Chicago Tribune November 5, 2002
U.S. kills 6 Al Qaeda suspects
By Stephen J. Hedges
A U.S. missile attack killed six suspected Al Qaeda terrorist operatives in Yemen, a U.S. official confirmed Monday, in what would be the first such American strike outside Afghanistan.
Those killed included an associate of Osama bin Laden who U.S. intelligence officials believe was responsible for the attack in Yemen on the USS Cole in October 2000. The missile fired Sunday, reportedly from a crewless Predator aircraft, hit a car carrying Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi, a suspected key terrorist organizer in Yemen, and five lower-level associates, the U.S. official confirmed.
Yemeni government officials said the car, which blew apart on impact, also contained weapons, communications equipment and explosives.
White House, CIA and Pentagon officials declined to publicly acknowledge the attack, which may signal a shift in the U.S. war on terrorism--one that will take the fighting out of Afghanistan and into other countries where Al Qaeda operates.
Until now, the main thrust of the U.S.-led effort has focused on routing Al Qaeda and sympathetic Taliban forces in Afghanistan. American military advisers also have been sent to the Philippines, Georgia and Tajikistan.
But Sunday's attack, in northwest Yemen, was direct military action.
It was reported as an explosion at first, but witnesses said they saw a helicopter in the area at the time.
A U.S. official who asked not to be named suggested the attack came from a CIA aircraft, possibly a drone. The CIA has used Predator drones, or slow-flying, crewless aircraft, to observe and hit targets in Afghanistan. The drones are capable of carrying a Hellfire air-to-ground missile designed to destroy tanks.
Al-Harthi was believed to be a close associate of Al Qaeda leader and Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and was instrumental, terrorist experts say, in the planning of the attack that killed 17 sailors on a U.S. Navy destroyer as it was anchored near the port city of Aden.
Before Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. had used long-range cruise missiles to attack what were described as Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.
The notion of a direct missile attack against someone outside a theater of war could raise questions from U.S. allies, human-rights activists and others. The attack is reminiscent of assaults, often subject to condemnation, launched by Israel against Palestinian leaders it believes to be responsible for suicide bombings.
'A very good thing'
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined to discuss possible U.S. involvement in the incident in Yemen during a briefing with reporters Monday. But noting that al-Harthi was believed to be in the car, Rumsfeld added, "It would be a very good thing if he were out of business."
Bush did not address the attack during a four-state campaign trip Monday, but he repeated an oft-made pledge to "be patient and steadfast and hunt them [terrorists] down."
The U.S. has used Predators to attack terrorist targets. In November 2001, a Predator took part in an attack that killed Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's military chief. In May, a Predator fired on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord the U.S. suspects of supporting Al Qaeda. He survived, but others died in the strike.
Sunday's attack, however, was the first air-to-ground assault outside Afghanistan.
Yemen is bin Laden's birthplace, and it has been a hotbed of radical Islamic activity, experiencing a variety of terrorist attacks for more than a decade.
Last month, an explosion disabled a French oil tanker near Yemen, killing a crew member and spilling 90,000 barrels of oil.
Gunmen on Sunday attacked a helicopter carrying employees of the Hunt Corp., a U.S. oil company. Two people were injured when the helicopter made an emergency landing, and Yemeni authorities later arrested two suspects they said were tied to a terrorist group.
'It's been a good cooperation'
U.S. military advisers and CIA officers were sent to Yemen shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., an effort Rumsfeld said Monday was aimed at "working with the government and helping them think through ways of doing things. It's been a good cooperation, and we've shared some information and we think that over time it ought to be beneficial because there is no question but that there are Al Qaeda in Yemen."
In another sign that the United States regards the area as a potential hub of terrorist activity, the U.S. has deployed an 800-member Marine Corps contingent to Djibouti, a small African nation just across the Red Sea's Gulf of Aden from Yemen.
The Pentagon recently announced that an additional 400 troops from the 2nd Marine Division from Camp Lejeune, N.C., would go to Djibouti to form a new Horn of Africa Task Force; 800 troops are there already. The task force was formed, according to Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because "the Horn of Africa turns out to be a fairly busy place in terms of the flow of people and other instruments of war: weapons, explosives, perhaps weapons of mass destruction."
Military analysts have watched the buildup in Djibouti with increasing interest, noting that it could support both anti-terrorism operations in Africa and a possible U.S. war with Iraq.
Marines on call
"Part of it would be as a quick-reaction force," said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org. "Part of it would be to provide logistical support, and part of it would be to provide a sufficiently large American presence."
Apart from Yemen, Djibouti is situated next to Somalia and Eritrea, countries that have experienced a rise in Islamic militant activities.
Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, said last week that the Marines would be available to countries in the region that needed U.S. assistance.
"We have security relationships or engagement opportunities--however you choose to think about them--in a great many countries in the Horn of Africa: Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen," Franks said. "And so having that force there gives us the ability to increase our exercise work with all those nations."
Copyright 2002 Chicago Tribune
