Amid the sharp accusations that the Obama administration “leaks” classified intelligence information to make the president look like a tough, drone-admiring protector of national security, two separate, fact-based reports from Yemen appeared in the June 14 New York Times. These reports, which should have been linked into a front-page story, show how grateful Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is to Barack Obama as he focuses on who is to be assassinated on the “kill lists.”

In “How Drones Help Al Qaeda,” Ibrahim Mothana, a Yemini writer and co-founder of the Watan Party, cites Robert Grenier, formerly in charge of the CIA’s counterterrorism center, warning “that the American drone program in Yemen risks turning the country into a safe haven for Al Qaeda, like the tribal areas of Pakistan.”

Adds Mothana: “The drone program is leading to the Talibanization of vast tribal areas and the radicalization of people who could otherwise be America’s allies in the fight against terrorism in Yemen.”