Watch: Al Qaeda Holds a Gigantic Meeting in Yemen

You'd think at this point these guys would be afraid of meeting out in the open like this for fear of getting pummeled by a drone, but apparently Al Qaeda wasn't too worried about that during a recent outdoor meeting of hundreds of terrorists in Yemen. The content of the video reminds us again that for these Islamists, attacking the United States and other western targets comes as part of their jihad and radical religious beliefs. More from the Washington Post:

A video that recently surfaced on Islamist militant Web sites shows a large group of al-Qaeda fighters — including the terrorist network’s second in command — taking part in a brazen open-air gathering, apparently unconcerned about the prospect of being struck by a U.S. drone.

U.S. officials said that the video appeared to be both recent and authentic and that analysts at the CIA and counterterrorism agencies are scrutinizing it for clues to potential plots. The officials declined to say why there had been no U.S. strike or whether U.S. spy agencies were even aware of the gathering before the video emerged.

At one point in the footage, al-Qaeda’s leader in Yemen, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, issues a warning that the organization remains focused on attacking the United States. “We must eliminate the cross,” Wuhayshi said, according to a translation of the video, adding that “the bearer of the cross is America.”