7 Nov 1997, Aden: US Ambassador says ‘everyone knew Al Qaeda were in Yemen'

Concurrent event: In a 2012 interview with PBS  former US Ambassador to Yemen (1997-01) Barbara Bodine described Al Qaeda’s presence in 1997 Yemen. Her description of Al Qaeda’s presence in 1997 Yemen as ‘warehousing foriegn nationals’ matches my experiences of meeting many Pakistani nationals in an empty factory building (effectively a warehouse) of a shadowy company (YemPak) in a secure hilltop compound.

US Ambassador Barbara Bodine’s quote:

“When I got there in 1997 there was already an Al Qaida presence. We knew about it. The Yemenis knew about it. Everyone knew about it. Numbers [are] always impossible to know, but these people were primarily foreign nationals. One of the best ways to describe the presence is that they were largely warehousing lower-level people in peripheral areas.  

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© Anthony C Heaford - The Quiet Mancunian