WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday an active threat from al-Qaida led the U.S. to close its embassy in Yemen, where an al-Qaida affiliate apparently trained and armed the man accused in the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner.
“We’re determined to destroy al-Qaida whether it’s in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Yemen, and we will get there.”
Britain also shuttered its embassy, citing security reasons.
“There are indications al-Qaida is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of San’a, possibly our embassy.”
Brennan said the threat against Americans and Westerners would not ease until Yemen’s government got a better handle on the threat from terrorists inside the country. He estimated there are several hundred members of al-Qaida in Yemen. “We are very concerned about al-Qaida’s continued growth there,” Brennan said.
He said recent events are showing a “culmination of the effort here of al-Qaida to carry out these attacks. Obama said Saturday that an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the airliner plot, training and arming the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing.
The president emphasized that the U.S. would continue its partnerships with friendly countries — citing Yemen, in particular — to fight terrorists and extremist groups. The U.S. plans to more than double its counterterrorism aid to the impoverished, fragmented Arab nation in the coming year to support Yemen’s campaign against al-Qaida.
Officials have said Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. “We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America,” Obama said in his address.
Obama noted that in recent years, the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen has bombed government facilities there as well as Western hotels, restaurants and embassies. An attack on the U.S. Embassy in 2008 killed one American.
“So, as president, I’ve made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government — training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al-Qaida terrorists,” he said.
The United States provided Yemen $67 million in training and support under the Pentagon’s counterterrorism program last year. Petraeus arrived in Yemen on Saturday and met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Yemeni government official said. Security officials in Yemen said Saturday the government deployed several hundred extra troops to two mountainous eastern provinces that are al-Qaida’s main strongholds in the country and where Abdulmutallab may have visited.

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LONDON – The British government said Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama have agreed to back a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat from the country.
In an e-mailed statement, Brown’s Downing Street Office said the U.K. and the White House agreed to “intensify joint US-UK work to tackle the emerging terrorist threat from both Yemen and Somalia” in the wake of the failed Detroit terror plot.
“Amongst the initiatives the PM has agreed with President Obama is US-UK funding for a special counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen,” the statement said.
Downing Street said that Britain is already helping to train Yemeni counter-terrorism officials, but a U.K. government spokeswoman said this is the first time the counter-terrorism police units have been confirmed.
The spokeswoman, speaking on condition on anonymity in line with U.K. government policy, was unable to say how long Britain had been working on initiatives in Yemen.
The Downing Street Office said the United Kingdom and the United States would support Yemen’s coast guard operation. Brown called last week for a high-level international meeting later this month to devise ways to counter radicalization in Yemen. Downing Street said the government of Yemen had been consulted over the decision to boost the country’s coast guard and police operations.
The official also was unable to confirm any plans to push for a larger U.N. peacekeeping force for Somalia.
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HONOLULU – An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner, training and arming the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing, President Barack Obama said Saturday.
In his most direct public language to date, Obama described the path through Yemen of Abdulmutallab. He also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries — citing Yemen, in particular — to fight terrorists and extremist groups.
Obama’s homeland security team has been piecing together just how Abdulmutallab was able to get on the plane. A top counterterrorism official said Saturday that al-Qaida and others extremists are working to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil.
The failed attempt against the plane “is the starkest of reminders of the insidious terrorist threats we face,” said Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. A senior administration official had said the United States increasingly was confident of a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama’s statement was the strongest connection between the two. The official said regular updates from the White House Situation Room and from his homeland security advisers gave Obama enough confidence to use this radio address — typically, focused on domestic priorities — to communicate a stark message about Abdulmutallab.
It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America,” the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address. Officials have said Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. Intelligence officials prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress about miscommunication among anti-terror agencies and sweeping changes expected under Obama’s watch.
Obama noted that in recent years, the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen has bombed government facilities there as well as Western hotels, restaurants and embassies. The United States provided Yemen $67 million in training and support under the Pentagon’s counterterrorism program last year. Obama said the money had been well spent: “Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. Petraeus arrived in Yemen on Saturday and met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Yemeni government official said. Security officials in Yemen said Saturday the government deployed several hundred extra troops to two mountainous eastern provinces that are al-Qaida’s main strongholds in the country and where Abdulmutallab may have visited.

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Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

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KAILUA, Hawaii – President Barack Obama took his daughters and friends Friday to sample a Hawaiian delicacy of ice shavings and flavored syrup, joshing with his group about winning college football teams on New Year’s Day.
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HONOLULU – President Barack Obama is wishing the nation a happy New Year with “brighter days … ahead of us.”
The White House released the message while Obama and his family are on vacation in Hawaii, the state where he lived as a child.

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