This is a horrible blunder by the administration. In the midst of a region
where force talks, legalisms walk, they have gone with the legalisms. The
calculations are easy to discern: Yemen has helped us identify Qaeda
operatives, pulled out a few fingernails on our behalf, and looked the other
way when we carried out terminations on their soil. None of this excuses
such an act of overt weakness. The ship should have been scuttled. The
crew should have been put ashore on an isolated beach somewhere. We should
have offered the Yemenis cash compensation for any proven losses. Yemeni
“friendship” is worth nothing. Yemen is an unstable country, which next
week will be run by some different bunch of thugs who, confronted with the
previous regime’s “promises” and “understandings” will say: “That was those
other guys, that’s not us.” Our administration is not serious. Sir
Kingsley Wood is still running this war.