Released detainee now Yemen al-Qaida commander

Washington (AP) A key question facing President Barack Obama is what to do with the 245 prisoners still confined at Guantanamo as it closes. The emergence of a former detainee as an al-Qaida figure in Yemen doesn't make it any easier.

A U.S. counterterror official confirmed yesterday that Said Ali al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 after six years at Guantanamo, has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni branch of al-Qaida.

A reference to al-Shihri has shown up twice this week on a militant-leaning Web site. An announcement yesterday also included a video of a second militant who claims to be a former Guantanamo captive. The second man's claim has not been verified.

The administration's dilemma is to find new detention facilities for hard-core prisoners while trying to determine which detainees are harmless enough to release.

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