Counterterrorism official: No troops to Yemen

[unhappycamper]

Counterterrorism official: No troops to Yemen
By Anne Gearan and Lee Keath - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 4, 2010 6:34:22 EST

SAN’A, Yemen — The U.S. and Britain locked up their embassies in Yemen on Sunday after new threats from al-Qaida, and the White House expressed alarm at the terror group’s expanded reach in the poor Arab nation where an offshoot apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner.

President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, cited “indications al-Qaida is planning to carry out an attack against a target” in the capital, possibly the embassy, and estimated the group had several hundred members in Yemen. Security reasons led Britain to act, too; it was not known when the embassies would reopen.

The U.S. is worried about the spread of terrorism in Yemen, a U.S. ally and aid recipient, Brennan said, but doesn’t consider the country a second front with Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

As to whether U.S. troops might be sent to Yemen, Brennan replied: “We’re not talking about that at this point at all.” He pledged to provide the Yemeni government with “the wherewithal” to take down al-Qaida.

Britain and the United States are assisting a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen as fears grow about the increasing threat of international terrorism originating from the country.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_yemen_embassies_troops_010309/