"We should be gravely concerned - to say the least."

At The Weekly Standard, Thomas Joscelyn has some preliminary analysis of yesterday's thwarted terror attack:

Finally, all of this could also further complicate the Obama administration’s attempts to close Guantanamo. Around 90 or more of the remaining 198 detainees are Yemeni. The Bush administration did not repatriate many of them to their home country because of security concerns. The Obama administration has similarly been reluctant to transfer large numbers of detainees because the Yemeni government has an abysmal track record when it comes to keeping tabs on known al Qaeda terrorists.

President Saleh’s regime is also notoriously duplicitous, and works with al Qaeda and like-minded jihadist organizations at times. Thus far, the American government has not wanted to risk transferring or releasing the Gitmo Yemenis to Saleh’s custody because it could easily lead to their rejoining the jihad in short order.

The Yemen part of Mudallad’s story is, therefore, of paramount importance. It is too early to tell how important this aspect is, but we should be gravely concerned - to say the least.

The Obama administration has already released Gitmo graduates to Yemen as recently as last week. I wonder how long before those guys show back up in the terror cycle. Joscelyn is right that it is certainly something we should be concerned about.

Additionally, Mark Steyn at NRO's The Corner has the story of the passenger who was first to react:

Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.

Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."

"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."

It's reminiscent of Flight 93 and the passengers who thwarted that attempt. Thank goodness for the bravery and the vigilance of Americans who continue to stay alert to the threat of jihad.

And finally, who knew about "suicide underwear"? Good grief. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Lots more at Memeorandum.