Al-Qaeda in Yemen Sends Halloween Trick

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Nov. 3, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

         Proving beyond any doubt that the train has left the station in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen sent two PETN-packed mail bombs destined for U.S. airliners.  Unable to board U.S.-bound planes, al-Qadea has looked for more clever ways to attack the U.S. or its allies.  Intercepted in Dubai and London, German authorities know quite a bit about PETN, known chemically as pentaerythritol tetranitrate, since they invented it in 1891 as a military explosive.  Packed into empty laser printer cartridges, PETN is the active ingredient in plastique explosives.  Reminding the White House that Yemen represents the next front in the war on terror, it calls the Afghan mission into question.  U.S. officials believe the PETN-packed printer cartridges were destined for Jewish synagogues in Chicago where they could have been detonated by a cell phone.

            Mail bombs are nothing knew to terrorists, sent by Palestinians since the 1970s and used by the former Berkeley math professor, notorious Unibomber Ted Kaczynski.  While Kaczynski was satisfied with maiming or killing one person at a time, al-Qaeda’s foiled plot could have caused far more death and destruction.  Yemeni officials confirmed that the tip came from an al-Qaeda operative in Saudi custody, helping to get the specific UPS tracking numbers to intercept the packages.  An unnamed German official indicated that the packages contained 300 grams [10.58 ounces] and 400 grams [15.11 ounces], respectively, of PETN, over three-to-four times the amount found Christmas Day 2009 on a Detroit-bound airliner.  “Depending on where it is placed on the plane, and if it  breached the exterior wall, it could bring the plane down,” said Leo West, a former FBI explosives’ expert.

            President Barack Obama faces some daunting choices after the dust settles from the Nov. 2 midterm elections.  Among the more pressing issues is whether or not the White House should urgently accelerate exit strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan to allow more mobile counter-terrorism forces to go after al-Qaeda’s shifting targets now in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.  Bogging down U.S. forces for protracted fights in Iraq and Afghanistan does little to preempt the next terrorist attacks.  “It would be a sizable explosion.  In a plane, it doesn’t really take a whole lot at high altitude,” said West, who worked on Al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.  Saudi authorities tipped off U.S. officials with the tracking numbers to follow the path of the package originating in Yemen, destined for Jewish synagogues in the United States.

            Since being dumped in 1989 by the CIA at the end of the Soviet’s Afghan War, Osama bin Laden has spent nearly 20 years retaliating.  From the botched first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in the Gulf of Aden killing 17 U.S. sailors and the big daddy of the all Sept. 11, Bin Laden hasn’t let up.  Since escaping during the battle of Tora Bora into Pakistan in Dec. 2001, the slippery Saudi-born terrorist continues to elude the U.S. and plot more terror attacks.  While President Obama tries to gain traction in Afghanistan’s quicksand, Bin Laden out-foxes U.S. authorities setting up shop in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, etc.  White House and Pentagon officials still haven’t shifted gears, directing U.S. assets to the shifting battlefront.  Halloween’s near miss forces the U.S to  change directions.

            Saudi militant Jabir al-Fayfi, an al-Qaeda militant in Yemen, informed officials about the impending bomb scare.  Al-Fayfi’s involvement in al-Qaeda’s Yemen reminds U.S. terrorism officials that there’s much work to be done.  Saudi tips led to the discovery of the PETN-packed printer cartridges, a deadly mail bomb that could have taken down hundreds of innocent airline passengers.  Places like Yemen and Somalia get a free ride to torment the Somalia coast and Gulf of Aden with unchecked pirate acts.  It’s no longer yo-ho-ho-and-a-bottle-of-rum but PETN-packed printer cartridges raising the specter of more terrorist attacks.  Handing over tracking numbers to the U.S, the Saudi government saved countless numbers of U.S. lives.  U.S. and Saudi officials based out the U.A.E. are currently tracing cell phone numbers to pinpoint the whereabouts of the Yemen al-Qaeda cell responsible for near miss.

            Halloween’s PETN-packed printer cartridges remind U.S. authorities that the war on terror goes on, just not at convenient locations.  When the election brouhaha settles down, Obma must urgently go back to the drawing board and find exit strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan.  Preempting the next terror attack requires the U.S. be several steps ahead of the next incident.  While cargo ships have been suspended from Yemen, U.S. authorities must track 28-year-old al-Qaeda bomber Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, the same terrorist suspected of the PETN-bomb headed last Christmas Day for Detroit.  Today’s terrorism is an hour late and dollar short of tracking down current terrorist threats, no longer imbedded in Iraq and Afghanistan.  New locations in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan demand the Pentagon track down terrorist wherever they’re found.   Continuing to pour endless resources into Iraq and Afghanistan only guarantees that the next attack is on its way.

.About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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