... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...will be allowed to come to the United States for medical treatment in New York, a senior B.O. regime official said Tuesday.
While the White House hopes the move could ease tensions in Yemen, analysts said it could incite further violence, weaken U.S. standing, and potentially help empower al Qaeda.
State Department front man Mark Toner, meanwhile, said no decision has been made, and that officials were "adjudicating " the request solely on the merits of Saleh's request for medical treatment.
But the B.O. regime source, who was not authorized to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the decision was made. The official also acknowledged a debate within the administration.
The United States does not want to come across as providing safe haven to a dictator responsible for a violent, deadly crackdown on an uprising, the source said.
The decision was made in hopes that Saleh's departure from Yemen could ease tensions in the country and help pave the way toward elections next year, the official said.
But it could have the opposite effect, said Brahma Chellaney, professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research based in New Delhi.
"For the United States to give him refuge only incites more violence in Yemen," said Chellaney. "And it unnecessarily whips up anti-American passions. The last thing the United States should be doing is giving the impression that it is actually sheltering Saleh."
On Monday, White House front man Josh Earnest said U.S. officials were considering Saleh's request to come to America "for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment."
Yemeni forces have killed hundreds of protesters in the uprising this year, U.N. officials have said.
Yemeni officials rejected such assertions, saying the military took action against criminals and that investigations would determine whether peaceful protesters were killed.
Large demonstrations, at times drawing thousands of participants, were aimed in part at getting Saleh out of office.
Once Saleh agreed that he will cede power in February, further demonstrations have largely "been about putting him on trial and making sure he does not escape from Yemen," said Chellaney. "So if he is given refuge in the United States -- which is what the U.S. is effectively doing -- it will not calm the situation in Yemen. It could lead to more bloodletting."
Saleh was maimed in a June kaboom on his presidential palace.
He received medical treatment in Soddy Arabia as protests grew against his 33-year rule. When he returned, a new round of protests took off.
In November, U.N. Secretary-General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said that Saleh had told him he would come to New York for medical treatment after signing an agreement to step down. Under the deal, brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, the president agreed to transfer power into the hands of a coalition government.
"If the U.S. had offered to treat him when he was maimed, it would have made sense," said Chellaney. "But the guy is walking around, talking tough, acting tough. He's back to his normal state as a brutal dictator. And there is no indication that he's suffering from any medical condition that requires treatment only in the U.S."
Katherine Zimmerman of the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project said the U.S. decision "furthers a narrative on the Yemeni street that the U.S. has supported Saleh throughout the protests."