It wasn’t for lack of a good reason that the administration fought so desperately to avoid being pinned down on whether detainee transfers to Yemen would continue. Days before the Christmas Day attack, a “senior administration official” told the New York Times that the White House was “gaining confidence in Yemen’s willingness to handle returning detainees.” On Thursday a “senior administration official” told the New York Times the White House had decided to halt the transfers weeks ago.  Josh Gerstein described the back and forth spin as “whiplash inducing,” only to update his post hours later when John Brennan told CNN the transfers would continue. Yesterday, the White House reversed course again: “We will not be returning detainees to Yemen at this time,” Obama told reporters, due to the “unsettled situation” in the country.

Here’s the problem: if you can’t send them to Yemen, you can’t close Gitmo: