Australian terrorist threat to airports

A group of Australians who are believed to be at terrorist training camps in Yemen pose a threat to airport security, a security expert has warned. 22 Australians have gone missing in Yemen and are believed to be at al-Qaeda training camps. Heading up the al-Qaeda regime in Yemen is an American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki who the ABC reported has been dubbed the Osama bin Laden of the internet. Al-Awlaki has been allegedly involved in a number of terrorist attacks and in his internet sermons - delivered in perfect English - he preaches contempt for non-believers.

The 22 Australians are believed to be receiving training at these camps where their value is their Australian passports and the access they can gain with them. "The authorities know who these people are," Homeland Security Asia Pacific director Roger Hennings told AAP. "The government of Australia is aware of the identity of 22 Australians who went missing about four months ago, in other words they just got to Yemen and disappeared," he said. "This constitutes a national security risk because all of these people left through Australian airports and when they return they will return through Australian airports."

Mr Hennings said these Australians were believed to be in al-Qaeda training camps in Yemen and there was nothing to stop them communicating with sympathisers in Australia. According to Mr Hennings, 66 Australian citizens and residents have already been trained by al-Qaeda or in Pakistan by other terrorist organisations.Major airports are areas of mass gathering which Mr Hennings says are critical to the security of the country. Yet the majority of people working in airports don't understand how security threat levels work and Mr Hennings says there is a daily threat level to Australia's airports.

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Al-Qaida Takes Lessons Learned To Yemen

Yemeni soldiers streamed into the streets of the capital this weekend after a deadly attack on intelligence services by alleged al-Qaida gunmen, underscoring the impact of what U.S. government officials and experts on terrorism say has become the world’s most active and dangerous offshoot of al-Qaida. With dozens of attacks this year on spy and security forces, including deadly raids into the very headquarters of Yemen’s mukhabarat, or intelligence branch, Yemen's newly invigorated al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is reshaping the mission, strategy and tactics of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida brand, experts say. And the Yemeni government is now stepping up its effort to confront this insurgency and doing so with pledges of more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States.

At this point, there is a "raging war taking place between al-Qaida in Yemen and the Yemeni government," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle East politics at the London School of Economics, and a longtime scholar of al-Qaida. Diversifying from al-Qaida's core vision of mass-casualty attacks upon people of the distant, hated West, al-Qaida fighters in Yemen have redirected their aim squarely upon the weak, fumbling and corrupt government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh this summer sided more than ever with the United States against the al-Qaida forces who have made their home in his country, proclaiming al-Qaida the greatest danger to his country.

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U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric

The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday. Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States as an imam, is in hiding in Yemen. He has been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November, and then to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25.

American counterterrorism officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They say they believe that he has become a recruiter for the terrorist network, feeding prospects into plots aimed at the United States and at Americans abroad, the officials said. It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president.

But the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told a House hearing in February that such a step was possible. “We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” he said. “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.” He did not name Mr. Awlaki as a target. The step taken against Mr. Awlaki, which occurred earlier this year, is a vivid illustration of his rise to prominence in the constellation of terrorist leaders. But his popularity as a cleric, whose lectures on Islamic scripture have a large following among English-speaking Muslims, means any action against him could rebound against the United States in the larger ideological campaign against Al Qaeda.

• "Anwar al-Awlaki, Times Topics, New York Times.
  
• "Interview: Anwar al-Awlaki", Al-Jazeera, 2/7/10.
• "Anwar al Awlaki: Pro Al-Qaida Ideologue with Influence in the West", NEFA Foundation, 2/5/09.

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Al Qaeda man captured wearing bomb belt in Yemen

Yemeni forces on Saturday captured an al Qaeda militant wearing an explosive belt who was planning a suicide attack on "economic facilities," a government official said. The man was detained while driving a motorbike in the Khalf area in the Hadramaut region, the Ministry of Interior official said in a statement sent to Reuters. He was named as Saleh Abdul-Habib Saleh Shawash.

"The primary interrogation of this terrorist (revealed) he was planning a suicide attack against economic facilities in Hadramaut ... the interrogation is ongoing to reveal more information about this and to see who else might be involved in the plan," the source said. Yemen has gained a reputation as a haven and a training and recruiting center for al Qaeda militants since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Authorities stepped up operations against the group after its Yemeni wing said it was behind an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on December 25.

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Report Cites 'Radicalization' of U.S. Prisoners

U.S. law enforcement authorities believe as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison have traveled to Yemen, possibly to train with al-Qaeda, according to a Senate report. The "radicalization" of the individuals has alarmed U.S. officials even though no evidence has immediately tied them to terrorist activities. Several of the individuals have "dropped off the radar" for weeks at a time and continue to carry U.S. passports.

"Al-Qaeda's recruitment tactics also have changed, the group seeks to recruit American citizens to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States." Al-Qaeda forces in Yemen have emerged in recent months as a pressing threat to U.S. security, with ties to the recent airline bombing plot and Fort Hood shooting. In addition to the nearly three dozen prisoners, Kerry's staff also cites as many as 10 non-Yemeni Americans who moved to Yemen, converted to Islamic fundamentalism and married Yemeni women to remain in the country.

• "Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somalia: A Ticking Time Bomb" Committee on Foreign relations, US Senate, 1/21/10.
  

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Yemen the new training ground for terrorists

US President Barack Obama warned in his speech about Afghanistan this week that the world would face new threats as Al Qaeda established a foothold in other parts of the world. One of the countries he singled out was Yemen. It is the poorest state in the Arab world and is rapidly running out of oil and water. There are now growing fears that the impoverished nation could become an increasingly attractive Al Qaeda base.

During his speech, Mr Obama singled out Yemen and Somalia as two nations where Al Qaeda's influence was increasing "We'll have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power," he said. Where Al Qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold, whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere, they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships." For many years, Yemen has faced political and economic crises. With a population of 23 million people, it is the poorest Arabic nation and security is a growing concern.

Dr Sarah Phillips works at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. She has just written a paper on Al Qaeda in Yemen for the Lowy Institute and says the country is an increasingly attractive base for the terrorist group. "Yemen is quite a desirable operating environment in a number of ways," she said. "For one, there is a strong tribal structure there, which if approached sensitively by people affiliated with Al Qaeda can afford some opportunity, particularly with regard to refuge, being able to hide while they plan operations both within Yemen but also abroad.

• "Yemen Funds Jihaddist Trainign Camps to Target Foes", Jawa Report, 3/1/09.
  
• "Terrorist Havens: Yemen", Council on Foreign Relations, 12/1/05.
• Yemen: Coping With Terrorism and Violence in a Fragile State", International Crisis Group, 1/8/03.
  

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Al Qaeda in Yemen Worries the West

Arab and Western officials worry that al Qaeda is securing a stronghold in Yemen, where the government's focus on quelling a rebel insurgency is allowing the terror group to strengthen its ability to destabilize neighbors in East Africa and the Mideast. Yemen's government, which has long struggled to assert control over the country's far-flung tribes and Islamic militant groups, launched a new offensive this summer against rebels living near its northern border with Saudi Arabia. The fighting, now in its seventh week, has shaken a fragile humanitarian situation. United Nations officials warned recently that food aid in the region is running low.

The homeland of Osama bin Laden's father, Yemen has long been a top U.S. security concern. For years, al Qaeda militants -- including at least one Saudi released from U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- have taken refuge here. One complication surrounding the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo is what to do with the nearly 100 Yemeni detainees there. U.S. intelligence officials say they have little confidence in the Yemeni government's ability to keep them in prison back in their home country.

Since the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, U.S. officials have reported mixed results from the Yemeni government in the fight against terrorism. President Ali Abdullah Saleh established a rehabilitation program for jailed Islamic militants, but hasn't curbed the growing network of al Qaeda fighters who have flocked to lawless parts of Yemen and are using the country as a launching pad for attacks.

• - “Al Qaeda in Yemen Worries the West”, Wall Street Journal, 9/29/09.
• - “Yemen: Avoiding a Downward Spiral”, Carnegie Endowment, September 2009.

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