By William Tucker
Chief Corespondent for In Homeland Security
Executing a raid to capture a wanted fugitive in an overseas location, commonly known as rendition, is one of the most difficult operations that intelligence and military special operations can carry out. This was demonstrated over the past weekend as U.S. forces captured Anas al Libi in Libya and attempted to capture Ikrima in Somalia. Anas al Libi is a senior militant in al-Qaeda and is wanted in connection with the attack on two U.S. embassies in 1998, while Ikrima is a senior al-Shabaab militant wanted in connection with the Somali groups’ recent international operations. U.S. forces executed restraint in Somalia as soon as they realized that Ikrima couldn’t be taken alive without inflicting massive civilian casualties. Both men are thought to possess important intelligence on al-Qaeda and its regional affiliates making the risk necessary. Though other methods were available to the U.S. to eliminate these men as threats, the intelligence that could be gathered from a proper interrogation carried more weight in the decision to capture these men alive. In truth, al Libi may have been indicted for his role in the 1998 bombings, but simply using such a high risk operation to grab him and move him to the U.S. for trial seems out of sorts. For the U.S. to engage in such an operation, along with another, similar raid in Somalia, suggests that Washington is trying to clarify intelligence already in its possession. It also suggests that the U.S. is getting accurate, detailed information from informants and host governments on the ground. These raids never would have gotten off the ground if the targets location couldn’t have been discerned beforehand.
The activity seen in Africa in recent months clearly demonstrates the need to tackle militancy on the continent. Boko Harem has become increasingly brutal in Nigeria, Central African Republic is yet again in chaos due to shifting rebel alliances, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is still very active in the north, Libya and Egypt have witnessed an uptick in militancy, and Sudan is always on the radar. Al-Shabaab, of course, has undergone changes, but is still a capable organization. Naturally, this doesn’t include numerous issues, but it does show that militancy is far flung and a rather complex issue in Africa. Understandably, Washington is looking for answers to first contain, and whittle down the wide ranging militant threat to something more manageable. Truth be told, the U.S. has threats beyond militancy and terrorism that cannot be ignored. Though the U.S. is the lone superpower it doesn’t have unlimited bandwidth and Washington would rather rely on diplomacy to extradite wanted individuals; however the governments in which these individuals were located are not the most stable. The U.S. is in between foreign focuses and is trying diligently to shift towards threats and opportunities posed by other nation states. What this comes down to is intelligence. By heading off and ultimately containing militancy to manageable levels, the U.S. can focus on larger, more potentially devastating threats.
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