One of the new Wikileaks documents records a 90-minute meetingon January 4 this year between David Petraeus, commander of Centcom, and the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Salih. 

Some interesting points:

1. Salih repeatedly asked for 12 armed helicopters ("a topic that he would manage to insert into almost every item of discussion" according to the memo):

Possessing such helicopters would allow the ROYG [Yemeni government] to take the lead in future CT [counter-terrorism] operations, "ease" the use of fighter jets and cruise missiles against terrorist targets, and allow Yemeni Special Operations Forces to capture terrorist suspects and identify victims following strikes, according to Saleh.

Petraeus may have been worried that these would be used against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, because Salih is quoted as saying: "We won't use the helicopters in Sa'ada, I promise. Only against al-Qaeda."

2. The US proposed to help establish and train a Yemeni special operations aviation regiment, "leaving Sa'ada air operations to the Yemeni Air Force". Presumably the idea was that by keeping the special forces separate from the air forces, the US could ensure that its military aid would be used against al-Qaeda rather than the Houthi rebels:

Without giving much detail, Saleh also requested that the US equip and train three new Republican Guard brigades, totaling 9,000 soldiers. "Equipping these brigades would reflect upon our true partnership," Saleh said. The General urged Saleh to focus first on the YSOF [special operations] aviation regiment. 

3. Salih and Petraeus discused the airstrikes in December against al-Qaeda which had resulted in civilian casualties (dozens of casualties according to reports at the time):

Saleh praised the December 17 and 24 strikes against AQAP but said that "mistakes were made" in the killing of civilians in Abyan. The General responded that the only civilians killed were the wife and two children of an AQAP operative at the site, prompting Saleh to plunge into a lengthy and confusing aside with Deputy Prime Minister Alimi and Minister of Defense Ali regarding the number of terrorists versus civilians killed in the strike. 

(Comment: Saleh's conversation on the civilian casualties suggests he has not been well briefed by his advisors on the strike in Abyan, a site that the ROYG has been unable to access to determine with any certainty the level of collateral damage. End Comment.) 

Salih then continued with his usual assurances that al-Qaeda is on the run:

AQAP leader Nassr al-Wahishi and extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki may still be alive, Saleh said, but the December strikes had already caused al-Qaeda operatives to turn themselves in to authorities and residents in affected areas to deny refuge to al-Qaeda. 

4. Salih resisted an American proposal to have US personnel "inside the area of operations armed with real-time, direct feed intelligence":

"You cannot enter the operations area and you must stay in the joint operations center," Saleh responded. Any US casualties in strikes against AQAP would harm future efforts, Saleh asserted. Saleh did not have any objection, however, to General Petraeus' proposal to move away from the use of cruise missiles and instead have US fixed-wing bombers circle outside Yemeni territory, "out of sight," and engage AQAP targets when actionable intelligence became available. 

Saleh lamented the use of cruise missiles that are "not very accurate" and welcomed the use of aircraft-deployed precision-guided bombs instead. "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours," Saleh said, prompting Deputy Prime Minister Alimi to joke that he had just "lied" by telling Parliament that the bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa were American-made but deployed by the ROYG. 

5. Gen Petraeus said relations with the Yemeni air force were problematic. "Only four out of 50 planned US Special Operations Forces Command training missions with the Yemeni Air Force had actually been executed in the past year, he said. Saleh said he would personally instruct Minister of Defense to improve the situation.

Petraeus also complained about Yemeni customs holding up US embassy cargo at the airport, including shipments destined for the ROYG [Yemeni government] itself. "Saleh laughed and made a vague pledge to have the customs issue 'taken care of'."

6. Salih asked for more help guarding Yemen's coastline:

The General told Saleh that two fully-equipped 87-foot patrol boats destined for the Yemeni Coast Guard were under construction and would arrive in Yemen within a year. Saleh singled out smuggling from Djibouti as particularly troublesome, claiming that the ROYG had recently intercepted four containers of Djibouti-origin TNT. 

"Tell (Djiboutian President) Ismail Guelleh that I don't care if he smuggles whiskey into Yemen – provided it's good whiskey) but not drugs or weapons," Saleh joked. 

Saleh said that smugglers of all stripes are bribing both Saudi and Yemeni border officials. 

7. Salih objected to the inclusion of Qatar in the international Friends of Yemen group with was due to have its inaugural meeting at the end of January. Salih is quoted as sayinh that Qatar should not be involved because "they work with Iran." The note adds: "In this regard, Saleh also identified Qatar as one of those nations working "against Yemen," along with Iran, Libya, and Eritrea."

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 29 November 2010