Outrage: USS Cole bombing mastermind freed
Is Yemen with us or against us? Actions speak louder:
Yemen has set free one of the al-Qaida masterminds of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, a senior security official said Thursday.
Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison.
He and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. But al-Badawi was granted his freedom after turning himself in 15 days ago and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said police were told by the government to “stop all previous orders concerning measures adopted against al-Badawi.”
Witnesses told The Associated Press that al-Badawi was receiving well-wishers at his home in the al-Buraika district in Aden.
The Cole bombing anniversary was Oct. 12. I’ll repeat what Jane wrote about Yemen at the Jawa Report–a warning that is underscored by today’s news:
Yemen uses and exports Islamic fanatics as a tool of domestic and foreign policy. After the empowerment of Hamas in a democratic election, the idealistic US push for democratization and reform in the Middle East was met by the real-politik fears of radical Islamists gaining political power. In Yemen, radical Islamists already have political power and government jobs, as evidenced by the state’s failure to thwart terrorist financing, media incitement, mosque incitement, material support and moral support for terrorism. With or without official political status, elections or recognition, Yemeni Islamist militants are capable of influencing the regime and deploying state resources. And these political players are more dangerous when they are playing the game underground, while an enormous game of charades takes place in the media.
The days of “with us or against us” are certainly over as the intertwined structure between dictatorships and terrorists becomes clearer. To undermine one is to undermine the other, to support one supports the other. The natural alliance between indigenous reformists and the United States is dysfunctional in the current climate, leaving both more vulnerable. However, there are many in the Yemeni administration and some in the opposition who are quite patriotic and in favor of reform and modernization. Somehow the US must become as good at playing both sides of the fence as the Yemeni regime is.
***
Previous Yemenblogging.
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- Marginalized Action Dinosaur » USS cole bombing mastermind freed
- Daily Pundit » Shouldn’t Take More Than Ten Minutes to Destroy This Regime
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- All American Blogger » Field Guide #60 - October 26, 2007
- Michelle Malkin » Report: USS Cole bombing suspect in custody
- al-Badawi Still Detained? « Dj Konservo
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Here we go again yet another,
You have to be Shi__ng me! moments.
Add to it this story of an ex gitmo yemeni who vows “never to give up Jihad” and wonders why the US ever released him ?
story here
Just another Islam o fascist country thumbing it’s nose at the great satan. Makes your hair hurt to think about it.
“Faux News Alert”
Charles Manson to be freed Friday, officials citing “Crazy Charlie has pledged loyalty to El Presidente Hugo Chavez” film at 11:00
Bush should never have said you’re with us or them if he didn’t mean to follow through on it. Nothing erodes credibility faster than an empty threat.
Hey GW: Talk is Cheap
This guy is wanted by the USA, tell the Yemens that we want him or they will pay big time.
Wimp!!!
Why does this not make me feel safe? In WW2, the German Army pledged loyalty to Hitler. Same stuff-different century.
“pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh”
Great, so the President has his own personal little terrorist group now.
Sometimes, I wish we had an IMF team to get a call/tape to “take him out”. Too bad the show was fiction. We could one.
I think we should sent a guided high explosive well wisher to his home
I wonder what Shrub is going to have to say about this. I personally am outraged.
{^_^}
Whew, I feel better already…….
Where is the nearest Predator drone???
Heard this on the way in to work this morning.
My jaw just about hit my steering wheel.
Un-Be-Lievable….
And you’re supposed to believe a terrorist when he ‘renounces’ – after escaping prison – and blowing up a military vessel?
Glad I wasnt driving when this little tidbit surfaced.
Central Jakarta District Court Wednesday sentenced a Muslim militant to 20 years in prison for masterminding the gruesome murder of three Christian schoolgirls in the Central Sulawesi’s town of Poso in 2005. The two men who killed the three girls and beheaded them were sentenced instead to 14 years in prison. Given the fact that all three Islamists could have received the death sentence the court’s decision is very lenient.
Judges ruled that they deserved some leniency for co-operating with authorities, confessing and showing remorse…yes remorse is saying “Wanted – 100 more heads”.
Moderate Indonesia will let them out in about 3 years.
Just pay for my expenses, that’s all I ask and I will personally exterminate Jamal al-Badawi with extreme prejudice. I’ll even throw in the Yemeni govt for good measure!
Un you-know-what believable! This defies logic.
“You’re either with us, or against us”. Does that still have the same meaning now, as it did 6 years ago?
“Is Yemen with us or against us?”
Duh.
On fox news.
Iranian parade uses swastica sword to cut US flag and star of david
#5 James Felix:
“Bush should never have said you’re with us or them if he didn’t mean to follow through on it. Nothing erodes credibility faster than an empty threat.”
Exactly.
I remember hearing a lot of that kind of talk form our government over the past decades.
Theodore Roosevelt correctly advised exactly the opposite when he said, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”
(?and? carry a big stick?)
Speaking boldly, but carrying cooked spaghetti strands, is not the way to protect interests and inspire fear in enemies.
Without question, bluffs will eventually be called; then, what are you gonna do?
Instead of making empty threats, it is better just to shut up.
Thanks to the lamestream media no that statement has no value today. The left wingers and the media have systematically stripped this country by stripping the value of the Office of the President away. They have shown the world the Office of the President is a paper tiger.
Think about it? If it were 2002 or 2003 and Iran was doing what it is doing, we would have bunker busted their buts by now. We can’t today. Why? Thanks to the lamestream media and the liberal pinkos the Executive Branch has no power to follow through without the cries of impeachment from the left. Or Shrillary’s perception is that Bush and Cheney’s powers are unconstitutional, yeah right!
Count me in. It’s almost deer season here in Virginia, and I need something to sight my rifle in on.
aj, jrl, Can we re-constitute the Malkin-6? Feebie can bring the food, oops.
another UFB moment … Un-F____ing-Believable …
Higlights the only thing you can say positive about Ole Billy Boy … he didn’t bluff … he just shrunk away and hid under the desk with Monica from our enemies … we went from nothing to big talk and a little stick … time to go for the whole enchilada and back up the big talk with a big stick … of course … that would take some big b__lls and I don’t think those are currently to be found anywhere in DC … (I refuse to count Hill’s opinion of herself to refute that statement)
Immediate Black Ops response: terminate him.
Yes, this means that if al-Badawi is involved in any more attacks on the US, it’s an act of war by Yemen. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is now responsible for Jamal al-Badawi’s behaviour.
Bush needs to gag Condi and assign her to diplomacy with Switzerland and Belize. The admin is in disarray with the wrong people whispering in the President’s ear.
How about we start a new version of the IMF … International Malkin Force …
“pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh”
Well, glad that’s all taken care of.
That’ll show ‘em!
I sure feel satisfied and at ease now.
“Read my lips, no new taxes”. Apperantly, it runs in the family.
FUBAR
wth!
The left wants us to fight the War through the courts and the legal system – this is the result.
I could just see 1946; Hitler gets off for “good behavior” :::rolls eyes:::
If we were fair minded, we would have covered up the Cole incident like the Liberty thing.
As soon as Jamal al-Badawi realizes that his car caravan or “safehouse” has been targeted by a Hellfire-armed Predator, it’ll be too to wish he was still in a Yemeni prison. He’ll be seeing virgins before he knows it.
Wasn’t it in Yemen that the CIA used a Predator UAV with a Hellfire missile to whack some mid-level AQ-type a few years ago?
Sounds like time for another, er, “tragic accident.”
Yea!!! Predator fodder! Let’s play “Follow the Leader” first, so we can take care of more the the “misunderstood”, I promise to be good if you let me go, jihadists!
How can anyone believe this leopard has changed his spots?
What the hell?
Sounds like “wet work” for the SEALS is called for.
I agree with the pro-defense posts on this thread—Time to launch a group of Predators with some hell fire missiles tagged from some our nations finest men and women in uniform
Of course; another Sword of Gideon Op is more than approbiate for this wonderful and peaceful follower of islam.
GSP
BTW-Does the Malkin-6 need a medic? My services are available
We are at such a disadvantage. Any of our enemies would not think twice about “self help”. Look at Putin. he has wrongly murdered his critics without so much as a twing of regret. However, we can’t utilize “self help” even in a just cause such as stomping out this Islamofascist who has murdered American sailors.
The religion of peace.
I bet the families of those who died onboard the USS Cole really believe that one.
ROPMA
One of the things people fail to realize is that we are dealing with a largely tribal culture that has not changed since the middle ages. Moreover, it is fueled with hatred by a religious fanatacism that few people can comprehend.
Negotiation is viewed as a sign of weakness, which will be exploited. Empathy or sympathy are by and large foreign concepts that are again, interpreted as signs of weakness. Threats without action are viewed as an indication of your opposition’s inferority. Hesitation and inaction only fuel their convictions and imbue them with a sense of invulnerability.
Unfortunately, one of the few things they do respect is superior force applied by those of equal conviction.
The phrase “know thine enemy” seems to have evaporated in the political backscatter. Unfortunately, these days it is more politically correct to attempt to resolve problems with the carrot, ignoring the stick.
It is time to get serious and begin to deal with these issues in the only manner they can be dealt with. If we are truly at war, we need to fight like it.
That’s the problem, Jim! None of the yellow-bellied knee-knockers can get beyond hating their President. Besides, haven’t several of their “leadership (?) denied that there is a global war
…sorry! Hit the wrong button…hey, I’m left-handed. What can I say? …continuing; a global war happening, against Islamofacism? They always say the US military is not prepared to fight on a third front, but they are! (1) Afganistan; (2) Iraq; (3) George W. Bush; and (4) the American people.
Something that has prompted me to comment…
Being one of the guys who was aboard when the Cole was bombed, this makes me just want to find my passport.
I love how they view “justice” over there. That was the greatest three weeks of my life…lots of sarcasm there. I try to be reasonable (the best word I can find at the moment), but maybe I should just stand with my buddies that want Yemen to be a glass parking lot.
I think the Cole with all her VLS cells filled with Tomahawks and magazine filled with 5-inch HE shells is just what that country needs right now.
pilopino67-
Welcome to MM and you will find alot of vets and their supporters on this board
The Price of a youtube video we would all like to see:
a) USS Cole and a strike group leaving for a “training mission”
b) Mission-2 days lots of “toys” are seen coming up from the magazines and the ordies are busier than Santa’s elves at Christmas time.
c) GPS coordinates that look vaguely like yemen’s infrastructure mysteriously appear in the weapons guidence system.
d) Followed by 12 hours of smoke plumes, explosions, and lots of smoking debris.
and e) Let the steelbeach picnics begin with the mandatory “beer day” immediately afterwards.
Life takes visa, and for everything else that requires a stern butt kicking compliments of the ole US of A there’s the US Military!
Unfortunate that Yemen would fall for a stunt like this. He is lying, obviously.