Yemeni forces raid al-Qaida hideout, clashes erupt

[demoleft]

Source: ap

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemeni forces raided an al-Qaida hideout and set off a gunbattle Wednesday as the government vowed to eliminate the group that claimed it was behind the Christmas bombing attempt on a U.S. airliner.

The fighting took place in an al-Qaida stronghold in western Yemen, haven for a group that attacked the U.S. Embassy here in 2008, killing 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians. A government statement said at least one suspected militant was arrested during the clashes.

"The (Interior) Ministry will continue tracking down al-Qaida terrorists and will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated," Deputy Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Saleh al-Zawari told senior military officials at a meeting in Mareb, another province believed to shelter al-Qaida fighters.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Osama bin Laden's group, claimed it was behind the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old passenger, was arrested Friday after he allegedly tried to bring down the Northwest Airlines flight, carrying 289 people.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091230/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_airliner_attack

[alstephenson]

1. I have a question.

If the Al-Qaida group claiming responsibility for the botched bombing identifies themselves as "Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" why does the MSM (especially television) insist on calling them "Al-Qaida in Yemen"??? I think I know the answer, but I'm curious what others think. Thanks!

[naaman fletcher]

4. Two possibilities:

1. Although they call themselves that, they truly are only in Yemen. For example, if a bunch of KKK hicks in northern Lousiana said "we are the KKK group of America" it would be ok if the media referred to them as the KKK of some trailer park in northern louisiana.

2. The more likely answer: The Saudi's have a lot of influence in the media.

[Igel]

6. Probably both, to some extent.

However it pays to notice that the Sa'udi's that were released in '07 to Sa'udiyya wound up in Yemen. The Sa'udis haven't been nice to the AQ folks.

Oman doesn't have much use for them, and the UAE and Kuwait not so much, either. Still, while AQiAP probably has some presence there it's still pretty much AQ in Yemen.

There's a third option: perhaps we shouldn't take "AQ in Yemen" as their title for themselves or even "our" title for them, but a simple geographic designation. In other words, we ignore their self-designation in order to say that there's not really any sort of unity among the AQ folks in the Arabian Peninsula. There's the attempt by many in the West to deny organizational coherence to the group.

[twitomy]

2. Doesnt the Yemeni Govt know that this will

only create more terrorists?

[SkyDaddy7]

3. What do you suggest they do?

Just sit back and allow them to grow to the point they own the country? Just curious?

[twitomy]

5. I was being sarcastic...NT