Also in the files was an editorial of March 31, 2000, that appeared in the Forward. Headlined "Toasting a Tyrant," it appeared on the eve of a "festive" lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria hosted by the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation honoring the strongman who had ruled Yemen since 1990, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Americans may debate whether Mr. al-Badawi deserves to get a criminal trial in a New York courtroom or to rot at Guantanamo Bay until the end of the war. But it seems clear that a man America has charged with killing 17 American sailors should meet justice at the hands of America, rather than at the hands of the Yemeni interior ministry. The Yemeni government might or might not be more lenient than America. American justice is not perfect. But neither is it likely that, once in the grasp of America,a person accused of killing 17 American sailors would be left to receive well-wishers in his home after pledging loyalty to a dictator.