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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Al Qaeda in Yemen

The US has deployed drones to hunt down Al Qaeda militants in Yemen for the first time in years, said US officials. The use of unmanned spy plane is part of a campaign against an Al Qaeda branch that has claimed responsibility for several terror attempts on US targets, including the two parcel bombs addressed to Chicago-based synagogues detected on cargo planes in Britain and Dubai Oct 29, The Washington Post reported. According to senior US officials, the Predator unmanned spy planes have been patrolling the skies over Yemen for several months in search of operatives of the group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but they have not fired any missiles due to lack of solid intelligence on the insurgents' whereabouts. Officials praised Yemeni cooperation and said they have been given wide latitude. Asked whether the drones would be free to shoot, an official said: 'The only thing that does fall into the 'no' category right now is boots on the ground.' Senior officials of US President Barack Obama's administration said that cooperation with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has intensified in the aftermath of the parcel bomb plot and that the subsequent shutdown of commercial and cargo flights from Yemen focused the government's attention on the cost of AQAP's presence in the country. The US officials said a major buildup of intelligence and lethal assets was already underway, including the arrival of additional CIA teams and up to 100 special operations force trainers and the deployment of sophisticated surveillance and electronic eavesdropping systems operated by spy services including the National Security Agency. Drones used in Pakistan are operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The drone strikes in Pakistan are aimed not only at top Al Qaeda figures but at Taliban groups that use safe havens there to attack US troops across the border.

Obama's 'passage to India'


US media hails Obama's India visit Mainstream US media has underlined the importance of President Barack Obama's 'passage to India', saying it comes at an opportune moment for both countries. 'Indians are still feeling anxious and insufficiently loved. But the trip is a clear a sign of the importance that Obama places on the relationship. As he should,' said the New York Times in an editorial titled 'Working With India.' 'The Clinton and Bush administrations talked that way, too. President George W. Bush was so eager to woo New Delhi that he gave away the store in a 2006 nuclear energy deal,' it said suggesting 'It is up to Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take this complex relationship to a more sustainable level.' The San Francisco Chronicle editorially commenting on 'President Obama's passage to India' noted that 'over the past several years, India has become one of the United States' most important emerging economic relationships'. The Chronicle suggested 'this will be more of a ceremonial trip than a substantive one.' 'But even ceremonial trips can go a long way toward building relationships, and there are few relationships that will be more important to America's long-term future than this one,' it said. The Washington Post said: 'It may look as if President Obama is fleeing the country for friendlier shores' after his Democratic party's rout in Tuesday's elections. 'In fact, his tour of India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea is important.' India, it said, 'ought to be a focal point of US policy since it's a relationship that 'is going to be indispensable to shaping the 21st century,' as the White House puts it. 'Yet so far this administration's partnership with New Delhi has been less warm and productive than that of the Bush administration,' the Post said. It advised Obama to 'offer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the assurance that the United States is committed to maintaining stability in the region - beginning with Afghanistan - and that India will have US support in checking overreaching by China.