My encounter with an al-Qaeda leader

Sanaa, Asharq Al-Awsat – Asharq Al-Awsat met with Al Qaeda commander Fahd Al-Quso in December 2010 in the mountainous Shabwa governorate in south-east Yemen, exposing the inaccurate claims that he had been killed in Pakistan earlier that year,  however the Al Qaeda commander was finally killed on Sunday by a US drone strike in Yemen.  Al-Quso AKA Abu Huthaifah Al-Yemeni was believed to be the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, and he was wanted by the US for the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden which resulted in the deaths of 17 American sailors.

Al-Quso was killed in a CIA drone strike in Shabwa, Yemen on Sunday.  He was listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Terrorists lists, and the US government was offering up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.  Al-Quso is believed to have masterminded the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole, whilst he also had ties with some of the 9/11 hijackers.  He had been detained by Yemeni authorities in 2001, but managed to escape from prison in 2003.  He was later recaptured in 2004 and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment on charges relating to the attack on the USS Cole, however much to Washington’s anger he was released by the Yemeni authorities in 2007.

I met with al-Quso in Shabwa governorate in 2010, obtaining photographing evidence that he was indeed alive.  The interview took place at al-Quso’s farm in Wadi Rafad, where the Al Qaeda commander was surrounded by armed militants.  The photograph that was published in Asharq Al-Awsat showing al-Quso alive and well with myself alongside him reporter represented the most recent image taken of the Al Qaeda commander, and there is speculation that this photograph may have been used by US intelligence to help track him down.  The 2010 interview represented the only time that al-Quso spoke directly with regional or international press.

In his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in 2010, al-Quso acknowledged that he was being targeted by the US, revealing that an air strike had targeted his farm in the remote mountain valley of Rafid in eastern Shabwa province in December 2009, resulting in 5 deaths and the destruction of his farm.

Fahd Al-Quso AKA Abu Huthaifah Al-Yemeni did not deny that he had received offers from the Yemeni government inviting him to surrender himself in return for certain guarantees and promises which he refused to reveal, although it is likely that these included a guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US. Al-Quso, who reports indicated was being sheltered by his Al-Awlaki tribe, had also told Asharq Al-Awsat that for him and others wanted by the authorities “we will not give up our religion and the principles that we hold in our hearts” adding “this is unlikely.”

Al-Quso had also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Yemeni government had “overstated” the size and presence of Al Qaeda in Yemen in order to justify “the killing of innocent people in the air strikes that are taking place in some regions.”

The Al Qaeda commander invoked the USS Cole attack in a propaganda video released in May, 2010.  He threated that the mujahedeen would fight Americans anywhere in the world, even inside the US, claiming that “fighting the Americans is a legitimate matter.  We will fight them wherever we find them.  We destroy their ships that are docking off our shores the same way we destroyed the USS Cole.”

Al-Quso was listed as being considered “armed and dangerous” by the FBI, and the list of charges against him include; Conspiracy to Kill United States Nationals; Murdering United States Nationals; Conspiracy to Murder United States Military Personnel; Murder of United States Military Personnel Aboard the USS Cole; Use and Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction Against Nationals of the United States Aboard the USS Cole; Conspiracy to Attack National Defense Utilities; Providing  material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, amongst others.