VZCZCXRO5264
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHC #2607/01 0120059
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 120053Z JAN 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9384
INFO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1447
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 6213
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 8721
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0994
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 4599
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 2752
RUEATRS/TREASURY DEPT WASHINGTON DC 0591

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 002607 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN KN KS KTFN PREL PTER SA YM UNSC
SUBJECT: INSTRUCTION FOR USUN TO REQUEST UN 1267 LISTING 
OF AL QAIDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA AND TOP LEADERS 
 
REF: A. 2009 STATE 129597 
     ¶B. SEOUL 000003 
     ¶C. OTTAWA 911 
     ¶D. STATE 001098 
     ¶E. CANBERRA 000012 
     ¶F. 2009 ANKARA 001848 
 
 
 ¶1. This is an action request.  Please see paragraphs 3 and 4. 
 
¶2. SUMMARY: The U.S. prenotified (ref A) its intention to 
request on December 18, 2009, that the UN 1267 Sanctions 
Committee add the names of Yemen-based al-Qa'ida in the 
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and two of its leaders, Nasir 
al-Wahishi and Ali al-Shihri, to the Committee's list of 
individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the 
Taliban or al-Qaida.  Listed individuals and entities are 
subject to UN Security Council mandated sanctions, including 
a travel ban, arms embargo, and asset freeze.  The UK, 
Australia, Republic of Korea and Canada have indicated their 
intent to co-sponsor this listing request. Turkey has also 
indicated possible interest in co-sponsoring. Saudi Arabia is 
leaning towards co-sponsorship, but it may not yet have 
instructed its mission in New York accordingly.  End summary. 
 
¶3. ACTION REQUEST: USUN is requested to submit on January 12, 
2010, the following names with statements of case for listing 
(note: coversheets will be sent via e-mail) by the UN 1267 
Sanctions Committee: 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
 
(1) AL-QA'IDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA 
AKA: AQAP 
AKA: Al-Qa'ida of Jihad Organization in the Arabian Peninsula 
AKA: Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Jazirat al-Arab 
AKA: Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Arabian Peninsula 
AKA: Al-Qa'ida in Yemen 
AKA: AQY 
AKA: Al-Qa'ida in the South Arabian Peninsula 
 
Location:Yemen 
Alt. Location: Saudi Arabia 
 
In January 2009, the leader of al-Qa'ida in Yemen (AQY), 
Nasir al-Wahishi, publically announced that Yemeni and Saudi 
al-Qa'ida operatives were now working together under the 
banner of al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). This 
announcement signaled the rebirth of an al-Qa'ida franchise 
that carried out attacks under this name in Saudi Arabia from 
2004 - 2006. 
 
AQAP's self-stated goals include establishing a caliphate in 
the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Middle East as well as 
implementing Shari'a law. In AQAP's January 24, 2009 
inaugural video, al-Wahishi stated the group's goals are to: 
"rally on supporting the religion, 
establish the Caliphate, and fight the enemies." Al-Wahishi 
describes the group's predisposition toward violence to 
achieve these goals in the same statement saying, "after 
demonstrations, there must be bombings. After civil 
disobedience, there must be military anger." 
 
Since its inception, AQAP has carried out a number of attacks 
in the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to the AQY attack 
against the U.S. Embassy in September 2008, AQAP carried out 
a suicide bombing against a South Korean tourist group in 
Yemen in March 2009. In June 2009, AQAP kidnapped nine 
foreign nationals in Yemen and eventually killed three. In 
September 2009, an AQAP suicide bomber attempted to 
assassinate Prince Muhammad Bin Nayif Bin'Abd Al-'Aziz, Saudi 
Arabia's Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs. 
 
Moreover, AQAP envisions for itself a more strategic role 
than only attacks in the Arabian Peninsula. In a February 
2009 video statement, AQAP deputy Said al-Shihri described a 
broader role for this new iteration of AQAP that would entail 
'extending support from the 
(Arabian) Peninsula to jihad in Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, 
Afghanistan, and all Muslim countries, with the aim of 
defending our lands and our sacred things.' There is evidence 
indicating that some al-Qa'ida operatives may be leaving 
Pakistan in hopes of relocating to Yemen or Somalia. 
 
Further evidence of this process came to light on December 
25, 2009, when a Nigerian national allegedly trained by AQAP 
ignited an incendiary device on a Northwest Airlines flight 
from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan. The would-be bomber, 
identified as Umar Farouk 
Abdulmutallab, attempted to detonate the high-powered 
explosive but was unsuccessful. He was overpowered by 
passengers and crew. In an online statement, AQAP claimed 
responsibility for the attack and said that Abdulmutallab had 
coordinated the plot with members of AQAP. 
 
(2) NASIR AL-WAHISHI 
AKA: Abu Basir 
AKA: Abu Basir Nasir al-Wahishi 
AKA: Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi 
AKA: Nasir Abd al-Karim al-Wuhayshi 
AKA: Abu Basir Nasir al-Wuhayshi 
AKA: Nasser Abdul-karim Abdullah al-Wouhichi 
AKA: Abu Baseer al-Wehaishi 
AKA: Abu Basir Nasser al-Wuhishi 
 
Nationality: Yemeni 
DOB: October 1, 1976 (08/10/1396 H) 
Passport: Yemen #40483; Issued: 01/05/1997; Expiration: 
Unknown 
 
Nasir al-Wahishi has led two al-Qa'ida affiliated groups that 
have each publicly claimed responsibility for planning and 
carrying out assassinations, suicide bombings, and attacks 
against critical infrastructure. The targets for these 
attacks have included the U.S. 
Embassy in Sana'a, tourists, aid workers, Yemeni 
counterterrorism officials, and oil facilities. As recently 
as January 2009, al-Wahishi indicated his predisposition 
toward violence in a January 2009 video statement, saying 
"demonstrations should be followed by violence and civil 
disobedience should also be followed by military anger." 
 
Nasir al-Wahishi announced himself as the leader of al-Qa'ida 
in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in January 2009. The press 
release in which al-Wahishi announced AQAP's re-emergence 
also noted that the group's Saudi terrorists had pledged 
allegiance to al-Wahishi as their new leader. 
 
Al-Wahishi has provided significant support for AQAP 
terrorist operations and has worked with AQAP operatives to 
facilitate attacks. As AQAP's leader, al-Wahishi is 
responsible for approving targets, recruiting new members, 
allocating resources to training and attack 
planning, and tasking others to carry out attacks. Under 
al-Wahishi's leadership, AQAP claimed responsibility for two 
separate attacks in Yemen: the first against South Korean 
tourists that killed four, and the second against a convoy 
carrying South Korean officials investigating the March 15 
attack. In addition, AQAP kidnapped nine foreigners in June 
2009, killing three of them. In September 2009 AQAP was 
thought to be involved with the attempted assassination of 
Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs 
Muhammad Bin Nayif Bin'Abd Al-'Aziz. 
 
Al-Wahishi emerged as the leader of one of AQAP's predecessor 
groups, al-Qa'ida in Yemen (AQY), in 2007. On September 17, 
2008, AQY attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, killing 16. 
AQY claimed responsibility for the attacks nearly two months 
later, and in so doing confirmed experts' assessments that 
the attacks bore all the hallmarks of al-Qa'ida. 
 
Al-Wahishi, a Yemeni citizen, had been in Afghanistan during 
the late 1990s until the post-9/11 U.S. attack on the 
Taliban. Al-Wahishi escaped across the border to Iran, where 
he was arrested and then extradited to Yemen in 2003. The 
Yemeni government never officially brought charges against 
him, and he escaped from Yemeni prison along with 22 others 
in 2006. Following his escape, an Interpol Orange Notice, 
File #2009/52/OS/CCC, #75, was issued for al-Wahishi. In 
explaining the notice, Interpol described the escape and 
al-Wahishi's unknown whereabouts as constituting a clear and 
present danger. 
 
Al-Wahishi has direct ties to al-Qa'ida and its senior 
leadership. He has claimed publically to have been the 
secretary and confidant of the leader of Al-Qa'ida, Osama Bin 
Laden, prior to his return to Yemen. He has repeatedly sworn 
allegiance to Bin Laden and al-Qa'ida senior leadership 
(e.g., his February 2009 video statement), and in late 
February 2008 Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, 
described al-Wahishi as the 'Amir of the Mujahidin in Yemen.' 
 
Nasir al-Wahishi continues to lead AQAP, an active terrorist 
organization operating in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. 
 
(3) Said Ali al-Shihri 
AKA: Abu-Sayyaf 
AKA: Abu-Sufyan al-Azidi 
AKA: Abu-Sayyaf al-Shihri 
AKA: Abu Sufian Kadhdhaab Matrook 
AKA: Sa'id Ali Jabir al-Khathim al-Shihri 
AKA:Salah 
AKA: Salah Abu Sufyan 
AKA: Salah al-Din 
AKA: Abu Osama 
AKA: Abu Sulaiman 
AKA: Nur al-Din Afghani Azibk 
AKA: Alakhaddm (variant: Akhdam) 
 
DOB: 12 September 1973 
Nationality: Saudi 
Passport: Saudi Arabia # C102432; Issued 17/1/1421H, 
Expires 17/1/1426H 
 
(U/FOUO) Said Ali al-Shihri was publicly identified in 
January 2009 as the deputy leader of al-Qa'ida's regional 
affiliate, al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Since 
this announcement, AQAP has claimed responsibility for the 
March 2009 suicide bombings that killed four Korean tourists 
in Yemen, and is reportedly behind the kidnapping of nine 
foreigners in Yemen, and the subsequent execution of three of 
them in June 2009. 
 
(U/FOUO) Speaking as AQAP's deputy leader in a March 2009 
audio statement, al-Shihri vowed to open a "great front" 
against the United States and the West in the Arabian 
Peninsula and called on fellow militants to "detonate them at 
sea and kill them on land." In addition to using invective to 
promote acts of violence, as deputy of AQAP, al-Shihri is 
involved in the means to carry out such acts, including, but 
not limited to: generating targets; recruiting new members; 
assisting with training and attack planning; and tasking 
others in the preparation of attacks. 
 
(U/FOUO) Since joining AQAP as its deputy, al-Shihri has 
repeatedly proclaimed his loyalty to the al-Qa'ida terrorist 
network, a designated foreign terrorist organization. 
Al-Shihri appeared in a AQAP video statement in January 2009, 
and made a brief statement in the February 2009 Ayman 
al-Zawahiri video statement. In both videos, al-Shihri 
pledged his loyalty to senior al-Qa'ida leaders Usama bin 
Ladin and al-Zawahiri and vowed to perform jihad. He also 
gave his allegiance to AQAP emir Nasir al-Wahishi, who 
advocates violence in the name of "vengeance" against Europe 
and the United States for their "support to the Jews." 
Consistent with al-Qa'ida's philosophy, al-Shihri publicly 
called for waging jihad until "we establish the state of 
Islam and righteous Caliphate . . . and (un)til we establish 
God's Shari'ah." 
 
(U/FOUO) Al-Shihri is believed to have played a key 
operational role in the September 2008 attack against the 
U.S. Embassy in Sanaa. In addition, al-Shihri likely played a 
critical role in the August 2009 assassination attempt 
against Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayif. Bin Nayif was 
believed to be on the phone with al-Shihri when the phone 
detonated a bomb planted inside AQAP operative Abdallah 
Assiri. 
 
(U/FOUO) For his role in terrorist activities, al-Shihri was 
listed among Saudi Arabia's 85 most wanted terrorists in 
February 2009. He was charged with "(i)nfiltrating into Yemen 
and joining the ranks of al-Qa'ida, under the leadership of 
Nasir al-Wahishi, a wanted person; being appointed as 
al-Wahishi's deputy; making direct threats to carry out acts 
of terrorism and assassination of senior officials and of 
security men in the kingdom." 
 
(U/FOUO) Al-Shihri was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and held 
as detainee number 372 at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba until his release in 2007. According to al-Shihri's 
Review Board Administrative Summary, he was accused of 
facilitating travel for jihadists into Afghanistan and having 
trained in urban warfare in Afghanistan; charges that 
al-Shihri denied. 
 
END TEXT 
 
¶4. USUN is further requested to coordinate in advance with 
the UK, Australian, Canadian, Saudi, South Korean and Turkish 
missions to the UN in order to ensure those missions submit 
timely information to the Committee signaling their 
co-sponsorship for these listings. 
 
¶5. POINT OF CONTACT: Questions may be directed to IO/PSC (Ed 
Goff, 202-736-7735) or S/CT (Lillian McTernan, 202-647-6573). 
 
 
CLINTON