The White House says al-Qaida has several hundred members in Yemen who are actively planning attacks against U.S. targets. John Brennan, the President’s top counterterrorism advisor, appeared on various Sunday morning talk shows citing indications that al-Qaida is planning to carry out an attack against a U.S. target in the capital, forcing the embassy closure on Sunday.
The U.S. has become increasingly concerned about the spread of terrorism in Yemen, a U.S. ally and aid recipient, prompting Brennan to admit the U.S. is pledged to provide the Yemeni government with “the wherewithal” to take down al-Qaida. The White House claims the suspect in the failed Christmas Day bomb plot involving a Northwest Airlines jet, was trained and armed by an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen. Brennan blamed a series of “lapses and human errors” in U.S. intelligence and security defenses for allowing the Nigerian man to board that flight with explosives. The TSA announced yesterday that beginning Monday, passengers flying into the United States from Nigeria, Yemen and other “countries of interest” will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs.
Yemen is a poor, predominantly Muslim country on the Arabian Peninsula. It is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and the site of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. A 2008 attack on the U.S. Embassy there killed one American. Several Yemeni nationals are currently being held at the Guantánamo Bay military facility, which President Obama has said he wants to close. Since that plan would entail sending those Yemeni prisoners back to their own homeland and possibly right into the welcoming arms of al-Qaida, Mr. Obama’s Gitmo plans are now in serious jeopardy.
