Yemen dismisses Al Qaeda threat as 'exaggerated'

But the U.S. and Britain, citing evidence of a viable threat, close their embassies in the Yemeni capital.

by Borzou Daragahi

January 4, 2010

Reporting from Beirut

Yemeni officials on Sunday dismissed the threat posed by Al Qaeda in their country as "exaggerated" and downplayed the possibility of cooperating closely with the United States in fighting Islamic militants, even as the U.S. and Britain temporarily closed their diplomatic outposts in Yemen because of unspecified Al Qaeda threats.

The statements by Yemen's foreign minister, chief of national security and Interior Ministry came a day after the region's top American military commander vowed to step up U.S. military support for the beleaguered Arabian Peninsula nation.

Analysts said the Yemeni statements reflected domestic political concerns about President Ali Abdullah Saleh appearing weak and beholden to the West as he faces numerous political challenges.

The group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the failed attempt at bombing a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. The alleged attacker's claim that he was tutored in Yemen set off alarm bells in Western capitals about the relatively lawless nation of 23 million, which is also facing an insurgency in the north and a separatist movement in the south.

U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus visited Yemen on Saturday and vowed to give Saleh increased aid to fight Al Qaeda. His promise was echoed by President Obama, who said the United States would step up intelligence-sharing and training of Yemeni forces and perhaps carry out joint attacks against militants in the region.

But Yemeni officials Sunday appeared to rebuff any close cooperation with the West. Foreign Minister Abubakr Qirbi told a government-run newspaper that his country welcomed intelligence-sharing but had made no commitment to conducting anti-terrorism operations in conjunction with the West.

"Yemen has its own short-term and long-term schemes to tackle terrorists anywhere in the republic that only call for intelligence and information coordination with other countries," he told the daily newspaper Politics, the official Saba news agency reported .

A statement posted to the U.S. Embassy website cited "ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen." The British Foreign Office confirmed that its embassy had been closed for security reasons and said discussions would be held today on when to reopen the facility.

Both diplomatic missions in Sana, the Yemeni capital, normally are open Saturday through Wednesday.

The U.S. Embassy has been the site of attacks in the past. At least 16 people died there in a Sept. 17, 2008, car bomb attack that was claimed by Al Qaeda. Three mortar rounds missed the embassy and crashed into a nearby high school for girls in March 2008, killing a security guard. Police and alleged Al Qaeda militants exchanged small-arms fire near the embassy a year ago.

On Sunday, Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor said the U.S. had evidence of a viable threat against the embassy, which led to the decision to close it.

"There are indications that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is targeting our embassy and targeting our personnel," John Brennan said on "Fox News Sunday," adding: "We're not going to take any chances with the lives of our diplomats and others who are at that embassy."

Asked whether Americans in the country are safe, Brennan said, "I think until the Yemeni government gets on top of the situation with Al Qaeda, there is a risk of attacks. A number of tourists have been, in fact, kidnapped. A number of tourists have been killed."

But Yemen's Interior Ministry posted a message to its website Sunday boasting that Al Qaeda militants were "under surveillance around the clock."

And Saleh's national security chief, Ali Anisi, said Sunday that Al Qaeda's presence in Yemen was "exaggerated" and touted the success of his nation's forces in stemming terrorism, according to an account of his comments reported by Saba news agency.

He reportedly insisted that Yemen was not a haven for Al Qaeda and pointed to "preemptive operations against militants which thwarted planned attacks on vital domestic and foreign interests in the country."

According to Saba, he said that only 40% of the five dozen attempted terrorist attacks in the country since 1992 had succeeded.

Analysts say the increased focus on Yemen's security situation creates a dilemma for Saleh, who is worried about appearing to cede sovereignty to the Americans when he is being politically assailed from all segments of the population.

"It's about control," said Abdullah Faqih, a professor of political science at Sana University. "The international actors need to assure the Yemeni government about its control. They don't want to give concessions" to their rivals in the north or south.

A member of a smaller Shiite Muslim sect, Saleh has been accused for years of gaining political allies by turning a blind eye to the growing influence of Sunni extremists who have begun enforcing Islamic dress codes and setting up religious schools.

Qirbi, the foreign minister, emphasized in the interview published Sunday his nation's "continuing rehabilitation of and advising misled terrorists," a reference to its controversial program of re-educating and releasing convicted Islamic militants, some once held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay. About 90 Yemeni detainees are still being held at Guantanamo.

Faqih suggested that the United States and Britain announced the temporary closures of their embassies as a way of turning up the heat on Saleh, whose government depends on international assistance to combat a number of issues, including piracy off its Gulf of Aden coast and a drought along its mountain ridges.

"This could also be a kind of pressure," he said. "If the World Bank decides to close its office, the country might collapse."

Saleh has presided for decades over the Arab world's poorest nation, a generally lawless and mountainous land that faces vast unemployment, high birthrates and a plummeting water supply. Rampant corruption and festering tribal disputes exacerbate the problems.

U.S. officials have limited direct aid to Yemen in the past for fear it would disappear into a government widely considered corrupt and unaccountable. But Washington increased the total anti-terrorism assistance from $4.6 million in 2006 to $67 million in 2009, according to the Pentagon.

Following a Dec. 24 airstrike against suspected Al Qaeda militants in Yemen, which killed 30 and was suspected by many of having been directed by Americans, some Yemenis fear U.S. involvement could further destabilize their country.

"We're afraid that you will repeat the same mistake as in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Mohamed Abdul-Malik Mutawakil, a political scientist at Sana University. "The real challenge is to correct the situation. If you come to Yemen and you push for reform, justice, political change, a better economy, then you will pull the rug out from under Al Qaeda."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-yemen-embassy4-2010jan04,0,7234427,print.story

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Man bypasses security screening at Newark airport

Frustrated passengers are forced to go through the process a second time.

The Associated Press

January 3, 2010

NEWARK, N.J.

Authorities were searching for a man who walked through a screening checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport, and flights were grounded and passengers being rescreened, an air safety official said.

A man was seen walking down an exit lane at Terminal C about 5:30 p.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis, and screening was halted in the Continental terminal while authorities looked at surveillance tapes to identify the man.

Passengers were then evacuated from the secure side of the terminal and moved to the open side to go through screening again to ensure that every passenger boarding a plane tonight out of the terminal was fully screened, Davis said in a statement. The security line was emptied, and passengers were waiting in check-in areas. Security officers were instructing passengers, who were expressing frustration.

Alison Day, 47, of York, England, was supposed to leave for Manchester, England, at 7:30 Sunday night. She was traveling with a party of seven including an 18-month-old and 5-year-old.

"I'm not angry that this is happening, but I'm angry that there was a lack of organization," she said.

She said her party, headed home after a Caribbean cruise, was escorted out of Continental's lounge but given no further instructions.

Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston said it's an airport security issue not involving the Houston-based airline.

A spokesman said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is assisting with the possible security breach, and Davis had no update late Sunday night on the man who walked through the exit.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fgw-newark-airport4-2010jan04,0,4547463,print.story

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U.S. counter-terrorism official cites human error in airliner safety lapse

John Brennan denies that infighting in the intelligence community is at fault and says there is no 'smoking gun' that would have pointed to the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

by Jim Tankersley

January 4, 2010

Reporting from Washington

President Obama's leading counter-terrorism advisor said Sunday that human error, not turf battles among federal intelligence officials, allowed an Al Qaeda-trained operative to carry out an attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound passenger plane on Christmas Day.

Deputy national security advisor John Brennan, in appearances on several morning television news programs, also said there was "no smoking gun" of intelligence gathered by American officials that would have directly suggested that the Flight 253 attack, allegedly carried out by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was imminent.

"There was no piece of intelligence that said, 'This guy's a terrorist. He's going to get on a plane,' " Brennan said. Later, he added: "It was the failure to integrate and piece together those bits and pieces of information."

Brennan is leading the Obama-ordered review of intelligence-gathering and watch-listing efforts, which failed to block Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, from boarding the plane despite several red flags known to U.S. officials -- including a personal warning from Abdulmutallab's father that the young man was displaying extremist tendencies.

Brennan said the review had so far yielded no evidence that various agencies withheld that intelligence from one another, as was the case with rival agencies in the lead-up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"There is no indication whatsoever that any agency or department was not trying to share information" on Abdulmutallab, Brennan said. There were "some lapses. There was some human error."

Brennan defended the sophistication of the government's anti-terrorism system after one interviewer questioned whether it could stack up to Facebook, the popular Internet social networking site.

More broadly, he defended the Obama administration's anti-terrorism efforts, including its decision to charge Abdulmutallab in criminal court and its plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. He said Obama still would consider returning ex-Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen. About 90 Yemenis are still held at the facility, he said.

Brennan spoke on "Fox News Sunday," CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press."

In several instances, he was followed by congressional Republicans who criticized his comments and the administration's national security policies.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Christopher Bond of Missouri, said on Fox that he was "very disturbed" that Obama would consider releasing Guantanamo detainees to any other country, in light of reports that several Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen were former Guantanamo prisoners released during the Bush administration.

"If we don't stop the practice of releasing Gitmo detainees to Yemen or to other countries . . . we're asking for even more trouble," Bond said.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Brennan "seems to have a hard time saying [the bombing attempt] was an act of terror."

"This threat is real," DeMint said on CNN, "and we need to make some very real changes."

Other Republicans were more measured. On CNN, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, praised Obama's reaction to the Flight 253 attack. But he said it was clear that until Christmas, the administration was "distracted" by healthcare, the economy, global warming and other issues and not "focused as it should be on terrorism."

In his interviews, Brennan rebutted one Republican charge repeatedly: former Vice President Dick Cheney's accusation last week that Obama was "trying to pretend" that the United States was not at war with terrorists.

Cheney was either "willfully mischaracterizing" Obama's position, Brennan said, or "ignorant of the facts."

The administration, he said, is "determined to destroy Al Qaeda, whether it's in Pakistan, Afghanistan or in Yemen. We will get there."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-brennan-terror4-2010jan04,0,1607532,print.story

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In Israel, a highway that divides

Highway 443 cuts through Palestinian territory but has been closed to Palestinians since 2002, after several Israeli drivers were fatally attacked. Now it's reopening, and so are some national wounds.

by Edmund Sanders

January 4, 2010

Reporting from Highway 443, West Bank

Cruising down this disputed four-lane highway, with all its twists and turns, is like taking a road trip through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You pass the walls and barriers that keep Palestinians from accessing Highway 443 as it slices through their land. Then there are the hazardous corridors where Israeli drivers have been shot and killed.

On one side is an Israeli settlement mushrooming on a hill. Turn the other way for a glimpse of an Israeli detention center for Palestinian prisoners. Dotting the way are posters protesting an Israeli court decision last week to reopen the road to Palestinians by May.

The images blur past, like a surreal amusement park ride, revealing -- in less than 15 miles of asphalt -- many of the core issues, competing needs and deep-seated fears of Israelis and Palestinians.

For many, the journey down Highway 443 begins near Israel's imposing Kalandia checkpoint, located at what Israel considers the northern tip of Jerusalem but what Palestinians and the international community say is part of the West Bank.

The access road to Highway 443 hugs Israel's 20-foot-high barrier and then diverts into a corridor lined on both sides with walls of concrete and brick.

The walls are painted in parts with murals of archways that open onto imaginary blue skies and green pastures. Israel says the corridors protect drivers from snipers. Palestinians say the decorated walls hide their villages so drivers don't have to look at them.

The route itself may date to ancient times, but it was substantially enlarged in the 1980s. Palestinians whose land was seized to build the road complained to the Supreme Court, but judges at the time ruled that the confiscation of the occupied land was legal because the highway would chiefly benefit Palestinians living in the hilltop villages along the way.

For years, it did. Thousands of Palestinians used Highway 443 daily to access Ramallah and other West Bank towns.

Today, they can only look down at the well-kept road. Even walking along the shoulder is prohibited. Instead, Highway 443 is used chiefly by Israeli settlers and commuters looking for a shortcut from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv through the West Bank.

In the first mile of Highway 443, there were several fatal attacks against Israelis between 2000 and 2002. At least five people were killed in total.

Driving instructor Eli Cohen, a 30-year-old father, was killed in 2000 after his car was sprayed with bullets. Though shot multiple times, he survived long enough to drive to the nearest settlement before he lost consciousness and crashed.

There have been no fatal sniper attacks since the highway was closed to Palestinians in 2002, but risks are ever-present. Almost daily, youths throw stones at passing cars.

Last week, Israeli police say, they found a hidden explosive device by the side of the road.

Memories of the Jewish blood spilled on this highway have led some Israelis, including family members of those killed, to come out strongly against reopening the road to Palestinians.

Saying last week's ruling turns a drive down Highway 443 into a game of Russian roulette, some conservative lawmakers are moving to annex the highway to Israel.

Days after the ruling, posters began appearing along the road, taking aim at Israel's Supreme Court chief, Dorit Beinisch. "Dear Driver, Beware," the signs read. "Beinisch is endangering your life on Route 443."

As you pass the posters and Israeli settlements, you begin to notice something strange about Highway 443: Most of the exit ramps are blocked off.

Though there are still roadside signs in Arabic, directing travelers to exit for Palestinian villages, the off-ramps end abruptly in concrete blocks, metal gates, chain fences or piles of trash.

Palestinians must use separate roads that wind through the adjacent mountains and duck under the freeway.

Though many of the back roads were recently paved, Palestinians say trips to reach their farms and other West Bank cities take two or three times as long.

The only places for drivers to get on or off are at Israeli settlements or military bases.

Highway 443's journey through Palestinian-dominated territory comes to an end in the Israeli city of Modiin, with its shopping centers and apartment complexes, just over the so-called Green Line that marks Israel's border before the 1967 Middle East War.

The Supreme Court's decision, which held that Israeli security concerns on the road no longer support a blanket ban on Palestinians, may be aimed at building a bridge between these two worlds. So far, it has only exposed raw emotions.

For Israelis, the reopening of Highway 443 to Palestinians raises fears of renewed terrorist attacks and drive-by shootings in a society still traumatized by the threat of suicide bombers and missiles.

To Palestinians, Highway 443 is a paved manifestation of what they call Israel's system of "apartheid" that forces them to drive on different roads, live in separate towns and stay hidden behind giant walls.

Gideon Levy, a liberal columnist for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, wrote last week that the debate over Highway 443 has sparked a national soul-searching over how Israel will balance security with democracy.

Recounting his personal dilemma as a driver of whether to boycott Highway 443 or suffer through traffic jams on another road, Levy admitted that he sometimes opts for a faster, guilt-ridden ride on Highway 443.

"I have driven," he wrote, "and cried."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-israel-highway4-2010jan04,0,2800966,print.story

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Release weighed for convict in 1983 Seattle massacre

Tony Ng could be freed as early as 2014 if a state board agrees. The Chinatown massacre left 13 dead.

Mcclatchy Newspapers

January 4, 2010

Seattle

Lin Yee Wong listened as the interpreter read a letter, handwritten in Chinese, that detailed memories of her husband, who was slain more than 26 years ago in the worst mass killing in Seattle's history.

Gim Lun Wong was among 13 people hogtied, robbed and fatally shot by three men at the Wah Mee social club in the Chinatown district on Feb. 19, 1983. A 14th victim survived.

In the years since, Lin Yee Wong said, she has been able to conceal her grief -- until now, with prison time possibly nearing an end for one of those convicted in her husband's killing.

"I want to cry, but I'm all out of tears," the interpreter read from the widow's letter. "Sadness that has been hidden in me has all of a sudden come up."

The state's parole board is weighing whether to let Wai-Chiu "Tony" Ng begin serving the final stage of his prison sentence, which would mean he could be released as early as 2014.

But the board also has the leeway to require Ng to spend up to life in prison.

Inside a meeting room at the Beacon Hill Library, Lin Yee Wong, other relatives of the victims and community members recently were offered a chance to tell board members how they felt about Ng possibly moving closer to freedom.

He was convicted of 13 counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison apiece for most of the robbery counts.

Ng was ordered to serve time for some of the counts concurrently and some consecutively.

Co-defendants Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak and Benjamin Ng (no relation to Tony Ng) were convicted of multiple counts of murder and are serving life sentences without possibility of parole.

Doris Wong-Estridge, whose father's third cousin was killed in the massacre, said Ng should spend the rest of his life in prison.

"What could be more heinous than the slaughter of 13 people?" she asked the board members. "Tony made his choice."

Wong-Estridge said "the only kindness" that Ng and the others showed her relative was killing him first, sparing him from witnessing his friends being murdered.

A state Department of Corrections spokesman said that since his conviction, Ng has been in trouble with prison staff only once, for possession of a weapon in 1995. He is expected to speak to board members Jan. 13 at the McNeil Island Corrections Center, where he is imprisoned.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-chinatown-killing4-2010jan04,0,5834013,print.story

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Al Qaeda Threat Escalates

As Yemen Turns Up Heat on Terror Group, U.S. and U.K. Shut Embassies on Attack Fears

Soldiers inspect cars on a road in Sana, Yemen, on Sunday. The U.S. and U.K. closed their embassies there over security concerns about possible terror attacks after the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound jet on Christmas.

The Yemeni government ordered an "unprecedented" number of troops into a region controlled by a branch of al Qaeda, as the U.S. and Britain, concerned about the threat of terrorism, both closed their embassies in the capital of Sana.

The Obama administration increased the pressure on Islamic militants in Yemen Sunday after the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for plotting the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day. The White House's top counterterrorism official didn't rule out U.S. military action.

Yemen deployed troops into provinces east of the capital to combat a growing al Qaeda presence in the area, an aide to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told The Wall Street Journal Sunday. The move, targeting the group identified as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, follows pledges of increased U.S. and British aid to finance Yemen's effort to fight Islamic militants.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said officials decided to close the embassy following recent and rare on-camera threats against U.S. targets by two unmasked al Qaeda representatives in Yemen. The threatening remarks, saying AQAP's fight was with the U.S. and not the Yemeni government, came in the wake of two recent Yemeni government strikes against the group. "Our security folks here determined the threat was considerable enough to close the embassy," the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it would require more thorough screening of all passengers traveling to the U.S. from or through 14 countries listed by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism or "countries of interest." Those latter countries include Yemen, Nigeria and Pakistan. (Please see related article on page A6.)

Questions Emerge Over Suspect's Path

Authorities tracing the whereabouts of Abdulmutallab are working to determine where the would-be bomber's extremism was ignited.

Asked whether Americans should expect military action in Yemen, Mr. Brennan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "the American people should expect that its government is going to do everything, in fact, to hold those individuals accountable whether they're in Yemen, whether they're in other places."

"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula poses a serious threat. They have attacked our embassy before, they've carried out attacks in Saudi Arabia against Saudi targets, and now it's very clear that they're trying to bring those attacks to the homeland. We're not going to let them do that. We're going to take strong action against them," Mr. Brennan said on NBC.

While the size of AQAP isn't known, Mr. Brennan on Sunday estimated it at several hundred in Yemen. Western intelligence officials believe that growing numbers of Islamic extremists are relocating to Yemen to join AQAP, in part because al Qaeda and other related militant groups are under increasing pressure in places like Pakistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

It's not clear how U.S. forces would be involved in any new military action against al Qaeda in Yemen. U.S. special operations units are currently there training units of elite soldiers to combat al Qaeda. The U.S. has said it provided intelligence for at least one of two recent airstrikes by Yemeni forces against al Qaeda, which left dozens dead.

Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the region, met with Yemeni President Saleh in Yemen Saturday in a meeting that an administration official described as "productive." U.S. officials said they are intensifying counterterrorism work with Britain. A Downing Street spokeswoman said Sunday that the U.S. and Britain are working "hand in glove" in Yemen.

The U.S. plans to more than double its counterterrorism support to Yemen next year, from $67 million this year to as much as $190 million in 2010. Publicly disclosed Pentagon counterterrorism funding for Yemen grew from $4.6 million in fiscal 2006 to $67 million in fiscal 2009. Funding for classified intelligence work in the country is not included in that figure.

Yemen Embassies Close

During a heightened alert of al Qaeda threats, both the U.S. and Britain close their embassies in Yemen. Video courtesy of Fox News.

Any increase in aid to Yemen comes with the considerable risk that Mr. Saleh will use the money to fund an ongoing civil war in the destitute country, rather than the counterterrorism thrust for which it is intended.

Gen. Petraeus's meeting coincided with the deployment eastward of a convoy of hundreds of Yemeni troops from Sana, according to Abdel Karim al-Eryani, the political adviser to President Saleh.

"The size of the convoy moving out of Sana was unprecedented," Mr. Eryani said. "The government wants to show the outside world that with proper help and support it can do the job needed to make Yemen safer than it is today."

Mr. Eryani said the troops are likely bound for the sweeping crescent of desert starting in provinces just east of Sana and stretching northeast along the Saudi border where U.S. and Yemeni officials say al Qaeda's strength is growing.

The area is a largely ungoverned tract of land where religiously conservative tribal law has long held sway over the central government.

Government officials in these rugged tribal lands are often corrupt, and loyal primarily to influential tribal sheiks, many of whom are allied with al Qaeda , said Mohammad Ghazwan, a former state security officer based in Hadramut, one of the provinces where al Qaeda is present. "There is a lot of cooperation between security services and al Qaeda in these outlying areas," Mr. Ghazwan said.

“ Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula poses a serious threat. They have attacked our embassy before… ” John Brennan, Counterterrorism Adviser

Past attacks against al Qaeda by the Yemeni government have proved disappointing. In the two most recent strikes against al Qaeda last month, all of the most senior targets in the movement escaped just beforehand. Critics accuse the government of only going after junior members in the movement, and often avoiding targeting more senior ranks or the tribal elders whose support is crucial to al Qaeda.

"To eliminate al Qaeda, you cannot do it without angering the tribes," says Mr. Eryan. That could pose a significant political risk to Mr. Saleh's government, which also depends on the tribes' support.

When the Yemeni government last attempted a large offensive against al Qaeda in 2004, in the province of Marib, the army lost 27 soldiers in three hours of fighting before it withdrew, leaving al Qaeda's clout in the area unchecked, Mr. Eryan said.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration made further efforts Sunday to regain the upper hand in the political debate over how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board the Northwest plane in Amsterdam with explosives hidden in his underwear.

The administration has embarked on a series of measures to tighten airline security immediately. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has dispatched a team to meet with leaders from major airports around the world.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126256082159914117.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories#printMode

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Tehran Plans a Major Military Exercise

Drill to Boost 'Defensive Capabilities' Coincides With Deadline Iran Has Set for West on Nuclear Offer

Iranian media on Sunday reported Tehran will conduct a large-scale defensive military exercise next month, coinciding with what government officials now say is a deadline for the West to respond to its counteroffer to a nuclear-fuel deal.

The commander of Iran's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said the drill will be conducted by Iran's army, in conjunction with some units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to improve "defensive capabilities," Press TV, the English-language, state-run media outlet reported.

Iranian officials also have named Turkey as a possible venue to swap the fuel. Iran has separately suggested it would be willing to buy enriched uranium from a third party.

The U.S. and Western allies have dismissed the counterproposals outright. In autumn, negotiators from Iran, the U.S., France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency hammered out a proposed deal in which Iran would agree to ship out the bulk of its uranium to Russia, where it would be enriched and shipped back for use in a medical-research reactor. But Iranian officials refused to endorse the deal, despite a U.S.-imposed year-end deadline for Tehran to show progress in talks.

An IAEA spokesman declined to comment on the latest Iranian statements.

A European diplomat said that on Monday, the diplomatic year begins with a "review of measures the international community can use to increase its pressure on Iran" to begin serious negotiations.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has said it would push for new sanctions against Iran early this year if Tehran didn't respond positively to the nuclear-fuel deal. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have suggested they would strike militarily if they thought Iran was nearing nuclear-weapons capability.

Mr. Obama has "begun talking to our friends and allies to consider the next step in this process," National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said last week in Honolulu.

The U.S. is expected to push for United Nations-backed sanctions, despite uncertain support from Security Council members Russia and China. Washington is also consulting allies who might be willing to back sanctions outside the U.N., including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Arab support would further isolate Iran from some of its closest trading partners. While Iran and its Arab neighbors along the Persian Gulf have long had testy relations, Tehran depends on Arab Gulf states for significant trade -- in particular on the U.A.E.'s Dubai, a regional re-export hub.

Not all Arab neighbors are onboard with Washington's sanction plans. In a heavily attended security conference in Manama early last month, Bahrain's foreign minister said further Iranian sanctions wouldn't be fair.

"I think the people of Iran have had enough," Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said to delegates, including Mr. Mottaki and top U.S. diplomats and military officials. Bahrain is a staunch American ally, hosting the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Recent Iranian domestic unrest raises fresh challenges for the Obama administration in crafting any new sanctions. Officials must weigh measures that are tough enough to pressure the regime, but not too tough to enflame popular anger and shore up domestic support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The original, IAEA-backed fuel proposal was embraced by Washington because it was seen as a first step in a longer negotiating process over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran says it is pursuing peaceful energy, but many officials in the West suspect it's building weapons. The deal would have removed enough fissile material to delay the manufacture of any weapon for at least a short while.

Mr. Mottaki on Saturday said Iran would go ahead and produce and enrich its own fuel for the medical reactor if Western powers didn't agree either to swap the fuel or to sell it enriched uranium.

The U.S. has rejected any proposal other than the one hammered out with the IAEA.

"The IAEA has a balanced proposal on the table that would fulfill Iran's own request for fuel and has the backing of the international community," Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in an emailed statement.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126254286128213977.html?mod=article-outset-box#printMode

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Intelligence Is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Yet a headline in the Washington Post summed up the current state of our intelligence: "Uninvestigated Terrorism Warning About Detroit Suspect Called Not Unusual."

President Obama promises to investigate what went wrong, but there's no big mystery. He should simply review testimony put in the public record in early December, before the Christmas Day incident. Sen. Joe Lieberman's Homeland Security Committee heard an explanation of how U.S. intelligence agencies decide when to put suspected terrorists on a watch list or a no-fly list.

Timothy Healy, the head of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, explained the unit's "reasonable suspicion" standard like this:

"Reasonable suspicion requires 'articulable' facts which, taken together with rational inferences, reasonably warrant a determination that an individual is known or suspected to be or has been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to, terrorism and terrorist activities, and is based on the totality of the circumstances. Mere guesses or inarticulate 'hunches' are not enough to constitute reasonable suspicion."

If this sounds like legalistic language, it is. Indeed, a quick Web search was a reminder that this language is adapted from Terry v. Ohio , a landmark Supreme Court case in 1968 that determined when Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches allows the police to frisk civilians or conduct traffic stops. In other words, foreign terrorists have somehow now been granted Fourth Amendment reasonableness rights that courts intended to protect Americans being searched by the local police. Thus was Abdulmutallab allowed on the airplane with his explosives.

The difference between law-enforcement procedures and preventing terrorism could not be clearer. If a well-respected banker takes the initiative to come to a U.S. embassy in Nigeria to report that he thinks his son is a terrorist, we expect intelligence officers to make "hunches," such as that this person should have his visa reviewed and be searched before getting on a plane. Information is our defense against terrorism, but evidence of terror plots is often incomplete, which is why intelligence requires combining facts with hunches.

The result of prohibiting hunches was that Abdulmutallab was waved through. Information about suspected terrorists flows into a central Terrorist Screening Database, which is then analyzed by the Terrorist Screening Center, where FBI agents apply the "reasonable suspicion" standard to assign people to various watch lists including "selectee" lists and the "no-fly" list. It's at this point where an approach based on domestic law enforcement trump prevention, undermining the use of information.

Aside from concluding that we are misapplying a reasonableness test, the Abdulmutallab investigation likely will conclude that information in the databases of the National Security Agency, CIA and State Department weren't properly mined to connect dots. His name went onto the list of 400,000 people who might have links to terror, but not the list of 14,000 subject to multiple screenings before boarding an airplane or the list of 3,400 people who are not permitted to fly.

The Obama administration has leaned toward treating terrorism as a matter for domestic law enforcement, such as trying terrorists in civilian courts instead of in military tribunals. But this legalistic culture also undermined intelligence in the Fort Hood case in November. The FBI knew that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had been exchanging emails with a Yemen-based imam with ties to the 9/11 hijackers. The agency, operating by the standards of domestic law enforcement instead of applying information to prevention, surmised that the "content was explainable by his research" and failed to warn the Army of its potential risk.

In contrast, British authorities last May denied Abdulmutallab the right to re-enter the United Kingdom, where he had been president of an Islamic Society while in college. In Britain, domestic intelligence is the job of M15, which unlike the FBI has no power to arrest or responsibility for criminal prosecutions. Instead, it is free to focus on gathering intelligence, making hunches and preventing wrongdoing. The British ban on Abdulmutallab didn't require any FBI-like "reasonable suspicion" test.

After 9/11, the key political issue that went unresolved was what Americans expect from their intelligence agents. We send the mixed message that we want them to prevent attacks, but only if they operate under strict restrictions based on rules crafted for domestic law enforcement.

We have a choice. We can limit how information is used or we can allow smart use of information to prevent attacks. If we continue to choose to limit how information can be used in our defense, we shouldn't be surprised when our defenses fail.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704065404574636130361837754.html#printMode

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OPINION

Iran Expands Its Target List

I was the Marine commander in Beirut in 1983. I've seen these tactics before.

The nagging question of the nuclear age has been what if a madman gets hold of an atomic bomb? That question is about to be answered as Iran's defiance puts it on a collision course with the West.

On Nov. 4, 2009, Israeli commandos intercepted an Antiguan-flagged ship 100 miles off the Israeli coast. It was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran and bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, Iran has rearmed Hezbollah with 40,000 rockets and missiles that will likely rain on Israeli cities—and even European cities and U.S. military bases in the Middle East—if Iran is attacked. Our 200,000 troops in 33 bases are vulnerable. Shortly before this weapons seizure, Hamas test-fired a missile capable of striking Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv.

Iran is capable of disrupting Persian Gulf shipping lanes, which could cause the price of oil to surge above $300 a barrel. Iran could also create mayhem in oil markets by attacking Saudi oil refineries. Moreover, Iran possesses Soviet made SS-N-22 "Sunburn" supersonic antiship missiles that it could use to contest a naval blockade.

Iran could unleash suicide bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan or, more ominously, activate Hezbollah sleeper cells in the U.S. to carry out coordinated attacks nationwide. FBI, CIA and other U.S. officials have acknowledged in congressional testimony that Hezbollah has a working partnership with Mexican drug cartels and has been using cartel smuggling routes to get personnel and contraband into the U.S.

While Iranian centrifuges continue to produce low-enriched uranium, the mullahs and their henchmen have been carrying out a campaign of deception. In October 2009, Iran rejected a plan to ship its low-enriched uranium out of country, primarily to Russia and France, to be highly enriched and then sent back to Iran for "peaceful medical purposes."

On Nov. 28, 2009, reacting to increased pressure from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran warned it may pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This would seriously undermine international attempts to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program. Two days later, Iran announced plans to build 10 new nuclear plants within six years.

In another sphere, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez are openly cooperating to "oppose world hegemony," as Mr. Ahmadinejan has said, while weekly flights between Iran and Venezuela are not monitored for personnel and cargo. Meanwhile, Russia is building an arms plant in Venezuela to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and finalizing contracts to send 53 military helicopters to the country.

I have seen this play before. In 1983, I was the Marine commander of the U.S. Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Beirut, Lebanon. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Lebanon contingent trained and equipped Hezbollah to execute attacks that killed 241 of my men and 58 French Peacekeepers on Oct. 23, 1983.

Today, Hezbollah directly threatens Israel, destabilizes Lebanon, and undercuts the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. Something similar is underway in Venezuela. Remember Hezbollah used the Beirut truck-bomb model for the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires on March 17, 1992 and the July 18, 1994 attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association that killed 85 and wounded 200.

The man directly responsible for those bombings was the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. He is listed on Interpol's most wanted list and was a key operative in the 1983 attacks on peacekeepers in Lebanon. In August 2009, he was named Iran's minister of defense. He succeeded Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, who was the commander of the IRGC Lebanon contingent and the chief organizer of the 1983 Beirut bombings. Both have Beirut peacekeepers' blood on their hands and are the same key leaders who today are orchestrating Iranian deception and defiance as they march lock-step toward their ultimate goal—nuclear weapons.

Col. Geraghty, USMC (Ret.), is the author of "Peacekeepers at War; Beirut 1983—The Marine Commander Tells His Story" (Potomac Books, 2009).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574628334107697564.html#printMode

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From the Washington Times

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Yemeni leadership feared in al Qaeda's cross hairs

by Eli Lake

U.S. intelligence agencies are worried that al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen may attempt to topple the government of the poor Arab nation or assassinate its president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in retaliation for U.S. involvement in recent strikes on al Qaeda targets in the country.

The U.S. and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen's capital, San'a, on Sunday, citing fears of impending attacks on targets in the country, possibly including on the embassies. A Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a U.S. airliner is thought to have been ordered by an al Qaeda branch based in Yemen.

A U.S. intelligence official who spoke with The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity said, We have a lot of different threat reporting, which is basically al Qaeda barracks chatter, the consistent theme that comes out in human intelligence and more sensitive sources is that they are going to hit something hard.

The official, who did not speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the information, added, They have called for a tribal rebellion against Saleh. The attack could be an assassination attempt on President Saleh. It could be a Western embassy or some other target in Yemen.

A senior Yemeni government official expressed similar fears.

There is a concern, and this is not the first time we have heard of this threat. [Al Qaeda leader] Osama bin Laden himself has publicly threatened the leadership of Yemen in the past, the official told The Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the subject matter is sensitive.

A statement on the U.S. Embassy's Web site said, The U.S. Embassy in San'a is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen.

Spain also restricted access to its embassy in San'a.

In September 2008, al Qaeda launched a major attack on the U.S. Embassy using automatic weapons, car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. The attackers could not breach the embassy compound but killed 10 Yemeni civilians and security forces, at the cost of six of their own men.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of bin Laden, has been the scene of four other assaults on the U.S. Embassy since 2000. Its naval port of Aden also was the site of a successful suicide-bomb attack on the USS Cole, which blew a hole in the ship and killed 17 American sailors.

Speaking on CNN on Sunday, John Brennan, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, said he had received intelligence indicating that the al Qaeda branch planned to carry out attacks in San'a, possibly against our embassy, possibly against U.S. personnel.

The U.S. is worried about the spread of terrorism in Yemen, a U.S. ally and aid recipient, Mr. Brennan said, but doesn't consider the country a second front with Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

As to whether U.S. troops might be sent to Yemen, Mr. Brennan replied: We're not talking about that at this point at all. He pledged to provide the Yemeni government with the wherewithal to take down al Qaeda.

The U.S. and Britain have increased training and other forms of assistance to Yemen in fighting al Qaeda. The U.S. reportedly helped Yemen identify targets for air strikes last month.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told state media that Yemen was exchanging information and training with foreign countries, but denied that Yemen had agreed to allow U.S. missiles and aircraft to strike al Qaeda targets in the country.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, met with Mr. Saleh over the weekend. Last week, the general promised to double the $67 million in aid that the U.S. gives to Yemen.

A Nigerian jihadist who tried and failed to detonate a bomb aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day is said by U.S. authorities to have received training and the material for his bomb from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.

That organization on Dec. 27 posted threat at the al-Fajr Media Center, calling on Yemen's tribes to confront the Crusade and its agents in the peninsula of Muhammad, peace be upon him, by targeting their military bases, embassies of intelligence and their fleets.

In the same posting, which one U.S. intelligence official confirmed as genuine, the group also called on Yemen's tribes to rise up against the government. The threats were in response to the Dec. 17 missile attacks on the province of Abyan.

The Muslims saw the U.S. spy aircraft patrolling the governorates of Yemen some months before the massacre, the message said. In violation of the sanctities of Muslims and with the collusion of the agent and collaborationist government of Yemen, such aircraft continue to spy, take pictures, reveal the shortcomings of Muslims, kill the secured and innocent Muslims.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/04/yemeni-leadership-feared-in-al-qaedas-cross-hairs//print/

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Global threats

by John R. Bolton

Although President Obama spent much of his first year in office trying to revolutionize the U.S. health care system, the external world often inconveniently intruded. As the attempted Christmas mass murder of passengers flying from Amsterdam to Detroit demonstrates, our adversaries have not been idle. Nor will they be idle in 2010.

A critical question, therefore, is whether the president has learned anything during his first year, or whether he will continue pursuing national security policies that leave us at greater risk. The outlook is not promising. Too often, Mr. Obama seems either uninterested in the global threats we face, unpersuaded that they constitute dangers to the country, or content simply to blame his predecessors.

When he does see international threats, his instinct is to negotiate with them rather than defeat them. Facing totalitarian menaces in 1939, British politician Harold Nicolson said of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his closest aide that they "stepped into diplomacy with the bright faithfulness of two curates entering a pub for the first time; they did not observe the differences between a social gathering and a rough-house; nor did they realize that the tough guys assembled did not speak or understand their language."

Nicolson could be writing today about Mr. Obama. Consider some of the issues lying ahead:

(1) The global war on terror: Despite the administration's verbal about-face on the effectiveness of our antiterrorism efforts within days of the unsuccessful Christmas attack, its fundamental approach remains flawed. Mr. Obama himself has led the charge in shifting from a "Global War on Terror" toward a law-enforcement paradigm, continuing, for example, to press for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Even today, the administration is treating would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a criminal rather than an enemy combatant, thus losing the chance to gain enormously valuable information on al Qaeda activities and plans.

Al Qaeda-style terrorism has never been susceptible to law-enforcement methods. It is not simply a crime like bank robbery, which is why military and intelligence agencies have undertaken much of our antiterrorist activity since Sept. 11, 2001. And it is why sidelining them now can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the United States and our allies.

Mr. Obama should articulate some grand strategy for countering terrorism. Withdrawing from Iraq, mixed signals in Afghanistan (surge troops in 2010, but begin withdrawing in 2011), and public defenders for airplane bombers is a prescription for failure. Indeed, the Christmas near miss demonstrates that more, not less, attention must be devoted to al Qaeda in Yemen and elsewhere, such as Somalia.

(2) Nuclear proliferation: Iran and North Korea, the two gravest nuclear proliferation threats, have so far spurned Mr. Obama's "open hand." This is truly remarkable, since both rogue states have skillfully used prior negotiations to their advantage, buying time to advance their nuclear and ballistic missile efforts, and extracting tangible economic and political benefits from America and others. Accordingly, their current unwillingness to talk shows they think they can extract an even higher price from Mr. Obama before even sitting down, a truly discouraging sign.

In fact, neither Iran nor North Korea will be negotiated out of the nuclear weapons programs (or their chemical or biological weapons, which are not even on the horizon for discussion). Moreover, we cannot be content merely trying to "contain" nuclear rogue states, since so doing simply leaves the initiative entirely with them, given their asymmetric advantage of threatening or actually using their weapons. These countries, each for its own peculiar reasons, are not subject to the Cold War deterrence principals. Still worse, the risks of further proliferation are both palpable and threatening if Pyongyang and Tehran keep their nuclear capabilities. There is simply no sign Mr. Obama understands these ever-growing risks.

Instead, Mr. Obama is negotiating drastic nuclear weapons reductions with Russia, even as he eviscerates our missile defense capabilities, apparently believing unilateral strategic arms cutbacks will entrance Moscow and persuade rogue proliferators to dismantle their programs. This is naive and dangerous.

(3) Global governance. Although the Copenhagen Conference on climate change failed to achieve anything like its sponsors' objectives, their under lying push for greater international control over the economies of the world's nations, and their tax and regulatory systems, continues unabated. In fact, as the president's speeches - especially those given at the United Nations in September - demonstrate, he entirely buys into the notion of "global governance," with the United States in time subordinating elements of its sovereignty to international authority.

This worrisome predilection has only been whetted by the failure at Copenhagen, and we can anticipate far more activity in 2010 and beyond, not only on climate change but in a host of areas traditionally considered "domestic" policy (such as abortion, firearms control and the death penalty).

Frustrated by their failures in the United States, the American left has increasingly resorted to international treaties and conferences to advance its agenda. Mr. Obama's administration is filled with people who share that worldview, including the president himself.

In short, if you were concerned in 2009 about America's increasing international vulnerability and its decreasing global influence, you will find little to celebrate in the coming year. Our adversaries sense weakness across the board in Washington, and they will not hesitate to take advantage of it.

Importantly, whatever national security decisions Mr. Obama makes in 2010 will undeniably be his, as the passage of time diminishes his ability to blame President Bush and the situation he inherited. Happy New Year, Mr. President.

John R. Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad" (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/04/global-threats//print/

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From Fox News

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Pat-Downs on All Flights to U.S. From 14 Nations

January 04, 2010

ISLAMABAD — 

Beginning Monday, air travelers flying into the United States from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Yemen and other "countries of interest" will be subjected to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans, pat-downs and a thorough search of carry-on luggage.

Additionally, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening, the Transportation Security Administration announced Sunday. Airports were also directed to increase "threat-based" screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner.

The TSA said anyone traveling from or though nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism — as well as "other countries of interest" — will be required to undergo enhanced screening. The TSA said those techniques include full-body pat-downs, carry-on bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.

"The new directive includes long-term, sustainable security measures developed in consultation with law enforcement officials and our domestic and international partners," the TSA said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The new security measures come in response to the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb a jetliner as it approached Detroit after a flight from Amsterdam.

The State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

A spokesman for Pakistan International Airline said the company has instituted new security standards for U.S.-bound passengers.

Passengers are subjected to special screening, including full body searches, in a designated area of the departure lounge, said the spokesman, Sultan Hasan. The airline has run advertisements in newspapers to advise passengers of the stepped-up security.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Sunday that full body scanners would be introduced in British airports and officials in Amsterdam said last week they would begin using the scanners on passengers bound for the U.S.

In the Yemeni capital, security personnel at the San'a airport were ordered to apply strict measures, including careful baggage examinations and patting down travelers, especially those departing for the United States as the final destination, an official said.

The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk about security measures to the media, said the airport was expecting to receive some new equipment to provide better security.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day, has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

The TSA said the ability to enforce the new security measures is the "result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners."

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,581875,00.html

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From the White House

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Weekly Address: President Obama Outlines Steps Taken to Protect the Safety and Security of the American People

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama discussed his solemn responsibility to protect the nation and the steps the administration has taken to that end. From ordering reviews into the attempted act of terrorism in Detroit to a comprehensive strategy that has refocused our efforts on the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and strengthened international partnerships to keep unrelenting pressure on extremists across the globe, the President will continue to do everything in his power to uphold the nation's security.

The audio and video will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
January 2, 2010

It has now been more than a week since the attempted act of terrorism aboard that flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.  On Thursday, I received the preliminary findings of the reviews that I ordered into our terrorist watchlist system and air travel screening.  I've directed my counterterrorism and homeland security advisor at the White House, John Brennan, to lead these reviews going forward and to present the final results and recommendations to me in the days to come.

As I said this week, I will do everything in my power to make sure our hard-working men and women in our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security communities have the tools and resources they need to keep America safe.  This includes making sure these communities-and the people in them-are coordinating effectively and are held accountable at every level.  And as President, that is what I will do.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the Christmas Day incident continues, and we're learning more about the suspect.  We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies.  It appears that he joined an affiliate of al Qaeda, and that this group-al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America.

This is not the first time this group has targeted us.  In recent years, they have bombed Yemeni government facilities and Western hotels, restaurants and embassies-including our embassy in 2008, killing one American.  So, as President, I've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government-training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al Qaeda terrorists.

And even before Christmas Day, we had seen the results.  Training camps have been struck; leaders eliminated; plots disrupted.  And all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know-you too will be held to account.    

But these efforts are only part of a wider cause.  It's been nearly a year since I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and took the oath of office as your President.  And with that oath came the solemn responsibility that I carry with me every moment of every day-the responsibility to protect the safety and security of the American people.

On that day I also made it very clear-our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred, and that we will do whatever it takes to defeat them and defend our country, even as we uphold the values that have always distinguished America among nations.

And make no mistake, that's exactly what we've been doing.  It's why I refocused the fight-bringing to a responsible end the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and dramatically increasing our resources in the region where al Qaeda is actually based, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  It's why I've set a clear and achievable mission-to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies and prevent their return to either country.

And it's why we've forged new partnerships, as in Yemen, and put unrelenting pressure on these extremists wherever they plot and train-from East Africa to Southeast Asia, from Europe to the Persian Gulf.  And though often out of sight, our progress has been unmistakable.  Along with our partners, we've disrupted terrorist financing, cut off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al Qaeda's leadership, thwarted plots here in the United States, and saved countless American lives.

Yet as the Christmas Day attempt illustrates, and as we were reminded this week by the sacrifices of more brave Americans in Afghanistan-including those seven dedicated men and women of the CIA-the hard work of protecting our nation is never done.  So as our reviews continue, let us ask the questions that need to be asked.  Let us make the changes that need to be made.  Let us debate the best way to protect the country we all love.  That is the right and responsibility of every American and every elected official.

But as we go forward, let us remember this-our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans, not each other. Let's never forget what has always carried us through times of trial, including those attacks eight Septembers ago.

Instead of giving in to fear and cynicism, let's renew that timeless American spirit of resolve and confidence and optimism.  Instead of succumbing to partisanship and division, let's summon the unity that this moment demands.  Let's work together, with a seriousness of purpose, to do what must be done to keep our country safe.   

As we begin this New Year, I cannot imagine a more fitting resolution to guide us-as a people and as a nation.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/weekly-address-president-obama-outlines-steps-taken-protect-safety-and-security-ame

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