VOA标准英语2010年-Al-Qaida in Yemen Leader Threatens to

Al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula is threatening to overthrow¹ Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh. The government and al-Qaida rebels have stepped up activity against each other across the country.

In an audio tape broadcast on the internet, the leader of the self-styled "al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula" group, Qasim al-Rimi, is threatening to topple Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh.

In the tape, al-Rimi tells President Saleh he will be driven from office, like former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, because he is supposedly an "agent of the U.S." who has "lost his legitimacy²." Al-Qaida, on the other hand, he alleges⁴ is becoming stronger.

He claims that President Saleh has lost a lot of his territory, much of his army, and his legitimacy. He goes on to allege³ that al-Qaida is now fighting a war of attrition and strengthening itself to widen the battlefront against its enemies and to destroy them.

Yemen Post Editor-in-chief Hakim Almasmari notes the threat to topple the government is not new. "This is not something new," he said. "That is something that was announced over three years ago, but a new part is that al-Qaida announced that it will create an army - an Aden-Abyan Army - and the Aden-Abyan area is know to have a very good stronghold for al-Qaida."

Princeton University Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen says he thinks al-Raimi is exaggerating about the group's strength, but says it has grown since last year and has been multiplying its propaganda in recent weeks.

"One of the things that stood out to me is really the vast amount of statements, both printed statements, audio statements, videos, magazines that al-Qaida has put out over the past couple of weeks, including eulogies," he said.

"There has really been, I think, a significant uptick in the last couple of weeks in just the amount of material that the organization has put out on jihadi websites and this, in conjunction with some of the attacks they have been carrying out. But, certainly, the group seems to have grown significantly from what it was about a year ago when people were suggesting that there were, say, 300 members of al-Qaida."

Johnsen says he believes recent al-Qaida attacks are driving many foreigners into leaving the country, which will have long-term negative effects.

"The cumulative⁵ effect of some of these attacks that we are seeing in Yemen is that more and more foreign civilian⁶ employees are either leaving Yemen or not coming to Yemen, and so the foreigners that are in Yemen more and more, there is an equation where it is heavily military, and I think that if you look at any country, that sort of an equation does not spell success," he said.

Editor Hakim Almasmari says al-Qaida has been carrying out small attacks in Yemen, but that many experts worry it is preparing to carry out a big one to show how powerful it is and prove that it can destroy the economy of the country.
 

1 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

2 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

3 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

4 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

5 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。