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Thursday, March 26, 2015

UPDATED

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen loot secret files about U.S. spy operations

L.A. Times:

Secret intelligence files held by Yemeni security forces and containing details of American intelligence operations in the country have been looted by Iran-backed militia leaders, exposing names of informants and plans for U.S.-backed counter-terrorism operations, U.S. officials say.
U.S. intelligence officials believe additional files were handed directly to Iranian advisors by Yemeni officials who have sided with the Houthi militias that seized control of the capital of Sana last September and later toppled the U.S.-backed president.
For American intelligence networks in Yemen, the damage has been severe. Until recently, U.S. forces deployed in Yemen had worked closely with President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government to track and kill Al Qaeda operatives, and President Obama hailed Yemen six months ago as a model for counter-terrorism operations.
But the identities of local agents were considered compromised after Houthi leaders in Sana took over the offices of Yemen’s National Security Bureau, which had worked closely with the CIA and other intelligence agencies, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations.
Yemeni intelligence officers still loyal to Hadi’s besieged government burned some secret files, one official said. But they couldn’t destroy all of them before the Houthi forces, whose leaders have received some weapons and training from Iran, took control.
The loss of the intelligence networks, in addition to the escalating conflict, contributed to the Obama administration’s decision to halt drone strikes in Yemen for two months, to vacate the U.S. Embassy in Sana last month and to evacuate U.S. special operations and intelligence teams from a Yemeni air base over the weekend.
The Houthis claimed Wednesday that they had captured that base, Anad, as new fighting broke out in and around the strategic seaport of Aden, the country’s financial hub, where Hadi had taken refuge. Over the weekend, the Houthis seized the central city of Taiz.
A Houthi-controlled TV channel announced a $20-million bounty for Hadi’s capture and his Aden compound was hit by airstrikes.
Foreign Minister Riadh Yassin said Hadi was overseeing the city’s defense from an undisclosed safe location. The Associated Press reported that he had fled the country on a boat.
Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said U.S. diplomats “were in touch” with Hadi early Wednesday and that he had  “voluntarily” left his residence. She said she could not confirm if he was still in the country, calling conditions there “incredibly volatile.”
As the turmoil deepened, Yemen appeared to be descending into a civil war that could
ignite a wider regional struggle. Saudi Arabia reportedly moved troops, armored vehicles and artillery to its border with Yemen, which sits alongside key shipping routes.
The conflict has taken on an increasingly sectarian nature. Last week nearly 140 people were killed in suicide bombing at two Shiite mosques in Sana.
After pitched battles north of Aden, the Houthis and their allies, backed by tanks and artillery, advanced Wednesday to within a few miles of Aden, officials and witnesses said. Much of the rebels’ heavy weaponry was provided by Yemeni military units that remained loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was toppled in 2012 and is a bitter opponent of Hadi.
The struggle for Aden comes in advance of an Arab League summit. Yemen is poised to seek a military intervention by fellow Sunni Muslim states, and the Houthis appeared to be trying to gain as much ground as possible before the gathering.


But U.S. officials also worried Wednesday about the loss of the Yemeni intelligence files, including the names and locations of agents and informants with information on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered the terrorist network’s most dangerous and resourceful branch.
There was no indication that the Houthis had gained direct control of U.S. intelligence files, so the loss doesn’t compare to more infamous cases, like the takeover by militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 or the U.S. retreat from Saigon in 1975.
But AQAP, as the group is known, has repeatedly sought to attack American interests and facilities. It designed a bomb that a Nigerian man sought to explode on a Detroit-bound flight in 2009, and hid explosives aboard four cargo planes headed to the U.S. in 2010. Both times, the bombs were discovered before they exploded.
The U.S. still plans to fly armed drones over Yemen from bases in Saudi Arabia and Djibouti, but officials acknowledged that their ability to identify and locate terrorist suspects has been severely hampered by the loss of the intelligence files, and the collapse of Yemen’s security services.
Under Hadi, U.S.-trained Yemeni forces launched regular raids to capture or kill Al Qaeda militants. CIA and military drone strikes targeted senior officials, most famously killing Anwar Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric and militant leader who was linked to several major plots, in 2011.
Experts warn that AQAP could use the growing chaos to reassert itself, and to link up with anxious Sunni Muslims to fend off the minority Houthis, who are Shiites, and were previously concentrated only in the country’s north.
“From a counter-terrorism perspective, AQAP has less pressure on them,” said a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive assessments. For now, he said, the Houthis appear more intent on destroying Hadi than going after their rivals in AQAP.
U.S. attempts to track Al Qaeda operatives are “not impossible. It is just a lot more difficult,” he said.
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, appeared to agree at a news briefing Wednesday. “The ability of the U.S. to put pressure on these extremists is not helped by the fact that US personnel had to leave,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that we’d like to see a functioning central government in Yemen. We don’t see that right now,” Earnest added. He said Washington is still able to work the “security infrastructure that remains.”
“We have the capability to take out extremists if they pose a threat to the United States,” he said.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview that the Houthis may have captured a “significant portion” of the $500 million in military equipment that the U.S. has given Hadi’s government since 2010.
The equipment approved included Huey II helicopters, Humvees, M-4 rifles, night-vision goggles, body armor, and hand-launched Raven drones.


The abrupt changes in Yemen has prompted criticism that the White House failed to adequately prepare for the collapse of a fragile ally, and that it relied too heavily on poorly trained local security forces.
“It was a train wreck that anyone who knows anything about Yemen could see happening. It seems we put our head in the sand, and the train wreck has happened and now we are saying, ‘How did this happen?’” Ali Soufan, a former senior FBI agent who worked on terrorism cases and now heads the Soufan Group, a security firm in New York.
“We pulled out from any meaningful control of the situation in the country and now I think it is too late, because every decision is a bad decision,” he said.

MEANWHILE...

Saudi ambassador announces military campaign in Yemen

AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Saudi ambassador to the United States says his country has begun airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who drove out the U.S.-backed Yemeni president.
Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir says the operations began at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
He says the Houthis, widely believed to be backed by Iran, "have always chosen the path of violence." He declined to say whether the Saudi campaign involved U.S. intelligence assistance.
Al-Jubeir made the announcement at a rare news conference by the Sunni kingdom.
He says the Saudis "will do anything necessary" to protect the people of Yemen and "the legitimate government of Yemen."
The departure of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi illustrated how one of the most important American counterterrorism efforts has disintegrated.

PASTORIUS CUTTING IN:


8 comments:

  1. Sunni air force bombing Shia ground positions ..... Everything is going as planned.

    Now, do they have the balls to sink the Iranian resupply ships?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Obama's actions are having the effect of starting a Shark-like feeding frenzy between

    Houthis
    Hizbollah
    Iran
    Al Qaeda
    ISIS
    Boko Haram
    Saudi Arabia
    Jordan

    and several others.

    What do you think of that, RT?

    Got any thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have only ONE THING TO SAY, and it dates me: It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd like to think this is all the result of a concerted divide & conquer strategy designed to thin the herd out.

    Us bombing ISIS in Tikrit kinda puts that in doubt .... but we didn't start bombing ISIS until they beheaded Americans on film.

    Regardless, what we have here is region wide sectarian war pitting Muslims against Muslims .... whats not to like?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, I like it too.

    I don't like the hands off approach to Russia.

    I don't like the intentional fucking with Israel.

    But I like the sectarian clusterfuck between Scuzliims.

    That's awesome.

    I can't figure out whether this is what he wants or what.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think high-level policy makers determined long ago that our rules of engagement were insufficient to address this problem.

    Could we have possibly killed as many Muslims as other Muslims have in the last 7 or 8 years?

    Can we blow up Mosques?

    They can.

    Can we determine who the smiling bad guy in the crowd is that attacked us last week? They can kill the entire crowd just to make sure.

    You dont see the sectarian players court-martialing their own fighters every time they get a little over zealous. Nobody goes to jail for throwing POWs off roofs.

    Aside from Nuking cities, the Muslim problem requires a Muslim solution.

    Up to now its been a proxy war between sectarian states. Now we're starting to see direct state involvement. ...... bigger booms.

    Bigger booms are good.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If this is the case, and I'm beginning to suspect it is, THEN we have to consider the possibility that Obama is doing exactly the right thing.

    HOWEVER, from all appearances what he is doing to Israel is absolutely wrong.

    And his handling of NATO and Russia is completely backasswards.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oliver North was on the Dennis Prager show talking about a meeting of Muslims heads of state, including the King of Saudi Arabia and Erdogan with the head of Pakistan. the subject was Pakistan handing over portions of their nukes to all the Sunni nations, so they can "protect" themselves against Iran.

    I have not been able to find a source on this yet.

    ReplyDelete