From the Chicago Tribune:
A group of 23 convicted Al Qaeda members escaped Friday from a prison in Yemen’s capital, a security official said.
The men were sentenced last year on various charges of terrorism, the official said. They were being held at a detention center for military intelligence in San`a.
No further details were available.
The escape came a day before the trial of top Al Qaeda suspect Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal and 14 others charged with involvement in terrorism operations in Yemen, particularly the 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole.
Al-Ahdal is suspected of masterminding the Cole bombing, which killed 17 U.S. sailors, and the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen’s coast, which killed a Bulgarian crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.
Too bad we didn’t have this guy at Gitmo. He’d be too busy eating Skittles and playing ping pong with his prayer pals to even think about making a break for it.
Besides—you don’t just pick up “Will & Grace” magically on your ankle bracelets.
Additional reporting from AP / Newsweek:
A man considered a mastermind of the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 soldiers in a Yemeni port in 2000 was among 23 people who escaped from a Yemen prison last week, Interpol said Sunday.
The international police agency issued an “urgent global security alert†for those who escaped Friday from the prison via a tunnel. It called the escapees “dangerous individuals.â€Â
It should be noted that Interpol was able to call the escapees “dangerous individuals” only after a failed preliminary legal challenge by former US President Jimmy Carter. Carter, the 39th US President, preferred “the less fraught and less potentially self-fulfilling ‘couple three times misguided misdeed doers who are probably hungry and thirsty and looking for a fresh start in an environment that is not so spiritually confining’”—but Interpol, citing convinctions for explosions that killed 18, was able to argue convincingly that the “dangerous” label was, in fact, “fair.”
Can I stage a protest and burn the Yemeni Ebassy? Please?
Cause I’m really getting tired of the other side getting to have all the fun.
Or the Embassy.
Note to AP/Newsweek: Those that serve in the Navy are “sailors”. Those that serve in the Army are “soldiers”. Believe it or not, the USS Cole is a NAVY SHIP. And it wasn’t transporting anyone from the Army at the time. A small point perhaps, but illustrative nonetheless.
Gee Major John,
AP’s sources told them that the USS Cole was an armored personnel carrier buzzing across the Yemeni desert when it was hit. So, of course, they thought soldiers were killed.
major john, this is something rto gets onto me for too, but for most of us, military person=soldier, regardless of branch. we civilians are stupid that way.
Wow, I wonder how 23 managed to escape all at once!
Badawi’s ally, the NYT, in keeping with its “high” editorial standards has of course referred to him as a “man” and “MR.”! Both are terms that should be reserved for just that, MEN and those deserving of the Honorific term. Is it possible that factual titles befitting the deeds of the lawless can assigned? These alleged newspapers are increasingly irresponsible in their support for all the mindless anarchic losers infesting civilization. Their shameful reporting is an affront to every soul lost not only in New York but throughout the world and that is a very long list!
Ever notice how much the NYT looks like an un-burnt Embassy? There’s something rotten in Denmark…?
Has anyone escaped from Gitmo?
Some have been released and later popped up as gun bunnies. Does that count?
And now some words from one of your other terrorist sponsors, the AP.
Elaine Ganley waxing on from Paris, in the continued effort to elude the definition of terrorists refers to them in the first three words of her sanctimonious tribute as “An al-Qaida operative” and in the next paragraph “escapee”. The fourth paragraph she calls him “a man” and further into the muck they’re “al-Qaida members” and “al-Qaida fighters”. In the eighth paragraph she goes way out on a limb and calls them “convicts…prisoners…(and) coconspirators. It’s not until the middle of her commercial do the words terrorist even surface and that due to having her hand forced by a quote.(though that never stopped the NYT!) Then it’s back to the business of closing the sale in the end of her reality challenged spin, with the use of the words “suspects”! SUSPECTS for the love of …..! Finally they are “fugitives” and “Islamic militants”. Islamic militants indeed! Is there another kind? TERRORIST-You farickin screwball reporters! They are called terrorists! It’s because of and based on their terrorist actions not this namby pamby crap because of your feelings!
FH,
Look. It’s high time you opened your eyes and realized that the only true terrorists in this world are those who oppose a woman’s right to choose and those serving in an fascist administration that thinks listening into a citizen’s conversation with freedom fighters of an oppressed people is not only constitutionally permissible but an actual duty.
Get it straight and your life will become infinitely easier.
CN, you forgot something.
[/sarcasm]
After some folks thought SarahW was serious a few threads back, you just can’t count on anything anymore.