WH Changes Tune on Sending Yemeni Gitmo Detainees Back Home

For the first time since the attempted December 25th terror attack aboard a US bound jetliner and the revelation that the accused terrorist has ties to extremists in Yemen, the Obama administration says it will not transfer additional Guantanamo Bay detainees to that country.

"We're not going to make transfers to a country like Yemen that they're not capable of handling. While we remain committed to closing [Guantanamo], the determination has been made that right now any additional transfers to Yemen is not a good idea," said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In the days following the Detroit incident, White House officials maintained that they would still consider on a case by case basis whether to send detainees back to Yemen with the proper assurances from the Yemeni government.

There are currently about 90 Yemenis at Gitmo.

Unlike its predecessor, it’s been the preference of the Obama administration to return detainees to their country of origin. Half a dozen Yemeni detainees were sent home just last month. The challenge for the U.S. government has been the rate of recidivism - the tendency for those released to relapse to extremist behavior.

According to Fox News’ Catherine Herridge, intelligence sources say the Detroit terror suspect, 23 year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, spent four months in Yemen in late 2009 where he received training at a terrorist camp.

The leadership of the group taking responsibility for the Christmas Day bombing attempt, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has included former Gitmo detainees. Herridge reports that one of those leaders was recently picked up by authorities, while another remains at-large.

Since taking office, the President has argued that keeping the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay open is more harmful to U.S. national security because extremists use its existence as a recruiting tool and to encourage attacks against Americans.

President Obama had originally hoped to close Gitmo this month, but the challenge of doing so has pushed the closure date to 2011.