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.