Cargo Bomb Plot tip came from ex-Gitmo Detainee

Some hope that extremists can be turned to a more moderate path. Also further down in the article a mention that special ops squads hunting Al-Qaeda in Yemen might be put under CIA control.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39947157/ns/us_news-security

Yemen bomb plot tip-off came from ex-Gitmo detainee, officials say
Repentant al-Qaida member provided intelligence that led to discovery of two devices
LONDON — A repentant member of al-Qaida gave authorities the key tip-off which led to the discovery of the two mail bombs sent from Yemen to the U.S., officials said Monday.

Citing unnamed U.K. officials, the BBC said former Guantanamo detainee Jaber al-Faifi had given himself up to Saudi Arabian authorities.

Al-Faifi had rejoined al-Qaida in Yemen, the BBC said, citing AFP, after he had been released from Guantanamo and completed a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.

The BBC said it was told by Saudia Arabia interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki that al-Faifi contacted government officials to say he wanted to return home, which was arranged through Yemen's government.

Al-Turki told NBC News that al-Faifi surrendered to the Yemeni authorities two-and-half months ago and was transfered to Saudi Arabian intelligence two months ago.
Yemeni security officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press, also said al-Faifi had exposed the plot.

A U.S. official and a British security consultant said previously that the device found in the U.K., which was hidden in a printer cartridge, was so sophisticated that it nearly slipped past British investigators even after the tip-off was passed on by Saudi Arabian authorities.
British Home Secretary Theresa May has also said the bomb was powerful enough to bring down the aircraft which brought it to England.
Both bombs, which were discovered last week, were addressed to synagogues in the Chicago area. The second was intercepted in Dubai.

Lookout for more bombs
U.S. counterterrorism officials warned Monday that local law enforcement and emergency personnel should be on the lookout for mail that could have dangerous substances hidden inside.

The FBI and Homeland Security Department said packages from a foreign country with no return addresses and excessive postage needed to be scrutinized, according to an advisory sent to local officials around the country and obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

While officials caught the two bombs sent to Chicago-area addresses, U.S. officials say there may be more in the system.
Concern that more bombs could still be sent led Germany to extend its ban on cargo aircraft from Yemen to include passenger flights Monday.

The bomb found in the U.K. was routed through the UPS hub in Cologne in western Germany.

An international investigation involving several countries has got underway to catch the people behind the bombs.

An official security source told The Associated Press that authorities in the United Arab Emirates were tracing the serial numbers of a mobile phone circuit board and computer printer used in the mail bomb found in Dubai, which is part of the UAE.

The security source said the UAE was sharing the numbers with other countries including the United States in an effort to track the origins of the bomb parts. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

U.S. intelligence officials have named the chief suspect in the plot as Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who is believed to be a member of the leadership of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

He is also suspected of sending his own brother on a suicide mission against a top Saudi official.
Al-Asiri and his brother abruptly left their Mecca home three years ago, their father, a four-decade veteran of the Saudi military, said. Aside from a brief phone call to say they had left the country, he never heard from them again.

With the bomb hidden in a body cavity, Abdullah approached the prince and blew himself up. The prince was only wounded.

Al-Asiri, who is living in Yemen, is also believed to have packed explosives — called PETN, which was also used in the two mail bombs — into the underwear of a Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas.

Yemeni security officials said they were searching for al-Asiri, who is believed to be in Marib province.
CIA hunter-killer teams?
Meantime, the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed officials, reported Monday that there was growing support within the Obama administration and military to put elite U.S. hunter-killer teams under CIA — rather than military — control to help catch al-Asiri and other wanted militants.

The paper said this would allow the U.S. to attack terrorist targets "unilaterally with greater stealth and speed ... even without the explicit blessing of the Yemeni government."

Because CIA operations are covert, this would enable the Yemeni government to deny knowledge of operations. The Journal also said the White House was already considering the use of CIA drones in Yemen.

Yemen has allowed the some U.S. military operations against al-Qaida, the paper said, but has also delayed or objected to others.

"At the end of the day, they limit us when we are getting too close," a senior U.S. official said, according to the Journal.
t Yemen's Sanaa University on Monday, a rally was held in support of Hanan al-Samawi, who was arrested but later released by Yemeni authorities in connection with the plot, NBC News reported. A government official said another woman had used her name and identity when sending one of the packages.
Story: Yemen frees student held over parcel bombs

Al-Samawi, a student, and her father drove in and around the campus to the chants and cheers of about 3,000 to 4,000 people for about an hour, NBC News said.

 

Its hard to tell if he rejoined as a spy or whether he rejoined and had a change of heart.