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This is the most important front in its war on terror
requiring air strikes and the use of local countering insurgency forces
in Yemen and elsewhere.
But will that strategy backfire?
the killing of civilians in some these attacks
was used by AQAB as also recruiting devise
So these incidents have certainly contributed
or have been used certainly to recruit radicals.
AMERICA'S DANGEROUS GAME
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
a terrorist group based in Yemen
continues to plan attacks against our homeland
our citizens and our friends and allies
AQAP which currently we view
as the primary threat to the homeland
the counterterrorism community has been kept very busy
with reports about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula trying to carry out attacks
with reports about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula trying to carry out attacks
in Yemen and in that region, as well as against the United States.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP
has emerged as the most dangerous regional node in the global Jihad
Sana'a, Yemen
According to the US, this is the real front line in its global war on Al Qaeda
Not Afghanistan or Pakistan
In the early morning's calm the old city looks timeless and permanent
These buildings have stood here for centuries
and postures of President Ali Abdullah Saleh
have hung from the walls for the last 33 years
The US gave Saleh's regime hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid
and saw him as a key alley.
With Saleh out of office after a year of sustained popular protests
America's campaign against Al Qaeda in Yemen
has been thrown into crisis.
Yemen's connection with Al Qaeda and terrorists groups
goes back to the Jihad days of Afghanistan
Abdulghani Al-Eryani is a well connected Yemeni political analyst
The Yemeni government got involved in recruiting for the Jihad in Afghanistan
Of course it was sanctioned by the US and by Saudi Arabia
and Saudi Arabia financed that
So thousands upon thousands of Yemeni youth
ended up been indoctrinated in militant Islam in Afghanistan
and coming back and starting their own militant cells here
The regime continue to be very complicit
in aiding and the petting of terrorists groups
harboring them and covering up for them until today
I am convinced that many terrorists in Yemen
are still connected to National Security apparatus
to the president's office
and to people very close to the top leadership of the country
Abdulghani says that Saleh's regime played to American and Saudi fears about Al Qaeda
and then used their military aid for its own purposes
Do you think that they actually have a commitment to the same agenda as the US regarding Al Qaeda
Not at all. Not even close
because it was their cash cow
Why would you get rid of your source of income?
It does not make sense to them
to start with, they should have never made counter terrorism a source of profit for the regime
because the increases terrorism.
Secondly, use of military forces was a bad mistake
Military action often backfires
by killing civilians and by the violation of sovereignty
that offends lots of Yemenis
Last May, militants calling themselves Ansar Al Sharia
captured the city of Zanjibar, the capital of Abyan province in southern Yemen
Yemen Centeral Security Forces whose counter-terrorism units are funded by US
abandoned their positions in heavy weaponry to the militants.
Zinjibar remains under Ansar Al Sharia's control
RIght now in Abyan, there are thousands of fighters
fighting under the banner of Ansar Al Sharia against the government
and people say these are AQAP
they are NOT
there is a nucleus of AQAP
but the vast majority are people who are aggrieved
by attacks by the US and by the Yemeni government on their homes
that forced them to go out and fight
so this is not about establishing the Caliphate?
No. It is about revenge.
General Somali leads the 25th Mechanized Brigade
He is tasked with retaking Zinjibar.
Do you believe that Ansar Al Sharia is Al Qaeda or is it something else?
General Somali reluctantly agrees to take us to his front line
he has been ambushed twice in this road
and his bullet scared armored Land Cruiser.
We drive passed the Unity Stadium
renovated for the Gulf 20 Football Tournament in 2010
Once a symbol of Maternity and Tourism
the stadium was seized by militants
until Sumali's forces shelled them and forced them back
for more than three months, Sumali and his men were trapped here
Surrounded by militants
his troops lack the equipments and trainings of Yemen's US-backed counter-terrorism units
but he says American support was instrumental in surviving the seige
Before last year AQAP had never captured or held territory
but Ansar Al Sharia remains in control of Zinjibar
and has announced the formation of Islamic Government in southern Yemen
Ansar Al Sharia appears to be tapping into
a mainstream anger at the Saleh regime and the Americans
To try to understand that anger
we met the leader of the largest tribe in the south
Sheikh Saleh Ben Farid
Our family, the early family the Sultanate used to have a treaty with the British Government
Then the Socialist Party came and ordered all the Sultanates out of the country
When Ali Abdullah Saleh became the first president of the unified Yemen
he invited back the old tribal leaders
to balance the strength of the Socialists and sepratists
So when the Socialist Party lost, President Ali Abdullah Saleh called us
He said you have a lot of support and you have lot of followers and we need you back
So I came back in 1991.
When was the first time that heard about someone being Al Qaeda in that area?
I never knew that any body belong to Al Qaeda
except in the last three years
and especially after the Americans attacked Al Majela
in December 17th, 2009, US cruise missiles were launched from the Arabian Sea
targeting the tiny bedouin village of Al Majella
It was the Obama Administration's first missile strike on Yemen
but it will be the first of many
We got telephones from those people
and of course the news was on Aljazeera
The government alleged to targeted Al Qaeda hideouts
in a preventive operation killing 34 members
Our government attacked Al Qaeda base in Almajella
where Al Qaeda have a field for training
and they have huge stores for all kind of weapons
and ammunitions and rockets and all of this
and they did not mention the Americans at all
When we went there, we saw what happened
I mean if somebody who got a weak heart, I think he would collapse
you see goats and sheep all over
you see heads of those who were killed
here and there
you see children
you cannot tell if this meat belongs to animals or human beings!
very sad very sad very sad. unbelievable.
Why do they do this? Why the Hell they do this?
There are no stores. There is no field for training. There is nobody
except very poor tribe. One of the poorest tribes in the south
It takes about 12 hours to reach Almajella by car
avoiding the checkpoints militants have set up along the main road
The survivors left missile parts rusting in the fields were they fell
hoping one day people will come to investigate their story
when we went there
we saw what happened
Of course our government does not have this kind of rockets
and you see all the shells all over
unbelievable
Of course there were marking made in the United States of America
is all recorded
Do people there want revenge from United states for this?
I think they have created again many enemies in Yemen
When the Wikileakes cables were released
They revealed a meeting shortly held after Almajella attack
between US General David Petraeus and President Saleh
In the meeting Petraeus announces that US military aid
will be increased to 150 million Dollars a year
and Saleh made a joke with the Americans
about lying to the Yemeni people about the Almujella attack
Saleh assures General Petraeus that
"We will continue saying that the bombs are ours and not yours"
A long silent, aggressive bombing campaign
the Obama Administration funnels money
into a Yemeni counter-terrorism unit, the CTU
led by the President's Nephew, Yahia Saleh
In 2009, US military aid more than tripled
and in 2010 it doubled again
The opposition calls the CTU, Saleh's family military
as supposed to the national military
which they say does the actual fighting against Al Qaeda
the opposition sees them as elite US trained defenders of the Saleh's regime
It is mostly for the defense of the regime
until today counter terrorism forces have not been deployed in any effective way
they are still here in the palace, protecting the palace
That is how it is.
I could say with confidence that some of the resources of the counter terrorism forces
were used against the peaceful demonstrators in the protest square.
I have spoken to eye witnesses
that have seen some of those counter terrorism officers
in the scene at the right places
engaged in operations?
Yes
Saleh was the only president a unified Yemen had ever known
He weathered constant rebellions in periodic civil wars
but could not survive the sustained popular protests
that continued today in the streets of the capital
Scores were killed last March
when Saleh's regime was tried to put down the protest with force
but they only gathered momentum.
Amin Al Rabiye is a human rights lawyer and long time opposition activist
He like many in the opposition
holds the US at least indirectly responsible
for the deaths as the backer for the Saleh's regime
But Amin claims that the Saleh's regime biggest crime
is allowing US missile attacks inside the country
The outrage of a US missile strikes is not confined to opposition activist
Even Saleh's Foreign Minister, Abu Baker Al Qirbi
admits that US counter terrorism policy in Yemen has cause a blowback
He said that Almajella attack in particular was a mistake
Well Almajella is always been an unfortunate incident
because it really attacked civilian populations
as you see in Pakistan and other parts of the world
They always face a lot of resentment
Do you think the Americans bombing have helped Al Qaeda in Yemen?
I am sure that some elements will feel sympathetic to them.
We've made progress.
Al Qaeda's leadership has hunkered down.
Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated
plots disrupted.
We have worked closely with partners including Yemen
to inflict major blows against Al Qaeda leaders.
The Obama Administration has dramatically escalated its missile strikes inside Yemen
These attacks are celebrated as crippling blows against Al Qaeda
but some intelligence experts question their strategic impact.
Our attacks on civilians let's say
or the killings of civilians in some of these attacks
was used by AQAB as also recruiting devise
So these incidents have certainly contributed
or have been used certainly to recruit radicals.
There is no doubt about it.
Amil Nakhla was the highest ranking CIA Analyst on the Middle East
and the founder of the CIA Political Islam Program.
Nakha says that US assassinations
have crippled Al Qaeda central leadership
but the original groups like AQAP have become more powerful
Do you think Al Qaeda in Yemen is stronger now than it was on 9/11?
It is because 9/11 the strength really was Al Qaeda Central
and regional organizations were really trying
to even vying for better connection to Al Qaeda Central
so there are things today definitely much more
much bigger really than it was on 9/11.
The worse thing for us to do
is to declare Yemen as a new front on the war on terror.
because that's what Al Qaeda would love us to do
because then they will make the argument
we went to Afghanistan, we went to Iraq and now in Yemen.
Back in southern Yemen, Ansar Al Sharia remains in control of Zinjibar.
in a wave of assassinations that targeted government security forces.
We meet with Mulla Zabara
a tribal leader who is often served as a mediator in negotiations with AQAP
He helps secure the release of three French hostages last November
But he has failed to negotiate a peace with the rebels in Zinjibar
Mulla Zabara tells us that Al Qaeda which was once in hiding
is now able to operate in the open
Mulla Zabara maybe overstating his tribe's fighting strength
but it is certainly true that Yemen's tribes
are more powerful that Al Qaeda.
But Mulla Zabara says the tribe sees little point
in fighting to protect a corrupt and predatory state.
America's Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Yemen
has relied on airstrikes in support for
the Saleh regime's own counter-terrorism forces.
But a decade after this strategy began
Al Qaeda is stronger here that it has ever been
It was a major fiasco
The Yemeni government saw the opportunity to exploit terrorism
and extort money from the US, and from Saudi Arabia and the others
and they used it to the fullest.
and as a consequence, the spread of terrorism and the enrichment of terrorism
increased over the same period.
I think if we have been left alone
we would have less terrorists in Yemen than we do now
You can kill all the leaders, radical leaders in Yemen
if you maintain the same nepotistic, repressive, corrupt regime in Sana'a
The killing of those leaders is not going to weaken the movement
it is going to increase and energize the movement
to being able to liquidate some of the AQAP leaders.
I don't think beyond that we have gained much with the Saleh's regime
The fact is that these people decided to topple him
and we really could not save him.
We should become humble enough to realize that
targeting these leaders is fine
but that in the long-run, it is the people who are going to decide
the fate of their own regimes as the Arab Spring has shown.
Translated by: MAHDI ALHASANI