Yemen Detainee Repatriation Talks Stalled

A scary headline out of the Middle East this morning: "Al-Qaeda Increases Yemen Attacks as Government Control Weakens."  The Bush and Obama administrations have been working with Yemen to facilitate the release of dozens of Yemeni citizens held at Gitmo; Yemen's president has bragged about building new repatriation facilities where the newly released detainees would be re-educated and re-integrated into Yemen society. All that was predicated on their being a stable Yemen society where joining Al Qaeda was not an attractive option for these young Muslim men. Bloomberg reports that the President's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, held secret talks to warn Yemen President Ali Saleh about U.S. concerns. Chief among them: the flood of radical young Saudi men who have turned Yemen into their safe haven. Additionally, an adviser to Saleh warned Yemen's parliament that Al Qaeda had infiltrated Yemen's intelligence and security services.