US-KSA alliance represented by al-Qaeda in Geneva talks: Lawyer

The US battle cry – “We do not negotiate with terrorists” – has long been an axiom of foreign policy and an excuse for military interventionism, but recently, there have been a stream of media reports asserting that the US in fact should and does negotiate with terrorists, an international lawyer in Indonesia says.

Barry Grossman told Press TV on Saturday that even US presidential candidate Ted Cruz said in an interview with the ABC on June 1, 2015, that “US policy has changed, now we make deals with terrorists.”

Asked to comment on the matter, Grossman said that “apparently, this change of policy by stealth is now so complete, that it is not of interest to anyone that a man designated as a high level al-Qaeda terrorist by special order of the US president in 2013 participated in the US-sanctioned and UN-sponsored Yemen peace talks in Geneva this week.”

“Don’t misunderstand me”, Grossman added, “I am not saying that simply because the USA deems a man to be al-Qaeda, that he is necessarily a terrorist. Indeed, Abd al-Rahman al-Humayqani who has a list of aliases that runs to two pages, denies the allegations quite forcefully; but since the US president himself declared him to be al-Qaeda, surely somebody has some explaining to do about how he came to be shaking hands with Ban Ki-moon in Geneva.”

According to Grossman, the matter “is even worse than it appears since technically, Humayqani appears to be negotiating on behalf of the USA-KSA alliance rather than with them.”

This is what the US had to say about the Humayqani back in 2013:

“In his capacity as the head of a Yemen-based charity, Humayqani has used his status in the charitable community to fundraise and has provided some of that funding to AQAP and has facilitated financial transfers from AQAP supporters in Saudi Arabia to Yemen in support of AQAP operations. As of 2012, Humayqani was an important figure within AQAP and reportedly had a relationship with important AQAP leaders. Humayqani and others in March 2012 reportedly orchestrated an AQAP attack on a Yemeni Republican Guard base in al-Bayda’ Governorate, Yemen. The attack employed multiple vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and killed seven. He is suspected to have recruited individuals to AQAP who were involved in a plot to assassinate Yemeni officials.

Humayqani has provided financial support and other services to AQAP and acted for or on behalf of the group. He has represented AQAP in meetings with Yemeni officials to negotiate the release of Yemeni soldiers held by AQAP and worked with AQAP operatives to coordinate the movement of AQAP fighters within Yemen. Humayqani has directed a group of armed AQAP associates that intended to carry out attacks on Yemeni government facilities and institutions, including a Yemeni government building in al-Bayda Governorate. He has also recruited individuals in Sana, Yemen on behalf of AQAP in support of AQAP efforts in southern Yemen.

Along with the US and UN-designated cleric Shaykh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, he has issued religious guidance in support of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operations. Humayqani and AQAP leadership have planned to establish a new political party in Yemen, which AQAP planned to use as a cover for the recruitment and training of fighters and a means to attract broader support. AQAP leadership decided that Humayani would play a public role as a leader and spokesman for the new political party.”

Grossman said, “Perhaps the price of Humayqani’s admission to the talks on the KSA/Hadi side of the table, was giving up his colleague Nasir al-Wuhayshi, reputedly al-Qaeda’s Number 2 and the leader of AQ in Yemen, who was killed in a US drone strike on June 15 while al Humayqani was living it up with Ban Ki-moon in Geneva.”

“Al-Qaeda”, he said, “was born of US adventurism in Afghanistan and it seems that like all prodigal sons, it is back to daddy that AQ has returned.”

Grossman explained that “Wuhayshi who had once supposedly been Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary, had previously been apprehended by Iranian forces in Afghanistan and eventually handed over to Yemen where the US and Saudi Arabia ruled the roost. Once in Yemen he allegedly escaped custody in 2006 and went straight back to work reputedly running the powerful al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen.”

According to Grossman, “the SITE website operated by ex-Mossad con-woman Rita Katz has confirmed that AQ concedes that the al-Wuhayshi was killed in the strike,  although US officials claim that he was taken out in a so-called “signature strike – that is, a pot luck drone strike.”

“If someone were to allege that a man formally designated by the US President as a high level member of al Qaida and subject to a Global Interpol Red Notice is taking part as a key player in US sanctioned negations in Geneva attended by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, it would be reasonable to accuse that person of being a conspiracy nut. After all, if such a thing could actually happen, surely the mainstream media would be all over it. The problem is that it has happened and the mainstream press is, as usual, complicit in this outrage through its silence,” he further commentated.

“Bizarre and outrageous hardly begin to describe all of this. The UN, under US direction supported by Russia, has taken the KSA side in purporting to legitimize what on any informed view is a belligerent and unlawful military attack on Yemen. If that is not bad enough, they have now given a man designated by none other than the president of the United States as a high level al-Qaeda terrorist as seat at the negotiating table essentially on behalf of the KSA, while quietly blowing up AQ’s number 2 in Yemen.

“Of course these two matters – the killing of al-Wuhayshi and the presence at the Geneva talks of a man official designated by the US an al-Qaeda terrorist – could well be entirely unconnected, just like every now and then smoke is not connected with fire!

“Still, this is no small thing and you have to ask, why is there a complete MSM blackout about the fact that the US and the KSA have a man in Geneva designated as al-Qaeda negotiating in support of their position.”