U.S. Embassy Worker Killed In Yemen
There was another attack in the Middle East that bears all the hallmarks of terrorism:
SANA, Yemen — A senior Yemeni officer working in the United States Embassy in Sana was killed Thursday in an attack that security sources said bore the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Witnesses said that two men on a motorcycle drove up alongside the car of the embassy employee, Kasem Aklan, and one of them opened fire, killing him. Mr. Aklan was in the west of the city on his way to work at the embassy, which is in the eastern part of the capital.
Mr. Aklan had worked at the embassy for about 20 years, an embassy official and security sources said. In his most recent position there, he was an investigator helping to look into the violence at the embassy last month in which protesters breached the outer security perimeter.
The demonstrations were part of wider regional unrest that was attributed to a video mocking the Prophet Muhammad. The American ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in an attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi along with three colleagues as the violent protests spread to nearly 20 countries across the Middle East and beyond.
Mr. Aklan also served as a security coordinator between the embassy and the Yemeni government, the officials said. He had applied for American citizenship, an associate said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on Mr. Aklan.
Militants have attacked official targets in Yemen in response to the government’s campaign against Al Qaeda cells.
It seems fairly clear that this was a targeted attack and not just some random act of violence, so one can assume that the assassins were aware of Aklan’s ties to the embassy.
Of utmost importance is this ongoing story is that Republicans, in their rush to politicize Benghazi and smear the President, outed an Covert CIA Operation in Libya.
First there was Valerie Plame…now this.
Clearly Republicans cannot be trusted with matters of National Security.
I assume you will have a post up on this major blunder soon?
For what it’s worth, I think any attack in which one does not take and hold territory, and only inflicts damage to change opinion, is terrorism.
The “test” whether any small scale attack and withdrawal is “terrorism” seems semantically trivial.
(This would mean that any “protest” which stopped being a “protest” and started being an “attack” would be “terrorism.” Pretty much when you bring weapons.)
I guess we can expect Issa and the other House Republican morons to hold public hearings into this, revealing our covert operations in Yemen, of which there are surely some.
@ Mantis…
It becomes clear why the CIA had the lead on this and why the State Dept. was saying whatever the CIA told them to say…even if it made no sense.
It also becomes clear that Congressional Intelligence is an oxymaroon.
And that f’ing idiot Ed Morrisey was calling for Clinton’s head yesterday.
Talk about morons.
From Doug’s post on Benghazi yesterday:
So it appears there was a cover-up of sorts…The White House and the State Dept. were trying to protect a covert CIA operation. Will any of the geniuses that had a hand in outing the operation stand up and admit they are fools and traitors? My guess is no.
Has anyone checked YouTube to see if there are any offensive videos we can blame for this attack?
@C. Clavin: Of utmost importance is this ongoing story is that Republicans, in their rush to politicize Benghazi and smear the President, outed an Covert CIA Operation in Libya.
First there was Valerie Plame…now this.
Gee… what operation was outed? The ones the terrorists knew about and killed the involved parties?
Obama and Biden outed pretty much all the details on the Bin Laden raid. I assume you were outraged about that one, too?
And I know it didn’t happen this way in your universe, but it was Richard Armitage who outed Plame in the real world.
@Jenos Idanian #13:
Gee… what operation was outed? The ones the terrorists knew about and killed the involved parties?
Except, you know, all the CIA guys who were still there.
Asshole.
Indiana Jones…
Adjust your fedora sport…you can’t help being stupid…but you don’t have to look stupid.