Map of Arabia and North Africa with Yemen's location highlighted in red. (Wikipedia Commons).
(CNSNews.com) – U.S. officials say a “significant threat” could come from American citizens, some of them ex-convicts, who traveled to Yemen. The threat has put federal law enforcement on “heightened alert.”
“Most worrisome is a group of as many as three dozen former criminals who converted to Islam in prison, were released at the end of their sentences, and moved to Yemen, ostensibly to study Arabic,” said a Jan. 21, 2010 report by the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “U.S. officials told committee staff they fear that these Americans were radicalized in prison and traveled to Yemen for training.”
The report says there is no proof that the prisoners are training to be terrorists. However, it warns that several of the ex-prisoners have disappeared for extensive periods of time.
“Although there is no public evidence of any terrorist action by these individuals, law enforcement officials told committee staff members that several have ‘dropped off the radar’ for weeks at a time,” reads thereport. “U.S. law enforcement officials said they are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives.”
“The officials said there are legitimate reasons for Americans and others to study and live in Yemen, but they said some of the Americans had disappeared and are suspected of having gone to Al Qaeda training camps in ungoverned portions of the impoverished country,” states the report.
While intelligence agencies have determined that Al Qaeda is a less cohesive and centralized organization than in years past, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has thrived in Yemen largely because of the country’s weak government, according to the report. AQAP was involved with the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, an attack in which 17 American sailors were killed.
“We knew that Al Qaeda was going to have to make inroads in other ways,” said Kirk Lippold, commander of the USS Cole when it was attacked by the terrorists.
“I think this was an opportunity that they may not have necessarily initiated but they are certainly trying to take advantage of to try to bolster ranks and to bring people in who are basically able to exploit weaknesses, being Americans and citizens with American passports able to get into our country and wreak devastating attacks,” Lippold told CNSNews.com.
The findings regarding prisons are no surprise to Barbara K. Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, who believes that following radical Islam is not unlike other extremist movements that flourish in prisons.
“A lot of people go to Yemen and some of them are going to be ex-cons,” Bodine told CNSNews.com. “People do get radicalized in prison and our prison system is not the best in the world. The same dynamic that will make a gang attractive to a young man will make different kinds of radical extremism attractive.”
“I don’t think I would get any more concerned about it than I would be concerned about the hardening of people in prisons in general,” said Bodine. “Our prisons are not known for their rehabilitative qualities. So do you come out a member of a gang? Do you come out as a skinhead? Do you come out as somebody who may end up in Yemen as an extremist? Those are all symptoms of the same problem within our prison system.”
Lippold believes it is more a matter of certain prisoners’ criminal tendencies.
“The reality of it is they have already indicated they have a penchant for engaging in behaviors that are not indicative with conforming to society,” Lippold said. “So whether it is a criminal element that is now manifesting itself through religion, they are clearly bent on trying to destroy our way of life and our government.”
The Senate report states that Yemen’s problems include the “limited reach of the central government,” and a “tribal revolt in the north of the country, a secessionist movement in the south and rising poverty rates.”
“Most worrisome is a group of as many as three dozen former criminals who converted to Islam in prison, were released at the end of their sentences, and moved to Yemen, ostensibly to study Arabic,” said a Jan. 21, 2010 report by the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “U.S. officials told committee staff they fear that these Americans were radicalized in prison and traveled to Yemen for training.”
The report says there is no proof that the prisoners are training to be terrorists. However, it warns that several of the ex-prisoners have disappeared for extensive periods of time.
“Although there is no public evidence of any terrorist action by these individuals, law enforcement officials told committee staff members that several have ‘dropped off the radar’ for weeks at a time,” reads thereport. “U.S. law enforcement officials said they are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives.”
“The officials said there are legitimate reasons for Americans and others to study and live in Yemen, but they said some of the Americans had disappeared and are suspected of having gone to Al Qaeda training camps in ungoverned portions of the impoverished country,” states the report.
While intelligence agencies have determined that Al Qaeda is a less cohesive and centralized organization than in years past, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has thrived in Yemen largely because of the country’s weak government, according to the report. AQAP was involved with the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, an attack in which 17 American sailors were killed.
“We knew that Al Qaeda was going to have to make inroads in other ways,” said Kirk Lippold, commander of the USS Cole when it was attacked by the terrorists.
“I think this was an opportunity that they may not have necessarily initiated but they are certainly trying to take advantage of to try to bolster ranks and to bring people in who are basically able to exploit weaknesses, being Americans and citizens with American passports able to get into our country and wreak devastating attacks,” Lippold told CNSNews.com.
The findings regarding prisons are no surprise to Barbara K. Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, who believes that following radical Islam is not unlike other extremist movements that flourish in prisons.
“A lot of people go to Yemen and some of them are going to be ex-cons,” Bodine told CNSNews.com. “People do get radicalized in prison and our prison system is not the best in the world. The same dynamic that will make a gang attractive to a young man will make different kinds of radical extremism attractive.”
“I don’t think I would get any more concerned about it than I would be concerned about the hardening of people in prisons in general,” said Bodine. “Our prisons are not known for their rehabilitative qualities. So do you come out a member of a gang? Do you come out as a skinhead? Do you come out as somebody who may end up in Yemen as an extremist? Those are all symptoms of the same problem within our prison system.”
Lippold believes it is more a matter of certain prisoners’ criminal tendencies.
“The reality of it is they have already indicated they have a penchant for engaging in behaviors that are not indicative with conforming to society,” Lippold said. “So whether it is a criminal element that is now manifesting itself through religion, they are clearly bent on trying to destroy our way of life and our government.”
The Senate report states that Yemen’s problems include the “limited reach of the central government,” and a “tribal revolt in the north of the country, a secessionist movement in the south and rising poverty rates.”
Soldiers from the anti-terrorism force of the Yemeni Defense Ministry take part in an exercise in a training camp at the Sarif district, north of the capital San'a on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
“Yemen, from my perspective, never was truly governed,” Lippold said. “It was not governed prior to the attack on the Cole. They have a president, but the reality of it is he is the president of the capital, Sana’a. He is not the president of the entire country. Many parts of the country have tribal loyalties that run deeper than what a central government is capable of ruling over.”
The Senate reporter further stated, “These experts have said they are worried that training camps established in remote parts of Yemen by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are being run by former detainees and veteran fighters from Afghanistan and Iraq, and used to instruct U.S. citizens who have immigrated to Yemen to marry local women or after converting to Islam in American prisons.”
The investigation by Senate staffers was done before Christmas Day when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who allegedly received training from Al Qaeda in Yemen, tried to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit using explosives in his underwear. He was stopped by the passengers and crew.
“The ability of Al Qaeda to expand beyond its core members by recruiting non-traditional adherents was one of the lessons drawn by counter-terrorism experts from the failed attempt to blow up the aircraft,” the report says.
As Al Qaeda is weakened elsewhere, it has become strong in Yemen, said Jim Phillips, the senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation.
“Unfortunately, Yemen has risen in importance to Al Qaeda because Al Qaeda has been expelled from Afghanistan and battered in Pakistan,” Phillips told CNSNews.com. “The American public may not have paid much attention to Yemen, but it has been the focus of U.S. counterterrorism officials for years. The Christmas Day bombing was a wake-up call, but it could have been a lot worse.”
The Senate report itself was non-specific in certain respects, only referring, for example, to “law enforcement officials” or “experts” without stating for which agencies they worked. Further, it never stated how many former U.S. prisoners “dropped off the radar.”
The report was “written the way it was for a reason,” committee spokesman Frederick Jones told CNSNews.com, adding that the committee staff is “not at liberty to talk about” information beyond what is already in the report.
Prisoners are not the only concern.
“Similar concerns were expressed about a smaller group of Americans who moved to Yemen, adopted a radical form of Islam, and married local women,” the report reads. “So far, the officials said they have no evidence that any of these Americans have undergone training. But they said they are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives."
The Senate reporter further stated, “These experts have said they are worried that training camps established in remote parts of Yemen by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are being run by former detainees and veteran fighters from Afghanistan and Iraq, and used to instruct U.S. citizens who have immigrated to Yemen to marry local women or after converting to Islam in American prisons.”
The investigation by Senate staffers was done before Christmas Day when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who allegedly received training from Al Qaeda in Yemen, tried to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit using explosives in his underwear. He was stopped by the passengers and crew.
“The ability of Al Qaeda to expand beyond its core members by recruiting non-traditional adherents was one of the lessons drawn by counter-terrorism experts from the failed attempt to blow up the aircraft,” the report says.
As Al Qaeda is weakened elsewhere, it has become strong in Yemen, said Jim Phillips, the senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation.
“Unfortunately, Yemen has risen in importance to Al Qaeda because Al Qaeda has been expelled from Afghanistan and battered in Pakistan,” Phillips told CNSNews.com. “The American public may not have paid much attention to Yemen, but it has been the focus of U.S. counterterrorism officials for years. The Christmas Day bombing was a wake-up call, but it could have been a lot worse.”
The Senate report itself was non-specific in certain respects, only referring, for example, to “law enforcement officials” or “experts” without stating for which agencies they worked. Further, it never stated how many former U.S. prisoners “dropped off the radar.”
The report was “written the way it was for a reason,” committee spokesman Frederick Jones told CNSNews.com, adding that the committee staff is “not at liberty to talk about” information beyond what is already in the report.
Prisoners are not the only concern.
“Similar concerns were expressed about a smaller group of Americans who moved to Yemen, adopted a radical form of Islam, and married local women,” the report reads. “So far, the officials said they have no evidence that any of these Americans have undergone training. But they said they are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives."
Wow, because people moving places is totally terrorism.
