Top Al Qaeda Trainer Taken Down

U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday that a drone strike last week killed a senior al Qaeda trainer in Pakistan. The trainer, Sadam Hussein Al Hussami, also known as Ghazwan Al-Yemeni, had coached Taliban and foreign al Qaeda recruits for attacks on troops in Afghanistan, among others. He was also one of the masterminds behind the strike on a CIA base in the city of Khost, which killed eight CIA staffers. "He's a significant operator," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer now at the Brookings Institution. "And it's another sign that the pressure is substantial." Hussami's death is being trumpeted as a significant blow to al Qaeda, while the organization is praising his "martyrdom" on various Web sites.