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Al Qaeda finds in Yemen a society ripe for infiltration
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By Andrew Hammond
DUBAI (Reuters) - When Anwar al-Awlaki appeared in a recent videotape with his trademark glasses and a traditional Yemeni dagger tucked into his tunic, it was perhaps his supreme confidence that was most striking of all.
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By Andrew Hammond
DUBAI |
Wed Dec 1, 2010 10:29am EST
DUBAI (Reuters) - When Anwar al-Awlaki appeared in a recent videotape with his trademark glasses and a traditional Yemeni dagger tucked into his tunic, it was perhaps his supreme confidence that was most striking of all.
An adept communicator, the U.S.-born populist preacher harried religious scholars in his native Yemen and beyond for obedience to treacherous leaders who he said had sold out to U.S. and Israeli interests.
"These rulers, kings, princes and presidents, are not worthy of leading the nation," Awlaki said with the slight trace of a smirk on this face. "They don't even deserve to lead a herd of sheep, never mind over a billion Muslims."
According to the government of veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the troubled Arabian Peninsula state of 23 million has been trying its level best for the past year to apprehend this man deemed a "global terrorist" by Washington.
But Awlaki's cocky performance in the video, posted on Islamist websites just days before the latest attempt by al Qaeda militants in Yemen to strike at the United States, says much about Sanaa's commitment to make war on militancy.
"While al Qaeda does pose a genuine security threat to the Yemeni regime, it appears that some remain wary of completely annihilating the group," said Sarah Phillips, a Yemen specialist at Sydney University.
It was only after two bombs were sent in late October from Yemen on planes bound for the United States that Yemeni authorities issued an order for his capture dead or alive and began a trial in absentia for "membership of an armed gang."
One reason analysts say Saleh's government is reluctant to reign in figures like Awlaki is because acting on Washington's orders plays badly with domestic public opinion.
SELLING OUT?
Authorities have told Yemenis they are in control of operations against suspected al Qaeda militants this year -- though U.S. diplomatic cables published this week by WikiLeaks suggest this was a lie to cover-up U.S. air strikes.
"The people are always accusing the Yemeni government of selling out on sovereignty and independence, which could give people reason to join al Qaeda," said Hassan Abou Taleb, a Yemen analyst at an Egyptian government think-tank.
But the popularity of figures like Awlaki hints at a more fundamental issue: With its inaccessible mountains, valleys and desert, Yemen offers not only an ideal physical environment for al Qaeda -- as with Afghanistan, it provides the perfect ideological environment too.
This month popular Egyptian preacher Amr Khaled began a series of lectures at the invitation of Saleh's General People's Congress party government in a belated effort to fight radical sentiment that critics say it has done much to encourage.
Saleh's military-backed regime has tended to prefer tribal patronage to outright repression to stay in power, but has links with groups from the estimated 20,000 Yemeni jihadis who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1979-89, using them as shock troops in conflicts in both north and south Yemen, experts say.
Even though the resurgence of al-Qaeda in Yemen over the past two years is now taken seriously, the lingering Houthi rebellion by Zaydi Shi'ites in the north and, above all, the threat of secession by the south, have always ranked higher in Sanaa's list of security priorities -- with the government trying to portray both conflicts to its U.S. allies as al Qaeda-linked.
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