Yemen Arrests Mastermind of Attacks on USS Cole

from FoxNews
SAN'A, Yemen — One of the top Al Qaeda members in Yemen was captured by security forces Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said, calling him a suspected mastermind of the homicide bombings of the USS Cole (search) and a French oil tanker off the country's coast.

Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal (search) was arrested after Yemeni forces surrounded his hide-out west of the capital, San'a, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried on the official SABA news agency.

Al-Ahdal, also known as Abu Assem al-Makky, is one of the two main leaders of Usama bin Laden's (search) Al Qaeda network in Yemen, according to security reports published in the Yemeni press.

Al-Ahdal was found after several months of extensive efforts by security forces, the Interior Ministry statement said. Witnesses said security forces fired in the air to force al-Ahdal to surrender. The official statement did not mention any shooting.

A U.S. counterterrorism official in Washington confirmed al-Ahdal's capture. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been among the top 20 Al Qaeda figures at large.

Al-Ahdal played a role in the terror group's finances, weapons smuggling and operational planning and was well-connected to other extremists in Persian Gulf countries, the official said.

In neighboring Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, security forces foiled a planned terror attack in the capital Tuesday, killing two militants and seizing a car bomb ready to detonate on the first day of festivities marking the end of Ramadan, the Saudi government said.

Yemeni security officials believe the Saudi-born al-Ahdal, 32, was one of the masterminds of the 2000 bombing of the Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors, and the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg.

In each of those attacks, an explosive-laden boat was piloted up to the larger ship and detonated. The Limburg attack killed a Bulgarian crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.

Al-Ahdal, who is on the U.S. list of wanted terrorists in Yemen, also was accused of planning an abortive attack last year on a five-star hotel where some FBI investigators were staying.

Al-Ahdal has been described as the main coordinator of Al Qaeda activities in Yemen, ranking second to Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, bin Laden's top lieutenant in Yemen who was killed last November in a missile attack from a CIA-operated Predator drone.

Al-Harethi, who was in his mid-40s, was believed to have coordinated the attack on the Cole. He first met bin Laden in the 1980s during the war against Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, and the two met again in Sudan, where bin Laden went in the 1990s.

Oh yeah, i forgot to add...

BURN IN HELL MO FO!!!

Hopefully the Yemenis will turn him over to us so he can be kept in a very small metal box at Bagram Air Base and alternately pumped full of sodium pentothal and horsewhipped.

Hope the Yemeni Police told him Eid Mubarak, as they dragged him to a vehicle and tossed him in.

I would sort of prefer they keep him in Yemen where the U.S. Constitution, which he fought so hard to destroy, doesn't afford him any bitterly ironic protection against cruel and unusual punishment, which I hope instead is applied liberally and to the breaking point BEFORE he is extradited to the United States and locked in a very bright hole with blank walls and where the glaring lights never go off until he rots away over many decades.

Personally, I think it is a much better expenditure of tax dollars to hide him in such a hole somewhere for 30 years (or however long it takes him to finally expire) than to just kill him in a rather peaceful and sterile fashion with drugs designed to make the process as painless as possible.

This is one of those instances where we should revert to the old style punishments that were administered at sea. We could lash this fucker, dunk him over the side a few times, repeat, tie him to a mast for several days with no water or food. Keel haul his mangy ass. Then wrap him in bacon and hang him by hoisting him from a yard arm and let him dangle till he fucking dies.

I'm sure there will be another "jailbreak" and he'll disappear. They should march him right to the nearest beach, I'm sure we can arrainge a few "nice" Sailors to fly a helo in to pick him up.

Two other members of the Cole bombing crew were in our custody last spring, we were keeping them in Yemen, both as a sop to the Yemenies and to avoid them lawyering up.

Thugs broke them out of prison about two months later. I don't think we recaptured them.

We cant bring them to the US or even GitMo but we do need to get them out of Yemen. Perhaps just taking them to one of our bases in Iraq?

Send this fuck to Cuba with the rest of the assholes. I really hope that these mopes will be secretly taken out back and killed with out anyone knowing. What the hell else can we do with them, keep them locked forever? I say lets get them to meet Alla a little sooner!