Since the failed Flight 253 attack brought Yemen-based terrorism under scrutiny, the U.S. has taken new initiatives to tackling terror in the country. One approach is bolstering America's partnership with the Yemeni government under President Ali Abdullah Saleh with foreign aid and consulting.

Saturday Night Live has joined the many skeptics of boosting Yemen's government. In this skit, they skewer Saleh as incompetent and backwards. It's not a very culturally sensitive performance, but it does capture the growing Western sentiment that Yemen's embattled government is a less than satisfactory ally. (Skip the first minute -- a dull impression of CNN's Wolf Blitzer.)



The focus of the skit is that Saleh doesn't know what he's doing. For example, the Yemeni President says of "beefed up" airline security: "From now on, the people riding in the airplanes would be allowed to keep only three kind of liquid: water, animal milk, and gasoline."

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