The White House Rewriting History on Yemen

The Obama administration just can't seem to admit that they had made a mistake.

The New York Times on December 12, 2009:

But 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, as well as counterterrorism assistance from the United States that dates back to the Bush years.

“Over the past year and even longer, we have invested in the Yemeni security and intelligence services, in terms of training and equipment and in terms of continuing to work with them on a variety of counterterrorism programs and making sure they are firm in their commitment against Al Qaeda,” the official said. “That has given us greater confidence that the Yemeni government and president would deal with this issue very seriously and was not going to ignore the potential security risks associated with returning detainees.” . . .

The New York Times on January 1, 2010:

But 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 government concluded it had to release those six because it was about to lose habeas corpus hearings in court that would order them freed.
As for the rest, "we all agreed we couldn’t send people back because of the security situation," said the official, who like others requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. . . .
The administration will re-examine the question in late 2010, when an Illinois prison is ready to take remaining Guantánamo detainees, the official said. . . .

Of course the Obama administration had just transferred 12 more Gitmo detainees to Yemen and other countries (six went to Yemen) right before Christmas. The Obama administration ignored various pleas from different congressmen.

The announcement came after Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., sent a request to President Obama on Friday to stop the release. The nearly 100 Yemenis remaining at the Cuba facility make up the largest group there. But releasing more detainees to Yemen is raising concerns, because of the country's security problems and lack of resources.

"I have written you and others in your administration on three occasions imploring you to halt the release of detainees to these countries due to the deteriorating security situations and the dangerous potential for recidivism," Wolf wrote in his letter.

"I am deeply concerned that American lives will be at risk because of this terrible decision," he said. . . .