Informant says ex-Yemen president Saleh aided al-Qaeda
In an exclusive Al Jazeera interview, ex-operative says Saleh “plays with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula like chess”.
A former al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operative has said that ex-Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh supported, and even at times directed, the group.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, the former AQAP operative-turned government informant alleged that Saleh “plays with al-Qaeda like chess”.
“He does not believe in checkmate. The game must continue endlessly. He advances a pawn, retreats a pawn, once moving it to the left, another time to the right. That’s how it is,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Clayton Swisher reports.
You can watch the full documentary, Al-Qaeda Informant, from 20:00 GMT on Thursday.