New Safe Haven for Al Qaeda in Yemen

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Unrest in Yemen Seen as Opening to Qaeda Branch,” depicts a potentially lethal development for the United States. The President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has virtually halted counterterrorism operations in his struggle to stay in power.

Mr. Saleh had previously worked with the United States and his own security forces but has now recalled nearly everyone to help prop up his government in the face of continuing demonstrations. As a result, the U.S. is quietly trying to ease him from power while ensuring that what comes next isn’t worse.

Al Qaeda has developed safe havens in the country primarily in the Shabwa and Abyan provinces in the southeast, and their fighters are streaming into Yemen from Pakistan and other hot spots. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the name for the Yemeni branch, is already responsible for the attempted Christmas Day bombing and the failed effort with explosive-packed printer cartridges, and now intelligence agencies are picking up increased “threat chatter” aimed at the United States and Europe.

Another key figure in Yemen, the American born Anwar al-Awlaki, is also a threat through the propaganda he spews, and must be indulging in the current situation to rally Al Qaeda as well.