NYT: U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion
WASHINGTON — In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.
A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.
The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over the next 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels.
(NYT continues its usual two-step. Now when AQ hits America, NYT exposes something. During Bush's Iraq war NYT would mask any US victory by publishing an expose.)
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ABC NEWS VIDEO: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, told FBI agents there were more just like him in Yemen who would strike soon.
And in a tape released four days before the attempted destruction of the Detroit-bound Northwest plane, the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen boasted of what was planned for Americans, saying, "We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God."
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UK Sun: 25 British-born Muslims training in Yemen to bomb airliners
...The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.
The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.
It was there London-educated Abdulmutallab prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet.
The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London.
They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike.
A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of many ready to attack planes and kill tens of thousands.
"We know there are four or five radicalised British Muslim cells in the Yemen.
The 25 suspects, of Pakistani and Somali descent, were radicalised in UK mosques.
Some had been to university and studied engineering or computer sciences.
Others were former street gang members.
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RELATED: Jumped by passengers while lighting fuse: Islamist fails to blow up Detroit-bound flight Christmas Day