NP Rank:
Saudis warn France about Al Qaeda-Yemen plan attack
What should France do? Is the attack coming from infiltrators or from people living in France? What is the demographic profile of attackers? It must be a very large net. What should France’s policy be regarding incoming and outgoing travel originating and concluding in terrorist destinations?
“French Report New Threat of Terrorist Attack in Europe
By SCOTT SAYARE and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: October 17, 2010
PARIS — Saudi intelligence officials have informed France that Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen may be planning an attack in France or Europe, the French interior minister said Sunday.
The minister, Brice Hortefeux, said in an interview broadcast on French radio and television that France had received the information “just a few days ago.”
Mr. Hortefeux described it as “a new message from the Saudi services telling us that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was without doubt active, or planned to be active” in Europe, “and notably, France.”
“The threat is real and our vigilance is total,” he said, noting that he met last week in Paris with the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
An official in Washington familiar with Mr. Hortefeux’s broadcast remarks confirmed on Sunday that Saudi intelligence officials had in the past few days sent information to Paris warning of possible attacks in France by Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.
Like other recent reports of plots to attack targets in Germany, France and Britain, many of which emanated from Pakistan and North Africa, the Saudi alert warned of threats that were credible but not specific.
It was not clear if the Saudi warning suggested an imminent attack.
The new warning came at roughly the same time that a former Saudi detainee at Guantánamo Bay who went through Saudi Arabia’s militant rehabilitation program and then joined Al Qaeda in Yemen turned himself in, the government said.
The former detainee, Jabir Jubran al Fayfi, contacted Saudi authorities from Yemen to express his regret and readiness to surrender, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in statement on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Yemeni authorities arranged for his return. Mr. Fayfi joined Al Qaeda in Yemen sometime after his December 2006 release from Guantánamo and his participation in the rehabilitation program and rose to become one of the group’s top dozen leaders, the official in Washington said.
The official said it was unclear if the information provided to France came from Mr. Fayfi, communications intercepts and other intelligence sources, or some combination.
A United States counterterrorism official declined to comment specifically on the report, but said on Sunday that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remained a danger.
“They’ve made clear their intention to attack the United States and our allies,” the official said. “The terrorist threat to Europe unfortunately remains quite real.”
European officials did not discount the threat. “If this information is coming indeed from the Saudis, one can expect that it is serious and reliable,” said Raphael Perl, the head of antiterrorism for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
A European intelligence official called the warning “serious stuff’” and added that “it is easy to plan operations in France because it is easy for attackers to fit into the population.”
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as Yemen’s Qaeda cell is known, has caused growing alarm among American and Western intelligence services since the airliner bombing plot last December, for which Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took credit.
C.I.A. officials have privately said recently that the Yemeni cell posed an even more dangerous immediate threat to the United States than the Qaeda headquarters in Pakistan.
Scott Sayare reported from Paris, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Souad Mekhennet contributed reporting from Frankfurt, and Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington.”
Most Recommended Comment
Crowd Power
-
YankeeJim
Arlington, Virginia, United States


Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (15)
at 20:53 on October 17th, 2010
Saudi Intelligence is a part of terrorist organizations,comprising CIA,ISI,MOSAD and RAW.The two prisoners released from Guantanamo prison were sent to Saudi Arabia and later to Yemen by Saudi Intelligence to recruit and train terrorists.Saudi Arabia is main funder to Al-Qaeda and is actively engaged in acts of terror,providing arms to Sunni radicals to fight against Shi'ites in Yemen.Saudi Arabia wants US to attack Yemen like Iraq and Afghanistan.Coalition of the willing is to be formed again,ground has to be prepared for that.False flag operations in France may be expected by Saudi recruited and trained terrorists to prove that Saudi intelligence inputs were correct.
"Intelligence agencies are,in actuality,the biggest terrorist organizations in the world".-Gordon Duff
at 02:45 on October 18th, 2010
I know that it is intertwined with conflicting relationships, but I don't comprehend who wins what by supporting al Qaeda.
Furthermore, what is the motivation of the CIA in this?
at 04:10 on October 18th, 2010
I repeat what Gordon Duff says.Always ask:who gains from it.An attack orchesterarted by Alqaeda or any other group associated with an intelligence agency uses false flag operations to prepare public opinion for attack.Yemen is the latest target.Saudi intelligence report indicates what?First of all,saudi Arabia,a country with largest population of idiots and fanatics,can have an effecient intelligence agency.That itself is a question.Why two alleged terrorists released from Guantanamo prison were allowed to go to Yemen by Saudi Arabia?Now these both men are accused of training terrorists.Osama is no longer alive but he continues to threaten US of attacks.So public support continues for more military actions in Afghanistan and Pakistan,proposed invasion of or armed intervention in Yemen.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
'thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 05:21 on October 18th, 2010
Gorden Duff. LOL. Better to represent the allegories found in Aesop's Tales. At least they hold real truth. Gorden Duff's conspiracy of world domination by Israel concludes that the CIA is responsible for 9/11 on the orders of the Israeli Mossad. Of course the assumptive underpinnings of the demise of OBL held by Duff is that al-Qaeda is now rendered harmless. That further US/NATO presence in Afghanistan is unnecessary. The 'war on terror' is now a conspiracy of the US as dupe, supported by JEWS in the name of a global Zionist plot of world domination. Where is Jesse Ventura when the world needs him?
at 06:22 on October 18th, 2010
@thirty-aught-six.What Gordon Duff says may not necessarily be one hundred percent accurate,but can not be dismissed outrightly.I would suggest you to read 9/11 and American Empire.Ponder over scietific evidence and eye witness accounts and then accept it or reject it.
How the Nigerian shoebomber,Umar Abdulmutallab could enter European Union without a passport,take a Detroit bound flight without having a passport?.Are these pertinent questions or not?The problem is that whatever appears in so-called mainstream media,owned and controlled by corporate houses and other vested interests,is accepted by the public as ultimate truth.Independent,investigative journals are rubbished as conspiracy theorists.We prefer to live with preconceived notions.
Does proof mean official version only?Are false flag operations prattler's tales?Haven't conspiracies with deeper implications and ramifications to achieve desired ends been hatched?9/11 has raised many questions which till date are begging answers.Mumbai terror attacks were orchesterated to eliminate an upright and honest and dedicated police officer.The circumstances in which some officers were killed and the official version,often contradictory,even wives of those officers could not force it down their throats and are demanding proper investigation by a competent authority.
Facts have to be culled,whether accepted or not.We have to rely on circumstatial evidence to arrive at right conclusions.Generally,we deliver judgements even before trial begins.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 07:34 on October 18th, 2010
Distrust of government can not be reasonably supported by trust in conspiracy.
at 09:34 on October 18th, 2010
Conspiracy does not result from distrust of a government,it is constant denial of truth which creates doubts in the public mind.Conspiracies are engineered to fulfill an objective,ranging from murders to bank robberies,assassination of a leader to overthrow of a government.If people distrust a government,which rarely happens because majority of people think that whatever a government does,it does for the common good,in so-called demoracies,they vote it out not because of distrust but because of belying of their hopes and expectations.Distrust of a government and conspiracy are two different phenomena.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 11:03 on October 18th, 2010
As usual you attempt to put your words in my mouth to create your argument. You use circumstance to claim intent. It's a false premise.
at 15:54 on October 18th, 2010
Quote those words of mine which I have put in your mouth to construct my argument.I never use circumstance to claim intent.When there are no eye witness accounts or documentry evidence to prove a conspiracy,circumstantial evidence is relied upon even by court of law.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 17:43 on October 18th, 2010
1/ "Conspiracy does not result from distrust of a government". I didn't say conspiracy is a result of distrust of government. I said, Distrust of government can not be reasonably supported by trust in conspiracy.Two very different statements. 2/ Your assertion that "circumstantial evidence is relied upon even by court of law" is false. Circumstantial evidence must be connected to an inclusion of fact and does not stand as "reliable" evidence in of itself. It must be connected to a provable fact of direct evidence to have any weight in the decision.
at 20:43 on October 18th, 2010
You have not answered my questions.Were these my words which I put in your mouth?Certainly not.In response to your comment I said that conspiracy does not result from distrust of government and didn't attribute my words to you.If you assume something and base your arguments on that,I can not help it.
Courts have heavily relied on circumstantial evidences if it could be corroborated.On number of times no direct evidence could be found,no eyewitness accounts and court deliver judgement against the accused.
If you have to say something more,you are welcome.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 22:24 on October 18th, 2010
I gave you your quote. The dance that your comment is independent of mine is proven false by the record of the conversation obvious for all to read. Give an example of a criminal court relying solely on circumstantial evidence with out direct evidence. Circumstantial evidence needs to be related to the proven facts of a case. As usual, your statement contradicts itself. First you say, "Courts have heavily relied on circumstantial evidences if it could be corroborated." Corroborate means it must confirm or support a known. Therefore not heavily relied on. Then you say," On number of times no direct evidence could be found,no eyewitness accounts and court deliver judgement against the accused." Which one is it. Your assertions are contradictory.
at 23:49 on October 18th, 2010
That was my quote,no doubt,and was in response to your comment.I stick to my point that on occasions courts have heavily relied on circumstantial evidence."which one is it"?let me tell you.
Recently,the Supreme Court(of India)has ruled that in number of cases where direct evidence is scanty,circumstantial evidence plays an important role.A bench comprising of Justice K.T.Thomas and justice R.P.Sethi,in a criminal appeal in a murder case observed that the trial court can convict on the basis of circumstantial evidence,furnished by the prosecution,provided it was so complete as to leave no doubt about the guilt of the accused.
This is the ruling of the apex court in India.What I meant was that circumstantial evidence has had to be relied on.If I added in next comment that it has to be corroborated,which means confirmed not direct evidence,is not tantamount to contradiction.It is matter of common sense that what circumstantial evidence suggest has to be proved,and if proved could be sole basis of conviction.Nothing else is required.
- Sign In or Join to post comments
"thirty-aught-six" (not verified)at 08:25 on October 19th, 2010
"It is matter of common sense that what circumstantial evidence suggest has to be proved,and if proved could be sole basis of conviction.Nothing else is required." It has to be proved in relation to something, something more is required, and therefore circumstantial evidence can not be the sole basis of conviction. Keep trying. There's light at the end of the tunnel.
at 09:37 on October 19th, 2010
By nothing else required(these are my words and I am not keeping these in your mouth)I simply meant,and you know that,that no further proof is required if circumstantial evidence suffices and that could be sole basis of conviction.
You keep on changing tracks,assertions.It won't affect my firm stand.Good luck to you.