Control: A documentary shedding light on CIA bids to infiltrate Yemen

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A documentary produced by the Yemeni Al-Masira broadcaster revealed exclusive footage and documents pertaining to the nature of the US military and intelligence activity in Yemen at the onset of the 2000s.

The documentary, entitled "Control", touched on how the United States sought to infiltrate Yemen under the guise of training the Yemeni armed forces and sending packages of equipment and arms that later turned out to be aimed at establishing a CIA headquarters in the country.

A secret document that came out from the Yemeni embassy in the United States in 2002 revealed that there was a meeting at the CIA headquarters that brought together the director of the Middle East Office Jim Hughes and Yemen's Ambassador to the US, Abdulwahab Alhajjri, wherein the former told the diplomat that the CIA was preparing to increase its activity in Yemen.

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Then-Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the documentary says, while meeting with the CIA official, ordered that the competent authorities in his county offer all the possible facilitations to the director of the CIA's office in Yemen.

Another 2002 document issued by the Yemeni Ministry of Interior says a meeting took place between former interior minister Rashad Al-Alimi and former US Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hall, which saw the latter underlining that setting up an operations room for US intelligence required transporting electronic equipment through a series of successive flights without being subject to any procedures at the airport given the confidentiality and modernity of technology used.

Moreover, a 2002 document issued by the Military Intelligence Department at the Ministry of Defense revealed that a shipment of equipment and devices arrived in Yemen without prior notice on board the aircraft of the deputy director for Strategic Operational Planning at the National Counterterrorism Center Albert Calland, who claimed at the airport that what he had on him was an aid package for the Yemeni special forces before it was later revealed that the package was for the US Embassy in Sanaa.

US military aircraft frequently landed in Yemen after 2002, and Israeli personnel even frequented the country using US and EU passports without following official protocol, revealed Sanaa International Airport former director Major General Ahmed Mayad.

A March 2003 Yemeni foreign ministry document revealed that a report prepared by the honorary consul of Yemen in Michigan indicated an increase in recruitment among the Yemeni community in the US by the American security services. It also revealed that the recruits were required to give up their nationality in order to be sent to Yemen and other neighboring countries.

Add to that, a 2002 "Top Secret" document issued by the military intelligence directorate reported that there was US activity in Sanaa and several other key Yemeni cities without prior notice, adding that US personnel were also present at the crime scenes of numerous major security incidents and bombings in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

Regarding US activity on the Yemeni coast, the documentary unearthed exclusive recordings of US Navy officers training Yemeni special forces in the presence of the commander of American forces in the Horn of Africa, Mastin Robeson. It also showed a military exercise under American supervision on the western Yemeni coast.

Moreover, Control showed exclusive recordings from a tour of American soldiers in the Republican Guard camp south of Sanaa who sought to know more about the military formations and weapons capabilities of the Yemeni Armed Forces in the presence of US soldiers and intelligence personnel.

At the conclusion, the documentary showed that the barracks of the Special Forces, run by the son of the country's president at the time, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, were a flashpoint for US military activity in Sanaa.