Yemen: Al-Qaida offers bounty for US ambassador

[Doc91678]

By Ahmed Al-Haj
Dec. 30, 2012


Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has offered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.

An audio produced by the group’s media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites Saturday said it offered three kilograms of gold worth $160,000 for killing the ambassador, Gerald Feierstein.

The group said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen. It said the offer is valid for six months. …


(Excerpt)

Read more at:
Yemen: Al-Qaida offers bounty for US ambassador

 

[Mr. H.]

Too bad we've "stood down" in those respects.

 

[tinydancer]

Be Groovey? Holy toledo..I just saw that...I love you to death. How does your wife put up with you?

 

[waltky]

AQAP in Yemen spur withdrawal of embassy personelle...

Yemen again at forefront of fight against terror
Aug 6,`13 -- Yemen was thrust back into the forefront of the international fight against terrorism Tuesday when the U.S. and Britain evacuated embassy staff due to a threatened attack, a suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged members of al-Qaida, and militants shot down a Yemeni army helicopter.

As Westerners flew out of the country, Yemeni authorities launched a wide investigation into the al-Qaida threat to multiple potential targets in the impoverished Arab nation. Security officials said they believed the terror network was seeking retaliation for a U.S.-backed military offensive that has dealt serious setbacks to the terror network's most active branch, including the death earlier this year of its No. 2 leader. The Yemeni army, meanwhile, surrounded foreign installations, government offices and the airport with tanks and troops in the nation's capital, Sanaa, as well as the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea in the southern Arabian Peninsula, drawing parallels with security measures following the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor that killed 17 American sailors.

Authorities also set up checkpoints across Sanaa, searching cars and individuals, especially after night fell. Top government officials, along with military and security commanders, were told to stay vigilant and limit their movements. Although the immediate threat seemed to be focused on Yemen, the U.S. has temporarily shut down 19 diplomatic posts in the Middle East and Africa. A U.S. intelligence official and a Mideast diplomat told The Associated Press that the closures were triggered by the interception of a secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, about plans for a major terror attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Zawahri also made a public statement on July 30 that exhorted Muslims to kill Americans "in every spot on Earth."

Yemeni investigators looking into the threat said they believe the motive of the attack was retaliation for the killing of Saudi-born Saeed al-Shihri, who was released from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay after nearly six years and later became the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Yemen. Al-Shihri was critically wounded in a November drone strike and later died of his wounds, the militant group acknowledged. The terror network has suffered a series of setbacks after the military launched an offensive in June with the help of U.S. forces that has succeeded in uprooting it from strongholds in the south. The group had taken advantage of the instability after the Arab Spring wave of revolutions that led to the resignation of Yemen's longtime leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen's current president, Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi, met with President Barack Obama at the White House last week, where both leaders cited strong counterterrorism cooperation.

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See also:

U.S. and Britain Withdraw Personnel from Yemen
August 6, 2013 — After days of alarms and embassy lockdowns, the United States and Britain on Tuesday stepped up security precautions in Yemen, with Washington ordering “nonemergency” government personnel to leave and the Foreign Office in London saying it has withdrawn its diplomatic staff in the capital of Sana “due to increased security concerns.”

The United States also urged its citizens living in Yemen to depart immediately. Neither the American nor British authorities said how many employees were affected by the decision to withdraw personnel. The measures came a day after officials in Washington said the United States had intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al Qaeda ordered the leader of the group’s affiliate in Yemen to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday. Consequently the Obama administration decided last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert.

The British and American warnings were issued several hours after Yemeni military officials said that at least four men, suspected of being Al Qaeda members, were killed in what was described as an American drone strike in the eastern Marib region of Yemen early on Tuesday. The officials, who spoke in return for anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, said a Yemeni military helicopter was shot down later by militants in the same area, the site of a large oil refinery. The chopper was carrying Brig. Gen. Hussein Saleh Mashaba, who commanded a unit in charge of protecting oil facilities, and six soldiers and four crew members. There were no survivors.

President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi paid tribute to the families of the victims and promised that the “terrorists and saboteurs” who carried out the attack would be found and punished. The State Department warned American citizens of “the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.” It urged Americans “to defer travel to Yemen and those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart immediately.” In London, a spokesman for the Foreign Office, who sought anonymity under departmental rules, said: “Due to increased security concerns, we have withdrawn all staff today in the British Embassy in Sana, and the embassy will remain closed until staff are able to return. We have closed the embassy because we assess there is an increased threat.” The spokesman declined to discuss the specific nature of the threat.

In its statement, the State Department said that on Aug. 6 it had ordered all nonemergency American government personnel to leave Yemen because of the continued potential for terrorist attacks. “The security threat level in Yemen is extremely high,” the statement said. “In September 2012, a mob attacked the U.S. Embassy compound. Demonstrations continue to take place in various parts of the country and may quickly escalate and turn violent. U.S. citizens are urged to avoid areas of demonstrations, and to exercise extreme caution if within the vicinity of a demonstration.” “Terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, continue to be active throughout Yemen. The U.S. government remains highly concerned about possible attacks on U.S. citizens (whether visiting or residing in Yemen), and U.S. facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and Western interests,” it added.

More http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/world/middleeast/yemen.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

 

[g5000]

Yes, AQAP saw how horribly upset the American right wing got over just four deaths, and how much it fractured the country. That must have been very encouraging to them. So they figure they will really get their money's worth out of another ambassador's death.

Divide and conquer.

 

[BlindBoo]

What was the bounty we put on bin Laden's' head?

How about the Mullah Omar guy? What was his price?

Sounds like al Qaeda in Yemen wants to do this on the cheap. Or they're just poor, shit, all they can do is produce a tape recording.......

 

[The T]

al-Queida is ON the run! bin-Laden is DEAD don't ya know?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Yes, AQAP saw how horribly upset the American right wing got over just four deaths, and how much it fractured the country. That must have been very encouraging to them. So they figure they will really get their money's worth out of another ambassador's death.

Divide and conquer.

Ya an incompetent State department and President should get a walk cause we might let the terrorist know we care if we lose people. Remind us again how you are not a liberal you dumb ass.

 

[g5000]

Yes, AQAP saw how horribly upset the American right wing got over just four deaths, and how much it fractured the country. That must have been very encouraging to them. So they figure they will really get their money's worth out of another ambassador's death.

Divide and conquer.

Ya an incompetent State department and President should get a walk cause we might let the terrorist know we care if we lose people. Remind us again how you are not a liberal you dumb ass.

Just because I don't buy into the phony scandals djinned up by propagandists and swallowed by rubes does not make me a liberal.

Benghazi is a fake scandal. Everything the partisan hack media outlets made up about it has proven to be false.

Obama was not watching the attack from a drone. There was no stand-down order. That was all fake. Lies. Lies told and repeated over and over and over for the past ten months without the slightest bit of shame. After making up a giant stinking pile of lies about the events surrounding the attack, it takes a huge set of balls to get worked up over whether or not Obama blamed the attack on a video or terrorists in the immediate aftermath.

That's where the real scandal is. Lies, innuendo, and incessessant parroting by non-critically thinking people. This is shameless exploitation of the dead. Standing on the corpses, lying their asses off to create a fake scandal.

Terrorists attacked the consulate and the CIA annex and four people died. That was one of at least a dozen attacks on US diplomatic missions since 9/11. And yet not one of the people who want to make this phony scandal to be more than it is could answer serious questions surrounding Benghazi and these attacks.

For instance, they can tell you of the threats the consulate recieved, but they have no comparison to other missions to get a proper perspective. How many threats had all of our other Middle East missions received prior to 9/11/12? Did the threats against the Benghazi consulate stand out in all that noise? The wannabe scandal makers not only have no idea, they don't want to know. That would undermine their fantasy.

What was George Bush's reaction to each and every attack on our consulates when he was President? He had far more attacks on his watch. The wannabe scandal makers not only have no idea, they don't want to know. That, too, would undermine their fantasy.

These and several other questions are conspicuous in their complete absence on the part of wannabe phony scandal makers. Rather than seek out facts, the hacks went right to work manufacturing bullshit.

They played right into Al Qaeda's hands.

 

[jknowgood]

Yes, AQAP saw how horribly upset the American right wing got over just four deaths, and how much it fractured the country. That must have been very encouraging to them. So they figure they will really get their money's worth out of another ambassador's death.

Divide and conquer.

No, actually they see a president that doesn't care if they kill innocent americans. What did obama do during bengazi? He went to sleep and wok up and went to vegas.

 

[Trajan]

Yes, AQAP saw how horribly upset the American right wing got over just four deaths, and how much it fractured the country. That must have been very encouraging to them. So they figure they will really get their money's worth out of another ambassador's death.

Divide and conquer.

Ya an incompetent State department and President should get a walk cause we might let the terrorist know we care if we lose people. Remind us again how you are not a liberal you dumb ass.

Just because I don't buy into the phony scandals djinned up by propagandists and swallowed by rubes does not make me a liberal.

Benghazi is a fake scandal. Everything the partisan hack media outlets made up about it has proven to be false.

Obama was not watching the attack from a drone. There was no stand-down order. That was all fake. Lies. Lies told and repeated over and over and over for the past ten months without the slightest bit of shame. After making up a giant stinking pile of lies about the events surrounding the attack, it takes a huge set of balls to get worked up over whether or not Obama blamed the attack on a video or terrorists in the immediate aftermath.

That's where the real scandal is. Lies, innuendo, and incessessant parroting by non-critically thinking people. This is shameless exploitation of the dead. Standing on the corpses, lying their asses off to create a fake scandal.

Terrorists attacked the consulate and the CIA annex and four people died. That was one of at least a dozen attacks on US diplomatic missions since 9/11. And yet not one of the people who want to make this phony scandal to be more than it is could answer serious questions surrounding Benghazi and these attacks.

For instance, they can tell you of the threats the consulate recieved, but they have no comparison to other missions to get a proper perspective. How many threats had all of our other Middle East missions received prior to 9/11/12? Did the threats against the Benghazi consulate stand out in all that noise? The wannabe scandal makers not only have no idea, they don't want to know. That would undermine their fantasy.

What was George Bush's reaction to each and every attack on our consulates when he was President? He had far more attacks on his watch. The wannabe scandal makers not only have no idea, they don't want to know. That, too, would undermine their fantasy.

These and several other questions are conspicuous in their complete absence on the part of wannabe phony scandal makers. Rather than seek out facts, the hacks went right to work manufacturing bullshit.

They played right into Al Qaeda's hands.

I agree with a lot of what you have said but theres a few things, a) not all attacks and dates are equal, b) I don't see anything phony in being misled via a disinformation campaign...c) or say if the political tables were turned Patricia Smith would not be the new Cindy Sheehan?....would it make it right? No, but thats the road we have paved for ourselves. d) I put up several posts on AQ, in Syria and iraq before sept 11 last year, they weren't dead, not even close yet, that what we were fed ( and as we now see proof there of) e) now that its been tipped that there appears to have been , well what amounts to a full strength platoon of cia operatives at the annex, questions abound....