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How involved is the U.S. military in Yemen, and is the Obama
Administration laying the groundwork for a new foreign
adventure? According to several news agencies, including
Agence France Presse, UPI and the Washington Post, very
involved and likely to be more so in the future.
"U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply
involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops,"
says Dana Priest, the Post's ace intelligence and military
affairs reporter, including "the U.S. military's clandestine
Joint Special Operations Command, whose main mission is
tracking and killing suspected terrorists."
The quarry of these assassination teams are supposed leaders
of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but the
deepening U.S. alliance with the authoritarian government of
Yemen may soon entangle it in two complex civil wars-a
rising by disenfranchised Shiites in the north, and an
increasingly powerful secession movement in the country's
south.
According to UPI, the White House is quietly expanding "the
footprint" of "elite forces inside Yemen." One military
official told the news agency, "The numbers are definitely
going to grow." The Obama administration increased
"security" funds for Yemen from $67 million to $150 million.
Navy Seals, Delta Force troops, and intelligence units are
working closely with the government of President Ali
Abdullah Saleh, providing weapons, training and
intelligence. And sometimes more.
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