It seems to me likely that this al Qaeda meeting was allowed to take place because of Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda considers itself the defender of the Sunni Muslim Faith. So, it would be fighting the Hezbollah and Shia fighters in Yemen. So, even though al Qaeda also doesn't like the Saudi Government they don't like Shia people of any kind the most and consider their very existence a blasphemy. So, it is likely Saudi Arabia wanted these folks left alone to kill Shia and Hezbollah fighters in Yemen. (at least for the time being).
It is similar in Syria where Saudi Arabia is more interested in the end of Assad and his government than the end of Al Qaeda in Syria which is why Al Qaeda is doing quite well in both Syria and Yemen. Also, I believe Osama Bin Laden was originally born in Saudi Arabia.
Unsettling video shows large al Qaeda meeting in Yemen
| CNN | - |
In
the middle of the clip, the man known as al Qaeda's crown prince, Nasir
al-Wuhayshi, appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen. Al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, ...
Unsettling video shows large al Qaeda meeting in Yemen
updated 7:35 AM EDT, Wed April 16, 2014
Your video will begin momentarily.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Retired U.S. general: "The question is, what are we going to do about it?"
- U.S. officials won't say whether they knew about the large al Qaeda meeting
- A new video of the meeting shows the group's second in command
- Nasir al-Wuhayshi threatens the United States in the clip
U.S. officials won't comment on that, but every frame of the video is now being analyzed by the United States.
In the middle of the
clip, the man known as al Qaeda's crown prince, Nasir al-Wuhayshi,
appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen.
Al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally
and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has said he wants to
attack the United States. But in the video, he looks unconcerned that
he could be hit by an American drone.
The video started
appearing on jihadist websites recently, drawing the attention of U.S.
officials and global terrorism experts. U.S. officials say they believe
it's authentic.
"This is quite an extraordinary video," Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst, said.
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The video shows
al-Wuhayshi addressing more than 100 fighters somewhere within Yemen,
Cruickshank said, a restive nation on the southwestern portion of the
Arabian Peninsula. The al Qaeda leader, he said, is "taking a big risk
in doing this."
But he doesn't mince words about his mission.
In a speech to the group,
al-Wuhayshi makes it clear that he's going after the United States,
saying "We must eliminate the cross. ... The bearer of the cross is
America!"
U.S. officials believe
the highly produced video is recent. With some fighters faces blurred,
there is worry it signals a new round of plotting.
"The U.S. intelligence
community should be surprised that such a large group of al Qaeda
assembled together, including the leadership, and somehow they didn't
notice," said Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst.
There is good reason to worry.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, also known as AQAP, is considered the most dangerous al Qaeda
affiliate. The CIA and the Pentagon have repeatedly killed AQAP leaders
with drone strikes. But the group is now emboldened.
"The main problem about
this group is that it has a bomb maker who can put bombs on to planes
that can't be detected," Bergen said.
That bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, is believed to be responsible for several attack attempts against the United States, including the failed 2009 Christmas Day underwear bomber attack in Detroit.
Al-Asiri doesn't appear
in the video. He remains in hiding, and intelligence experts say he and
other AQAP leaders have gone back to using couriers to communicate to
avoid detection. That makes it even harder to figure out what
al-Wuhayshi may order next.
But the terror group leader's goal is clear, Cruickshank said.
"His message to the
United States," Cruickshank said, "was very much the same as (former al
Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden's: 'We're coming after you.' "
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers,
chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told "The Situation Room
with Wolf Blitzer" that leaks tied to Yemen have affected U.S.
intelligence collection, but he said he couldn't say whether U.S.
intelligence knew about the meeting.
Asked by Blitzer whether
the United States would have sent a drone if officials had known such a
large meeting of terrorists was taking place out in the open, the
Michigan Republican said it's unclear.
"It really depends," he
said. "There are a lot of procedures that one would go through ... to do
an airstrike on any large package of individuals."
Seeing such a group of al Qaeda operatives assembled isn't a surprise, he said.
"I think they have these
meetings more often than people realize," Rogers said. "It's difficult
to get assets in position. You have to know where they are and where
they meet at the right time in the right place with the right equipment.
That's a lot to do."
The video, Rogers says, is another sign that al Qaeda remains a dangerous threat.
"We think that they're
feeling empowered. The less pressure you put on them, the more they take
that as a victory, the more that they believe that they can get away
with plotting, planning, organizing as you saw there (in the video),
finance, training," he said.
"All of the things that they would need to do to strike a Western target, they're going through that process."
Retired Gen. Mark Kimmitt said smaller al Qaeda affiliates are coalescing into a more organized base.
"Sooner or later, if
they continue to get better, stronger and more organized," he said,
"they will be a direct threat to the United States."
It's unlikely the United States wasn't aware of the meeting shown in the video, Kimmitt told "CNN Tonight."
"The question isn't why didn't we know," he said. "The question is: What are we going to do about it?"
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