The New York Times has an interesting update on the Yemeni detainees at Gitmo today. It turns out that the Obama administration took a second look at Yemen and did not like what it saw. Thus, for the time being, it looks like the Yemeni detainees will not be returned to their native country, which is home to an increasingly strong al Qaeda network and a duplicitous government that frequently sides with the jihadists while trying to play every party (including America) off one another for its own gain.
As Steve Hayes and I reported (see here and here), the Obama administration's first inclination was to repatriate a "majority" of the Yemeni detainees to their home country. That does not appear to be happening any time soon. The Times reports:
"We're at a complete impasse," said one American official who is involved in the issue, speaking without authorization. "I don't know that there's a viable ‘Plan B.' "
If you want to know why Yemen is so problematic, all you have to do is read the bizarre news coverage coming out of the country yesterday. The Yemen Observer, which is controlled by President Saleh's regime, published the complaints of current Gitmo detainee named Abdul al Salam al Hilal (his name is given as "Abdul Salem al-Heelah" in the piece). Al Hilal complained to his family that a deal for his and his fellow Yemenis' freedom had stalled. Al Hilal's family dutifully passed these comments onto the Observer: "If Yemeni Government and Obama come over to tell me about their promises, this will never change anything in my situation. They just talk," al Hilal said.
Why did the Yemen Observer run al Hilal's comments? Who knows? But here is where it gets strange.
Al Hilal was a member of Yemen's Political Security Organization (PSO), an internal security arm that reports directly to President Saleh. At the same time, al Hilal was an al Qaeda operative. According to the government's files, he used his position within the Yemeni government to curry favors for al Qaeda terrorists like getting them out of prison. He also facilitated their travel around the world.
In the summer of 2000, al Hilal visited the Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan. The center is a known hotbed for Islamic extremism. Italian authorities caught al Hilal on tape saying the following:
"Well, I am studying airplanes! If it is God's will, I hope to bring you a window or a piece of a plane next time I see you. …We are focusing on the air alone. ... It is something terrifying, something that moves from south to north and from east to west: the man who devised the program is a lunatic, but he is a genius. It will leave them stunned. ... We can fight any force using candles and planes. They will not be able to halt us, not even with their heaviest weapons. We just have to strike at them, and hold our heads high. Remember, the danger at the airports. If it comes off, it will be reported in all the world's papers. The Americans have come into Europe to weaken us, but our target is now the sky."
It is no wonder that the Italian press has reported that al Hilal had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks. He made the comments cited above to a senior Egyptian al Qaeda member more than one year prior to the attack.
In any event, al Hilal wants his freedom, and for some reason the state-controlled newspaper was willing to run his protests yesterday. But it gets even more bizarre.
We also found out yesterday that al Hilal's sons were killed in a grenade "accident." Jane Novak, your source for all things Yemen, tells me that this account says the boys--aged 9 and 11--were at home playing with a grenade that went off.
Sound suspicious? Of course it does. So, what is going on here? Who knows? But this whole incident underscores that dealing with Yemen's government is like sticking your hand into a basket of enraged cobras.
At least the Obama administration has made the right choice for the time being. There is no reason to repatriate dozens of Yemeni detainees, who are a threat to international security, into this mess.
