Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could see the number of their members or brothers in cause jump from few hundred fighters to thousands in the next few months. The likely recruiter is our actions in Yemen.
Sheik Aarif Sabri, a member of the Yemeni parliament announced in a press conference yesterday “One hundred-fifty religious scholars have signed a document stating that in the event of an armed or political intervention in Yemeni affairs, they will unite in issuing a Fatwa (religious decree) on the necessity to declare Jihad on foreign forces”.
Our policy makers cannot afford to ignore this statement. After two failed experiences fighting alqaeda and their sympathizers in Afghanistan and Iraq, we must get it right in Yemen.