Government Web sites in Yemen yesterday were claiming that Jamal al-Badawi, accused of helping to plan the bombing in October 2000 of the USS Cole, was being detained by the interior ministry. If true, it is an improvement; the Associated Press reported that al-Badawi had been "set free after he turned himself in earlier this month and pledged loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh."

The indictment charged Mr. al-Badawi and Fahd al-Quso with, as the press release put it, "50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel

Forward. Headlined "Toasting a Tyrant,"

he editorial enumerated Mr. Saleh's human rights abuses, his crackdowns on press freedoms and on trade unions, his rantings against Israel. It concluded that the guests at the Waldorf-Astoria "should have a clear view of the record of the tyrant they are sitting down to honor."