“In a [September 6] 2009 meeting with John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, [Yemeni President] Mr. [Ali Abdullah] Saleh offered an unusual bargain. He ‘insisted that Yemen’s national territory is available for unilateral CT [counterterrorist] operations by the U.S.’–but with a catch. If there were to be an attack on a Western target, Mr. Saleh said, it would not be his fault. ‘I have given you an open door on terrorism,’ he said, ‘so I am not responsible.’ ”
– Scott Shane, “WikiLeaks Archive – U.S. Helps Yemen Defy Al Qaeda,” The New York Times, Dec. 3, 2010