FINE REPORTING – AT 11:12 A.M. ET:  The Politico does some first-rate sleuthing to uncover the contradictions and hypocrisy in this administration's anti-terror policy.  This is good reading:

"The senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing sensitive security matters, said the government was gaining confidence in Yemen’s willingness to handle returning detainees after months of 'intense' talks under the Obama administration..."

     – The New York Times, 12/20/09

"A senior administration official said Thursday that Mr. Obama’s interagency team had already decided quietly several weeks ago that the security situation in Yemen was too volatile to transfer any more detainees beyond six who were sent home in December..."

      – The New York Times, 1/1/2010

Josh Gerstein, in The Politico, asks:

Hmmm. Is "quietly" a euphemism for "despite telling us more or less the opposite ten days ago"?

Joined with John Brennan's remarks (just below), we feel an even greater loss of confidence than we've felt before.

It's...curious that the fact that no more detainees would be sent to Yemen was being touted to reporters as a finding or result of the post-Christmas bombing intelligence review, if indeed such repatriations were halted "quietly several weeks ago."

A lot of things are curious about this administration. 

January 3, 2009