Just saw this:
Yemen Qaeda to avenge US killing of leader
24 Jan 2004 20:04:05 GMT
SANAA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Yemeni Web site published on Saturday a statement purporting to come from the Yemeni wing of al Qaeda, in which it vowed to attack the United States to avenge the 2002 killing of its leader by a CIA drone aircraft.
The statement, which could not be authenticated, said Osama bin Laden's network had over the past year prepared a "devastating and crushing blow in the United States that will happen soon".
It would be in retaliation for the death of Ali al-Harthi, who was killed by a missile fired by the pilotless CIA drone at his car in eastern Yemen.
The statement, published on the al-Sahwa and other Islamist Web sites, gave no details about the proposed attack.
Harthi, and his aide Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal who was arrested last year, were suspected of responsibility for the 2000 bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in Yemen's Aden harbour, which killed 17 American sailors.
Yemen, seen in the West as a haven for al Qaeda, is bin Laden's ancestral homeland and has cooperated closely with the United States to crush his network.
Diplomats say that Yemen has largely succeeded in breaking the back of the group, but some militants remain at large.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24421049.htm Re: "devastating and crushing blow in the United States that will happen soon". There's that phrase again.