One of the joys of a few days off for the Christmas holidays is the ability to do a little reading and, for once, make a dent in the magazine pile. The current issue of the New Yorker contains a few gems. There is, for example, Seymour Hersh on the ‘controversy’ (what controversy?) over the targeting and killing of senior Al Qaeda figures.

Naturally enough, there’s plenty of talk about that successful Hellfire missile attack in Yemen on the Al Qaeda leader, Qaed Salim al-Harethi. This extract, in particular, is worth noting:

“The Yemeni official also said that the al-Harethi operation had produced valuable diplomatic information. For example, the car bearing al-Harethi and his colleagues had Saudi plates, which led investigators to believe that al-Harethi had been shuttling back and forth along Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia. According to the official al-Harethi had obtained operating funds from Saudis”.

The Saudis, always the Saudis…

But, of course, it’s not only the Saudis.

“Al–Harethi’s last known satellite telephone call…was to a number in the United Arab Emirates, an Anerican ally that is also known to be a center of support for Muslim extremists. “Lots of money comes from the U.A.E.,” the Yemeni official said.”