Al Qaeda Not On The Run And We Don't Believe Drone Strikes Will Stop Them, Unfortunately.

Drone Strikes Launched After AQAP Shows They’re Not on the Run

A mission to save face after new al-Qaeda No. 2's in-your-face PR effort -- featuring a former Gitmo detainee?

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BRIDGET JOHNSON

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April 21, 2014 - 6:30 pm

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Yemen launched drone strikes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula targets in the wake of a bold video released by the terror group showing a confab of terrorists, including al-Qaeda No. 2 Nasir al-Wuhayshi, essentially mocking the west with a meeting in the wide open.

The counter raid that began after the video hit the headlines, though, couldn’t exactly catch the big-name jihadists on their way home — the meeting in the footage occurred sometime in mid-February through the end of March, according to analysts.

The strikes, then, were as much about saving face as trying to catch up to the intelligence revealed in the video, which featured a former Guantanamo detainee and was followed by another threatening release from al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Yemen’s Saba news agency reported Monday that an airstrike “killed a number of militants” of varying nationalities at al-Qaeda training camps in a remote mountainous region between Abyan and Shabwa province. Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee said strikes were launched on Saturday and Sunday based on “certain intelligence information that terrorist elements were training in those camps and planning to target vital civilian and military facilities.”

The Yemeni government said the Saturday strike targeted a truck carrying 11 al-Qaeda terrorists to al-Bayda city, where they planned to target “vital military and civil sites.” Ten of those on board were reportedly killed. Unfortunately, a pickup drove too close to the targeted vehicle, and three civilians within were killed in the strike.

Yemeni officials initially speculated that bomb-maker Ibrahim Asiri may have been killed in the strikes, but withdrew those claims as the day wore on.

“We’re aware of the reports and I’d point you to the Yemeni government and what the government itself has said. In statements to the press, the Yemeni government has confirmed that airstrikes were carried out this weekend against al-Qaeda militants in remote training camps and in a convoy. According to the Yemenis, these individuals were planning to target civilian and military facilities in al-Bayda and elsewhere,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at today’s briefing.

“Now, I can’t speak to specific operations, but we have a strong, collaborative relationship, as you know, with the Yemeni government and work together on various initiatives to counter the shared threat we face from AQAP,” he added. “So in terms of more details about the strikes that the Yemeni government has discussed, I would refer you to the Yemeni government.”

That likely would have been a victory lap if a big-name target had been confirmed killed. Carney was then asked if AQAP’s growth and threat meant President Obama felt differently about his promise to scale back drone strikes.

“We have a strong collaborative relationship with the Yemeni government and work together on various initiatives to counter the shared threat we face from AQAP. We support the Yemeni government’s efforts to tackle terrorism within their own borders; and beyond that, for details of these reported incidents, I would refer you to the Yemeni government,” Carney replied.

“Again, without speaking about specific operations, I can tell you that in May 2013, President Obama spoke at length about the policy and legal rationale for how the United States takes direct action against al-Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, including with drone strikes. And as the president made clear, we take extraordinary care to make sure that our counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable domestic and international laws, and that they are consistent with U.S. values and policy.”

Over at the State Department, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if it was a coincidence that the AQAP video became the top story on the news and airstrikes then followed.

“I would put a call in to the Yemeni government and see if they have more details to share with you,” she replied, hastily wrapping up the briefing.

Another Lie Or A CIA Blunder Or Both?. Al-Qaida Meets Out In The Open In Libya. Has It Been Decimated? Hardly. Obama Lied, and CIA Blew It

‘Decimated’ Al-Qaida Appears Emboldened In New Video

April 17, 2014 by Ben Bullard 

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Less than two years after being fully and finally “decimated” by the Administration of President Barack Obama, Al-Qaida has somehow managed to foment new leadership and organize into what CNN described Wednesday as “what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering in years.”

That story featured a video Wednesday that depicts a large open-air gathering of more than 100 al-Qaida terrorists rallying and listening to a fiery anti-U.S. pep talk from the group’s worldwide second-in-command, Nasir al-Wuhayshi. A CNN terrorism analyst said the group met somewhere in Yemen.

Notably, there’s a brazenness to the tone of this gathering, as the story observes.

A new video shows what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years. And the CIA and the Pentagon either didn’t know about it or couldn’t get a drone there in time to strike….

In the middle of the clip, the man known as al Qaeda’s crown prince, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen. Al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has said he wants to attack the United States. But in the video, he looks unconcerned that he could be hit by an American drone.

The video is better-produced than many that have emanated from al-Qaida in the past, and analyst Peter Bergen believes the group is demonstrating a fresh confidence in its ability to carry out strikes against the U.S. — though U.S. intelligence either doesn’t know, or isn’t commenting on, the nature of any plots against the Nation.

“The U.S. intelligence community should be surprised that such a large group of al-Qaida assembled together, including the leadership, and somehow they didn’t notice,” said Bergen. “… The main problem about this group is that it has a bomb maker who can put bombs on to planes that can’t be detected.”

Obama touted the imminent eradication of al-Qaida as a terror threat against the U.S. throughout his re-election campaign, telling multiple audiences that the group is “on the path to defeat” and its loose network of affiliates are “on the run.”

An alternate theory suggesting a reason behind al-Qaida’s recent resurgence might posit that the terror group never has been “decimated” and that its organizational, communications and recruiting tactics have simply changed to accommodate both the Obama Administration’s few successes and to take advantage of newly lawless zones that permeate freshly destabilized areas of the Mideast.

Maybe If NSA Was Not So Involved In Spying On Us, They Would Have Found The Al-Qaeda Meeting!

Mike Rogers: Secret al-Qaida Meeting Leaves US in Dark

Tuesday, 15 Apr 2014 07:07 PM

By Greg Richter

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Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Tuesday that members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP] have changed their communications methods following leaks last year about intelligence collection in Yemen.

Video of a recent meeting  of 100 al-Qaida members in Yemen, including some of its top leaders, is raising questions about whether the United States was unaware of the outdoor event and therefore unable to strike it with a drone attack.

AQAP is now are more reliant on couriers, much like former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden used while hiding from U.S. intelligence for more than a decade.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al-Qaida worldwide and the head of AQAP, was at the meeting, according to the video posted on jihadist websites. AQAP is considered the most dangerous wing of al-Qaida.

Al-Wuhayshi is seen in the video appearing to make direct threats at the United States.

"We must eliminate the cross. The bearer of the cross is America," al-Wuhayshi says in a translation of his speech.

"The main problem about this group is that it has a bomb maker who can put bombs on to planes that can't be detected," CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen told the network. Bergen was speaking of Ibrahim al-Asiri, who is thought to be behind several attacks on the United States, including the failed 2009 Christmas Day underwear bomber in Detroit.

Al-Asiri is not seen in the video.

Rogers told CNN he is not at liberty to say whether U.S. intelligence knew about the meeting or whether it simply couldn't get a drone there fast enough. But his blaming the lack of attack on AQAP's change in communications methods seemed to indicate the United States was unaware it was happening.

"Those series of leaks have had a consequence," Rogers said.

When asked whether the United States would have attacked the meeting had it known about it, Rogers replied, "It all depends."

There are policies in place that would prevent an attack on a target that exceeds a certain number of individuals, he said, but added he doesn't think those policies were the reason the meeting shown in the video was not attacked.

It can be hard to get assets in position, Rogers noted, explaining that intelligence groups have to know where and when such groups are meeting.

Also, intelligence information has to be "exactly right" if a drone is going to target such a large gathering.

"I think they have these meetings more often than people realize," Rogers said. Al-Qaida is feeling "empowered" because it believes the West is unable to know what they are doing, he said.

Related Stories:

• Mike Rogers, CIA's Morell: Snowden Likely Stole Secrets with Russian Help
• 2 Suspected al-Qaida Militants Killed in Yemen Drone Strike

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