysterious Saudi operative of al Qaeda. A few months later, on Christmas Day, he boarded the plane for Detroit, with 76 grams of explosives allegedly sewn into his underwear. Investigators in the U.S. and Yemen believe the meetings marked a critical turning point in Mr. Abdulmutallab's gradual transformation from pious Muslim to alleged terrorist. How and when his relationships were initially forged with al Qaeda and Mr. Awlaki, who has surfaced in multiple terror probes, is at the heart of the global scramble to trace Mr. Abdulmutallab's "radicalization"—and to determine how authorities could have missed the warning signs. Through most of his life, the Nigeria-born Mr. Abdulmutallab came off as a religious and inward young man, so opaque as to be virtually unknowable. He was intense and serious about Islam, but in a way that acquaintances judged to be within the mainstream. People familiar with the investigation say he began to quietly reach out to political extremists as a college student in London from 2005 to 2008, then apparently embedded more deeply with them as he hop-scotched around Africa and the Middle East. They say it was during his time in London that he was likely first exposed to Mr. Awlaki via the cleric's rabble-rousing anti-Western sermons on the Internet. He is believed to have reached out to the cleric at some point, but it couldn't be learned when that first contact was attempted or whether Mr. Awlaki responded. This account of Mr. Abdulmutallab's childhood and journey over the past few years is based on several dozen interviews with friends and associates, as well as government officials examining his movements in the U.S., Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Mr. Abdulmutallab, 23, is the son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, recently retired chairman of First Bank of Nigeria PLC and one of the country's most prominent businessmen. People who encountered Mr. Abdulmutallab at various stages of his life describe him as a young man who studied Islam, prayed frequently and radiated loneliness. As a boy in Kaduna, Nigera, Mr. Abdulmutallab earned the nickname "ustaz," or "scholarly man." He steered clear of the country-club parties and polo matches frequented by other wealthy kids. He was "a nice boy who had no friends," recalls Musa Umar Dumawa, director of the Islamic school Mr. Abdulmutallab attended in Kaduna. Yet in Internet postings attributed to him as a teenager, he also fretted about his isolation: "Either people do not want to get close to me as they go partying and stuff while I don't, or they are bad people who befriend me and influence me to do bad things." From childhood on, Mr. Abdulmutallab was exposed to circumstances that could have shaped his political views. Kaduna was home to growing anti-Western sentiment among Muslims, fueled in part by clashes with Christians that erupted in 2000, when the local governor considered imposing Sharia, or Islamic law. After a few years at boarding school in Togo, Mr. Abdulmutallab in 2004 ventured to Yemen, where a growing number of Islamic extremists have been relocating from Pakistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. From fall 2004 to spring 2005, he studied at the San'a Institute for Arabic Language, according to Mohammed Al-Anisi, the institute's director. "He knew how to read and write in Arabic because he had learned to read the Quran being a Muslim, but his speaking abilities were very limited," recalls Mr. Anisi. Mr. Abdulmutallab began his year in San'a shortly after Mr. Awlaki, the radical cleric, returned to the city after 14 years in the U.S. and London. While Mr. Abdulmutallab was studying Arabic in San'a's Old City, Mr. Awlaki was making a name for himself as a vibrant newpreacher. He gave regular Friday sermons at the Yehya al-Ghader mosque on the city's Western periphery. He lectured at the Al Iman University, founded by Sheikh Abdel Majeed Zindani in 1995, who both the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.N. Security Council have named as an affiliate of al Qaeda. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Abdulmutallab ever attended Mr. Awlaki's sermons or lectures or met the cleric during this period. Mr. Abdulmutallab harbored dreams of studying engineering in the U.S. at Stanford University or the California Institute of Technology, but in the fall of 2005, he enrolled in the mechanical engineering program at University College London. Internet postings from early 2005 that appear to have been written by Mr. Abdulmutallab show a craving for the fellowship of a student Islamic society. At UCL, he quickly hooked up with the university's Islamic group. There, Mr. Abdulmutallab was often seen dressed in traditional white robe and skull cap. He arrived at class on his own, says Derek Wong, a fellow student. Others recall he was friendly but declined invitations to drink or socialize. Michael Kangawa, a student, says Mr. Abdulmutallab invited him to talks on Islam, none of which "sounded sinister in the slightest." Through the UCL Islamic Society, for which he served as president in 2006 and 2007, Mr. Abdulmutallab became involved in politics. One former student recalls that in the summer of 2006 Mr. Abdulmutallab solicited signatures for a petition against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and against Western support for Israel. "He was very passionate and very articulate," this person says. Qasim Fariq, Mr. Abdulmutallab's predecessor as the society's president, says he saw no signs of a budding militant. "If he'd had radical views, that would have raised a question mark about his suitability to be president," says Mr. Fariq. "He never expressed any extremist inclinations." U.K. intelligence agencies, now combing through his history, say that Mr. Abdulmutallab was flirting with a more radical form of Islam. While a student, people familiar with the matter say, he made contact with several extremists who were being monitored by the security services. Yet security agencies have so far found no evidence that he was contemplating violence while in the U.K. or posed a threat to national security. "It looks pretty aspirational, and it doesn't look as if he got particularly far," a British official says. While in the U.K., he gave the impression of "a young guy who's trying to start out on a journey.... We see many people who start out on that journey and very few of them reach the point where they are willing to blow up people on tube trains." Mr. Abdulmutallab's movements became harder to track after he graduated from UCL in June 2008. He appears to have cut himself off from college acquaintances. "In December, I sent him an instant message when I saw he was online, but he never replied," says Mr. Fariq. "I was surprised he'd cut off contact so abruptly." Mr. Abdulmutallab bounced around the world. His application to obtain a visa to travel to the U.S. raised no red flags, and he visited Houston—home to an estimated 100,000 Nigerian immigrants—in August 2008. He stayed for about two weeks, attending an Islamic seminar run by a nonprofit educational group called the Al Maghrib Institute and staying at a Sheraton hotel on the outskirts of downtown. In October, he turned up in Nigeria. There, he approached Abdulkareem Durosinlorun, the director of a small Islamic primary school in Kaduna, with a proposal to teach a course on Prophetic medicine, the ways of healing according to the Prophet Muhammad. "He spoke about combating demons of power, or money," says Bilquees Abdul Azees, who attended the two-day course. "His solution was that if you have faith in Allah, you will persevere." In January 2009, Mr. Abdulmutallab arrived in Dubai with his father, according to a person familiar with intelligence shared between Arab governments investigating the Nigerian's movements. He applied for a student visa and enrolled at University of Wollongong, the Dubai-based campus of the Australian institute, to pursue a degree in international business, which involves courses in finance, accounting and human resources. He lived in student housing, played basketball on the side, and struck fellow students and faculty as diligent and quiet. University President Robert J. Whelan says Mr. Abdulmutallab was a "hard-working" student who scored "above-average" grades. In April 2009, he applied for a visa to attend an eight-day course provided by Discovery Life Coaching based in east London. The U.K. Border Agency refused the application because Discovery Life didn't hold valid accreditation as an educational institution and wasn't eligible to sponsor international students in Britain. Attempts to find a company called Discovery Life in that area were unsuccessful. He completed only two semesters in Dubai, failing to pay his fees for what would have been his third and final semester before graduating. During his final days in Dubai in early August, he sent his father an SMS text saying he was headed to Yemen to study Arabic, according to the person familiar with Arab intelligence sharing. He left the country Aug. 4 "and never showed up again" in Dubai, this person said. Near the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Aug. 22, Mr. Abdulmutallab returned to the language institute in Yemen where he had studied as a teenager. Mr. Anisi, the institute's director, says the young man appeared more serious, withdrawn and pious than the student who had left four years earlier. People who were there say he stayed no more than 10 days before leaving. "He said it was Ramadan and he wanted to focus on praying," said one student. Matthew Salmon, a 27-year-old Canadian student, lived next door to Mr. Abdulmutallab in this period. They talked about religion, with Mr. Abdulmutallab gently proselytizing and focusing on Quranic verses that spoke of tolerance for Christians and Jews. "More than anything else, he seemed like someone who had found some peace in the religion he subscribed to. ... He was honest, he was happy, and there was absolutely no malice in the guy that I could detect." In early September, Mr. Salmon had a final conversation with him. "I asked him how long he planned on staying in Yemen, and he said a month or two depending on how long the money held up and how his studying progressed. The next day he was gone, his room was empty and that was the end of it." Yemeni officials say Mr. Abdulmutallab left San'a and traveled to the rugged tribal-controlled southern province of Shabwa, where al Qaeda has a strong presence and where Mr. Awlaki has lived at least the past two years. There, Mr. Abdulmutallab met with al Qaeda leaders in Yemen and "likely" Mr. Awlaki, according to Yemen's government. The person familiar with intelligence sharing among Arab states and a U.S. official say Mr. Abdulmutallab met face-to-face with Mr. Awlaki, but it's unclear where or when. This person says Mr. Abdulmutallab befriended an al Qaeda operative while attending a mosque in downtownSan'a. A U.S. security official says the mosque has been frequented by al Qaeda members. "Slowly, slowly, he started liking them, and he got their trust," this person said of Mr. Abdulmutallab. His precise itinerary after leaving Yemen is in dispute. What is known is that he arrived in Ghana in early December, staying about two weeks and buying an airline ticket for travel later in the month, according to the Ghana government. On Dec. 24, he flew to Lagos and proceeded to Amsterdam after a brief stopover. On Dec. 25, he boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam, headed for Detroit. WSJ
 According to an article on Debka.com, Saudi King Abdullah has failed to put together a coalition similar to the coalition that allowed the current Lebanese government to be formed.
The articlemakes several points none of which are particularly good for the United States and the Middle East. 1. For the second time in three months, he embarked on an action that required Riyadh to publicly concede that nothing can be achieved in the Middle East these days without Iran’s nod. (Bold mine.) The Saudi monarch went ahead with his Palestinian maneuver, after listening politely to the visiting US National Security Adviser James Jones expounding on administration policy on Iran in Riyadh Tuesday, Jan. 13. Then too he was not convinced Washington would pursue any effective policy against Iran and its nuclear program, any more than he had trusted the assurances given him last year by President Barak Obama in person, defense secretary Robert Gates or presidential envoy Dennis Ross. This mistrust was summed up in Abdullah’s recent remark: “We have heard enough words from you [Washington]. Action we have yet to see.” (Bold Mine.) Analysis. The Saudis have severe problems on all of their borders as well as internally. DEBKAfile’s Saudi experts report that the Saudi military has meanwhile returned to the Yemen battlefield against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the north, less than a month after striking a deal guaranteed by the Syrian president for a Saudi troop pull-out from Yemen to be matched by a Houthi withdrawal from Saudi territory. Abdullah made the mistake of counting on Assad’s word binding Tehran too as the Yemeni rebels’ sponsor. But the departing Houthis turned round and quickly regained their former positions in the southern Saudi provinces. The Saudis are doing their best to get the “Palestinians” unified so that they can negotiate with Israel over a Palestinian state. They really want to put an end to that festering sore. But Iran will not accept any Palestinian coalition that does not put the “rejectionist” faction foremost in the PLO. It is doubtful that the Fatah faction under Abbas would accept this and there is a whole lot of doubt that Israel would negotiate with Khaled Mashaal siting across the table from Benyamin Netanyahu. What the Saudis want to see is some action from the United States that implies American willingness to take a risk to shut down the Iranian nuclear program. Not from this administration.
This is not an administration that is willing to consider the judicious use of force when it is absolutely required. Nor is this administration willing to challenge the People’s Republic of China where their national interests in the form of energy are at stake.
There are news reports that the PRC is sending a low level diplomat to the advisors level 5+1 talks at the UN this weekend. The PRC has made its position quite clear that it does not support anything that resembles effective sanctions. The PRC will not support any actions that might cause the Iranians to even threaten to close the Straits of Hormuz. As long as the Saudis see Iran as the eventual winner in the contest between the United States and Israel against Iran, they will defer to the Iranians. The Saudis realize that this is a dangerous move for them in both secular and religious terms. The Wahabbist Saudis certainly do not want the Shiites to become the ascendant sect of Islam.
Nor do Arabs think highly of Persians. Both sides realize that eventually there must be another religious war on the order of Mutawiya against Ali. That war will not remain within the confines of the Middle East. World Threats
 Yemeni warplanes killed six Al Qaeda operatives Friday near a desert village bordering Saudi Arabia, including a senior military leader who plotted to assassinate the U.S. ambassador, security officials said. Four of those killed were on Yemen's list of most-wanted Al Qaeda figures, including Qassim al-Raimi, who was considered the top military chief in the terrorist network's offshoot in Yemen. "Two cars carrying eight dangerous Al Qaeda members were hit in an area between Saada and al-Jouf," a Yemeni security official told Reuters. "Two may have survived and escaped." Al-Raimi, who is considered the No. 3 leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was the target of a U.S. airstrike in December but escaped unharmed. The Yemeni government has targeted him at least three times in recent weeks. Friday's airstrike hit near the village of Yatama, about 118 miles northeast of the capital, San'a, security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists. Yemen has emerged as a vital training ground for Islamic militants, but the country's government has increased pressure on Al Qaeda operatives this year in the wake of the botched Christmas Day terror attack on a U.S. airliner. U.S. officials say the man who attempted to set off a chemical explosive on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in December was trained and armed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula during his visits to Yemen. With the help of U.S. counterterrorism aid and training, Yemen has launched airstrikes and deployed thousands of troops to the areas where the group has established footholds among sympathetic tribes. The group, a merger of Al Qaeda's wings in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, is led by Nasser al-Wahayshi, a Yemeni who was once Usama bin Laden's secretary. Wahayshi and al-Raymi were among 23 militants who escaped from a jail in Yemen's capital of Sana in 2006. Al-Raimi had been convicted in 2005 and sentenced to five years in prison for plotting a bomb attack in the capital's diplomatic quarter and planning to assassinate the American ambassador. Neither plot was carried out. Also among the dead in Friday's strike was Ammar al-Waeli, who was accused of involvement in a July 2007 suicide bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis visiting a temple in central Yemen. Al-Waeli was also suspected of having a role in the kidnapping of a German family and a British man who disappeared in June and have yet to be found. Friday's airstrike took place along the edge of Jouf province, one of three provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to have its strongest presence in the country. At the beginning of January, Yemen sent thousands of troops to Jouf and the two other provinces, Marib and Abyan. FoxNews
 A GROUP of influential religious leaders in Yemen have threatened to declare jihad - holy war - if foreign troops intervene to stem the spread of al-Qa'ida in the country. The edict is a clear warning to the United States as it plans to step up its military involvement in the country.
 Saudi and Yemeni forces announced that they have fought renewed battles with Houthi rebels on the border between the two states. They claim to have driven the Shia rebels out of the last Saudi frontier area that they had been holding. Prince Khaled bin Sultan, the Saudi Assistant Defence Minister, said that Houthi forces had been given two days to withdraw from the border post area of al-Jabri but did not comply with the ultimatum. “All of them have been destroyed,” he said, claiming that hundreds of the rebels — named after their leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi — had been killed. There was no independent verification of the numbers of casualties in the area, which is closed to the outside world, with only a few aid groups allowed to enter. The Saudi military said that it had lost four soldiers in the clashes, bringing total losses for the kingdom to 82, with 21 missing, since Riyadh launched its offensive against the rebels in November. “They have to go back to reason and realise that their capabilities” remain modest compared to Saudi Arabia, he said. But senior Yemeni officials, as well as other Arab intelligence agencies, believe that Iran is backing the Houthis, who are fellow Shias but of a different branch of the sect. They are however united with Iran by their visceral hatred of the United States. Yemen has also hinted they may have logistical links with al-Qaeda-related groups operating in the Horn of Africa, across the narrow Gulf of Aden. In a separate battle, Yemeni troops said that they had killed 19 Houthi fighters in a battleinside the country’s borders. The Houthi insurgency, inspired by a perceived lack of political and economic freedoms by the rebels, is seen by Yemen’s Government as the most pressing threat to national security, although the United States is leaning on it heavily to devote more resources to fighting al-Qaeda militants who are rallying in the southeast of the country. The Government is also facing growing secessionist calls in the south, which was a separate state until 1990 and whose citizens complain that their natural oil and gas reserves are enriching the regime which has neglected the interests of the south. Times Online
 Concerns are growing in the intelligence community that Somalia could be acting like Yemen in terms of its expanding ability to serve as a training ground for terrorists able to pick up and head out of country to attack other nations. Already one terror-related case involves a man from that troubled African country. The suspect, who was injured by police during his attack earlier this month, was carried into court where he faced attempted murder charges. The 28-year-old Somali man is accused of terrorism. Allegedly carrying a knife and an axe, he broke into the home of a Danish cartoonist whose controversial images of Mohammad led to threats on his life. The attack is believed to be the first documented case of an operative trained by the Al Qaeda-linked group Al Shabaab launching a mission outside of Somalia. Until now, Al Shabaab was seen as a regional player. "They are gaining global presence so to speak, at least getting a global reach, where Somalia can reach out, where Al Shabaab can reach out and conduct an attack. That's troubling," said Rick Nelson at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Western face of Al Shabaab is an American, Omar Hammami, from Daphne, Ala. In propaganda videos, he goes by the name of Al-Amriki, which simply means "the American." The FBI is investigating the disappearance of two dozen Somali Americans into the Shabaab camps in Somalia. The camps are also drawing recruits form England, Canada and Western Europe. "Al Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia. It has, as I said. apparently set up camps from which they have run at least several hundred foreign fighters. They've introduced and uh, made use of suicide bombings which up until a few years ago were virtually unknown in Somalia," said Mark Bellamy, former U.S. ambassador to Kenya. Al Qaeda is established in the Far East, along the Afghan-Pakistan border, in Iraq, in Yemen, through Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which claimed responsibility for Flight 253. Al Qaeda is also hooked up in Somalia through Al Shabaab. As for the connection to Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, some analysts say Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia are now taking their lead from the core players. "AQAP and Al Shabaab are ultimately receiving influence and guidance from that senior leadership, and they're going to seek ways to coordinate together," Nelson said. So is the group capable of launching its own attack like the flight on Christmas Day? It’s possible, said Bellamy. "I should add that Somalia is probably not the best location from which to try to stage international jihad, , it's not, it's not connected, it's hard to get to," Bellamy said. FoxNews
 The criminal case against the first Guantanamo detainee standing trial in a US civilian court should be thrown out because he was denied the right to a speedy trial, defence lawyers have argued. But the US government said in the Manhattan federal court on Monday that gathering intelligence from Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani during interrogations was "weightier, more significant" than giving him a speedy trial. The case of Ghailani, a Tanzanian national charged over his alleged role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, is being watched for precedents that could affect other Guantanamo detainees. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, is also due to be tried in Manhattan federal court. Alluding to the importance of the proceeding, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said during Monday's session: "I think everybody can agree that whatever I do here would be unprecedented." Ghailani was taken into custody in Pakistan in July 2004 and interrogated outside the US as part of the Bush administration's "extraordinary rendition" programme in which suspects were captured in one country and interrogated in another. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and his case was moved to the Manhattan federal court last June. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda to kill Americans, as well as separate charges of murder for the 224 people killed in the African bombings. Ghailani's case, which coincides with the eighth anniversary of the first group of 20 detainees being sent to Guantanamo in 2002, is a test for Barack Obama's plans to shut down the US military prison. Last week, the US president reiterated his commitment to shut it down although the White House has conceded that he will not meet his self-imposed deadline of the end of January. Obama also suspended the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen last week, following revelations that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to destroy a Detroit-bound US airliner on December 25, reportedly received al-Qaeda training in Yemen. Nearly 200 detainees remain at Guantanamo, nearly half of them from Yemen. The US government is working to refurbish a prison in the state of Illinois to hold some detainees while their fate is determined. Al Jazeera
 SAN'A, Yemen — Yemen's most influential Islamic cleric, considered an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist by the United States, warned the government on Monday against allowing "foreign occupation" of the country in the growing cooperation with the U.S. against the terror group. Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani's comments reflected a deep mistrust among Yemenis of Washington's intentions as it ramps up counterterrorism aid and training for San'a to combat Al Qaeda's offshoot here. Al-Zindani, a radical cleric who once associated with Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan, is highly influential among Yemenis and the government is careful to maintain at least his tacit support. "We accept any cooperation in the framework of respect and joint interests, and we reject military occupation of our country. And we don't accept the return of colonialization," al-Zindani told reporters. "Yemen's rulers and people must be careful before a (foreign) guardianship is imposed on them," he said. "The day parliament allows the occupation of Yemen, the people will rise up against it and bring it down." President Obama said he does not plan to send American combat forces to Yemen, and San'a has said it will not allow such a deployment. "I have no intention of sending U.S. boots on the ground in these regions," Obama said in an interview with People magazine to be published Friday. U.S. military personnel are helping train Yemeni counterterror forces and gave Yemeni forces intelligence and logistical help in heavy airstrikes last month against suspected Al Qaeda hideouts that Yemen says killed dozens of militants. Al-Zindani is a controversial figure in Yemeni politics. The United States has labeled him a "global terrorist," alleging he helps fund and recruit for A Qaeda and that students from Iman University — which he heads — were involved in past attacks. But Yemen's government courts his support. The deputy prime minister last week denied al-Zindani is a member of Al Qaeda. Addressing a news conference held at his San'a home, al-Zindani denied U.S. accusations against him, saying "it's become well known among the people that a lot of lies come out of" Washington. He also denied any knowledge of Al Qaeda's activities in Yemen. He also denied he had any influence on an American-Yemeni radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is being hunted by Yemeni forces for alleged Al Qaeda links. more at FoxNews
 YEMEN'S President yesterday said he was willing to strike a deal with al-Qa'ida if militants laid down their weapons, amid warnings that dozens of foreign fighters were streaming into the country. Ali Abdullah Saleh's offer to negotiate with members of the terror network came as officials said that several al-Qa'ida operatives, including Saudis and Egyptians, were travelling from Afghanistan to join fighters in the lawless tribal lands in central and southern Yemen. It came as US President Barack Obama said in a magazine interview that he would not be sending troops to Yemen, which is quickly emerging as a new front in the war on terror, nor Somalia. Among those said to be in hiding in South Yemen is influential Yemeni preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. The US-born imam preached to two of the September 11 bombers in California and had links to the US army psychiatrist charged with the Fort Hood gun rampage and the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a Christmas Day flight to Detroit. Some Yemeni officials believe that Mr al-Awlaki, a member of a powerful clan who claims not to be a direct member of al-Qa'ida, may be willing to enter talks. A slim, bearded and bespectacled 38-year-old former civil engineer who was born in New Mexico to a Yemeni father, Mr al-Awlaki is an imam whose fluency in English and command of internet communications have made him a top recruiter for disfranchised young Muslims in the West. Dozens of Mr al-Awlaki's speeches can be found on the YouTube website, referring to everything from Koranic parables to the rapper Snoop Dogg and zombies. While serving as a preacher in San Diego in 2000, his sermons were attended by two of the men who participated in the September 11 attacks - Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar - and he became a spiritual adviser to the hijackers. He later exchanged emails with Nidal Hasan Malik, the US army major accused of killing 13 soldiers in a shooting spree on the military base of Fort Hood in November last year. Yemeni officials believe that he met Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the Nigerian accused of trying last month to bring down a flight with explosives hidden in his underwear. Mr Saleh told Arabic television news that he was willing to offer al-Qa'ida militants a last chance to put down their weapons and come to an accommodation, even as US special forces instructors put troops through intensive anti-terrorist training. Mr Saleh said: "If al-Qa'ida lay down their arms, renounce terrorism and return to wisdom, we are prepared to deal with them. "They are a threat not only to Yemen but also to international peace and security." Mr Obama said he had "no intention" of sending US troops to fight militants in Yemen and Somalia. The Australian
 A REPORT questioning the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs for former terrorists is threatening to undermine Barack Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. The US President has suspended a release of Yemeni prisoners because of the attempted Christmas Day bombing masterminded from Yemen. The administration has conceded it will not meet its January 22 deadline for closing the base in Cuba. The fate of all 198 prisoners still at Guantanamo now hangs in the balance after US figures showed that up to one in five former detainees have engaged in terrorist activity after their release. The main hope had been a much vaunted rehabilitation program set up by Saudi Arabia in 2003. This uses crayon therapy, table tennis and video games to reform jihadists. The Saudis had claimed near-total success for the program, which had 108 former Guantanamo detainees pass through it. But 11 of these graduates have been named on the kingdom's list of 85 "most wanted" terrorists. They include Said Ali al-Shihri, who re-emerged as a leader of al-Qa'ida in Yemen, the group claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day bombing plot. "The Saudis claim 80-90 per cent success in turning these jihadists," said John Horgan, director of the International Centre for the Study of Terrorism at Pennsylvania State University, who was among the experts. "But when I asked Saudi officers how they knew these people were safe to release, all they could say was they got a feeling." Run by Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the program initially received international plaudits. Aside from art therapy, games and religious discussion to counter radicalisation, it relies on social support. Jihadists are encouraged to get a flat, find a wife and settle down. "It's more like a halfway house than a prison," said Christopher Boucek, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who visited the camps. "The centres have guards and fences and you can't leave when you want to, but the first thing that happens to prisoners is their shackles are removed." He warned: "I think what we have seen is, it is unrealistic to close Gitmo if you don't have a program to monitor people when released." Mr Horgan agrees. Although he praised the Saudi scheme for being "innovative and ambitious", he said: "The idea that this is a silver bullet is naive. These guys are not being deradicalised. They are being encouraged to disassociate from terrorism, but their fundamental views have not changed." The unpublished Homeland Security report's main criticism is the lack of any reliable risk assessment to decide whether an individual should be allowed back into society. "Sex offenders have to meet all sorts of criteria before they are released," Mr Horgan said. "Why shouldn't it be the same for terrorists?" The report points out that there is no way of measuring recidivism. Many of the Saudi rehab graduates ended up in Yemen. Apart from Shihri, these included Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish, al-Qa'ida's spiritual leader in the Arabian peninsula, and Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi, who appeared in an al-Qa'ida video last January, threatening attacks. Shihri is thought to have played a direct role in an al-Qa'ida attack on the US embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, in 2008, in which 19 people died. The Australian
 Suicidal. "Detroit bomber 'singing like a canary' before arrest," by Philip Sherwell in the Telegraph, January 9 (thanks to Banafsheh): President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was "singing like a canary" until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence. The chance to secure crucial information about al-Qaeda operations in Yemen was lost because the Obama administration decided to charge and prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as an ordinary criminal, critics say. He is said to have reduced his co-operation with FBI interrogators on the advice of his government-appointed defence counsel. The potential significance became chillingly clear this weekend when it was reported that shortly after his detention, he boasted that 20 more young Muslim men were being prepared for similar murderous missions in the Yemen.
The lawyer for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a formal not guilty plea on Friday to charges that he tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25 - even though he reportedly admitted earlier that he was trained and supplied with the explosives sewn into his underwear by al-Qaeda in the Arab state. "He was singing like a canary, then we charged him in civilian proceedings, he got a lawyer and shut up," Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 Commission that investigated the Sept 2001 terror attacks on the US, told The Sunday Telegraph. "I find it incomprehensible that this administration is treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue.
The president has finally said that we are at war with al-Qaeda. Well, if this is a war, then Abdulmutallab should be treated as a combatant not a criminal."... Not with this President in power. With thanks to JihadWatch
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Equal-opportunity jihad, and more evidence of the magnitude of the ongoing threat from Yemen.
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