U.S. Ships Block Yemen Coast

[Eugene]

U.S. Ships Block Yemen Coast


Thursday February 9, 2006 8:01 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House expressed "enormous concern" Thursday about the threat
posed by 23 escaped terrorists as U.S. Navy ships patrolled the coast of Yemen in a multinational
effort to recapture them.

Navy officials would not say how many or what types of ships were helping in the operation
in hopes of finding the fugitives, convicted members of al-Qaida who tunneled out of a cell
in a Yemeni prison.

The patrols began Thursday, nearly a week after the escape that included an al-Qaida operative
sentenced to death for plotting the USS Cole bombing in 2000.

The Bush administration has spoken with Yemeni officials, through the U.S. ambassador, to express
disappointment that the prisoners were housed together and that restrictions in the prison were not
more stringent.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5606006,00.html

[ewagner]

1. Isn't a "blockage"

considered an act of war under international law? :shrug:

[whatelseisnew]

2. Rebellion Erupts in Yemen

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2096890&mesg_id=2096890

[Kagemusha]

5. Kinda depends on if the government wants you there or not.

In this case (the rebellion) having US forces nearby may not be a bad thing in some sense.

[whatelseisnew]

6. Article does not say that. Mentions Saudi

She said the United States also was working with Saudi Arabia because that nation had turned a number of individuals back to Yemen who have now escaped.

``Our allies in Saudi Arabia face as great, if not a greater, threat by virtue of this escape than we do,'' she said.

The U.S. ships are part of a Dutch-led task force of ships from different countries that routinely patrols the international waters of the Gulf of Oman, the North Arabian Sea and other parts of the region.

[whatelseisnew]

7. It Say the ships are part of a Dutch Taskforce

Did they leave the task force to blockade Yemen.

[MADem]

3. How timely of them--only a WEEK after the escape!

The horse is long gone, might as well lock the barn door!

[SpiralHawk]

4. BushCo could screw up a bake sale

They fail over and over at everything, except catapulting propaganda.

[anotherdrew]

8. so if they're such deadly terrorists, why weren't they executed?

why would anyone trust a jail in Yemen to hold them?

[Igel]

9. It's not clear from the article, but there's this unspoken

assumption that some might be trying for Somalia. Shari'a in force, yada-yada.

One bit I hadn't caught before: "The prisoners escaped Friday, apparently by digging a tunnel some 180 yards long that emerged at a mosque." That Interpol concludes it was done with outside help is a "well, of course".

In other words, people inside the mosque probably did most of the digging.