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From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Nov 16 2010 - 02:59:03 EST
[image: The Wall Street Journal]
- MIDDLE EAST NEWS
- NOVEMBER 16, 2010
U.S. Pursues Wider Role in Yemen AmericanMove to Bring In Equipment and
Operatives and Propose New Bases for Fight Against al Qaeda Affiliates By ADAM
ENTOUS<https://mail.google.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=ADAM+ENTOUS&bylinesearch=true>and
JULIAN
E. BARNES<https://mail.google.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=JULIAN+E.+BARNES&bylinesearch=true>in
Washington and MARGARET
COKER<https://mail.google.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=MARGARET+COKER&bylinesearch=true>in
Abu Dhabi
U.S. officials don't know how many U.S.-trained Yemeni commandos—above, in
exercises in San'a last week—have been fighting al Qaeda.
The U.S. is preparing for an expanded campaign against al Qaeda in Yemen,
mobilizing military and intelligence resources to enable Yemeni and American
strikes and drawing up a longer-term proposal to establish Yemeni bases in
remote areas where militants operate.
The developments are part of a U.S. scramble to step up the hunt for members
of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist organization behind a
recent failed attempt to blow up two planes over the U.S. using bombs hidden
in cargo.
Limited U.S. intelligence experience in Yemen has created "a window of
vulnerability" that the U.S. government is "working fast to address," a
senior Obama administration official said.
For now, the U.S. gets much of its on-the-ground intelligence from a growing
partnership with Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with Yemen and has a
fruitful informant network in Yemen's tribal areas.
In the rush to build up capabilities, the Central Intelligence Agency and
other agencies are moving in equipment and personnel from other areas, and
over the past year have expanded the size of teams in the U.S. analyzing
intelligence on AQAP. The emphasis now is on expanding the number of
intelligence operatives and analysts in the field.
There is a debate within the Obama administration and Pentagon about how
best to ramp up the fight against AQAP, the Yemen-based terrorist group.
Supporters of establishing forward operating bases for Yemeni forces say
they would help the weak Yemeni government expand its control and create an
opportunity to get a small number of American Special Operations trainers
and advisers out of the capital region and into the field.
The proposed bases would vary in size, but could each accommodate scores of
troops, including specialized Yemeni commando units, which are trained by
the U.S. and would work most closely with the Americans to hunt al Qaeda
leaders. The proposal hasn't been presented formally to the full range of
policy makers in Washington who would need to sign off on it, officials
said, and it is unclear whether the U.S. or another donor, such as Saudi
Arabia, would provide funding.
Yemeni officials said the proposal was under discussion. While San'a would
support the establishment of bases in some areas, Yemeni officials said the
government would be reluctant to allow the U.S. to station trainers in them.
"Why create unnecessary problems? Situating foreigners in security posts
would be misconstrued as an unwelcome foreign presence," a Yemeni official
said.
U.S. officials said urgent efforts are under way to accelerate delivery of
equipment to Yemen, possibly by drawing on U.S. supplies leaving Iraq.
A senior administration official said the U.S. wants to help boost Yemen's
ability to move its troops around the country, but didn't comment on any
specifics about this effort. "We're looking at a wide range of options and
we're working aggressively to expand Yemeni capabilities to fight the
terrorists."
Yemen's government in San'a has urged Washington to provide more helicopters
and other supplies such as night-vision goggles to aid missions against
militants in remote areas.
The Yemeni president has created counterterrorism units— commanded by his
sons and nephews—that get training from U.S. Special Operations teams. The
Yemenis also use intelligence, planning and equipment from U.S. military and
spy agencies to conduct many of their counterterrorism operations.
The Yemenis have had limited success in fighting al Qaeda. In two major
offenses launched this summer in Yemen's southern tribal areas, the Yemeni
military failed to capture its top targets and lost more than 150 of its own
men, according to people in the Yemeni military.
In addition, people familiar with the situation said, U.S. officials don't
know how many of the commandos trained by U.S. forces have been involved in
fighting al Qaeda, because the Yemeni government hasn't confirmed where the
elite personnel are deployed. That has raised concerns that those personnel
are being diverted to fight some of the other security threats that Yemen
faces, such as separatists in the south and rebels in the north.
Another military proposal to boost the fight against AQAP, reported in The
Wall Street Journal on Nov. 1, would shift elite Special Operations
hunter-killer teams in Yemen to the control of the CIA. That idea has been
met with strong objections from the government of Yemen.
U.S. officials who support the proposal to set up forward operating bases
say it would be more palatable to the Yemenis.
Pushing Yemen to send its military and intelligence operatives into the
tribal areas is seen by the U.S. as a critical step to building a network of
informants needed to support stepped-up strikes against al Qaeda targets.
The need to improve on-the-ground intelligence was underscored by a botched
U.S. military strike in May that killed a provincial deputy governor and set
off tribal unrest. The final authorization to strike was based on technical
surveillance from aircraft, rather than intelligence from sources on the
ground, according to officials.
The incident infuriated the Yemen government, and there have been no
reported U.S. airstrikes in the country since May. Officials said strikes
could resume as intelligence is developed.
In the meantime, a partnership with Saudi Arabia—also an AQAP target—helps
to fill the gap, melding American aerial surveillance with ground
intelligence from Saudi informants. U.S. and Saudi counterterrorism
interests have converged on the Arabian Peninsula, where AQAP is targeting
U.S., Saudi and Yemeni interests.
Saudi Arabia has long exerted influence within Yemen, buying the loyalties
of local tribal chiefs and informants with cash payouts and other
assistance.
U.S. officials credit the Saudis with being particularly adept at tracking
detainees who have been released from the U.S. military base in Guantánamo
Bay, Cuba. According to three Arab security officials familiar with the
situation, a former Guantánamo detainee, Jaber al-Fayfi, was part of a large
network of Saudi assets in Yemen that uncovered and provided details about
the cargo-bombing plot.
*Write to *Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com
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