President Barack Obama has spoken directly with the president of Yemen about what to do with almost 100 Yemeni nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay, potentially easing the way for a mass transfer of prisoners away from the soon-to-be-closed U.S. facility.

Obama and President Ali Abdullah Saleh spoke for 25 minutes on Thursday in the first direct discussion between the two leaders about the future of suspected terrorists and how their countries could work together on counterterrorism policy, a senior administration official said Friday.

The official described the conversation on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive negotiations.

Obama officials are pushing for a deal that would send at least some — or perhaps all — Yemeni detainees to Saudi terrorist rehabilitation centers. Saleh has said he wants his citizens returned to their own country, although U.S. officials said the discussions with their counterparts have been productive.

The president earlier this year announced plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center that houses suspected terrorists, but the plan has faced strong opposition from members of Congress who do not want detainees relocated to their states. The not-in-my-backyard approach has vexed the White House, which is looking at how to safely deal with 241 detainees who remain under military guard.

Congressional critics of the plan, mostly Republican, say Guantanamo should remain open until it is clear where the detainees will be prosecuted or released. Obama wants it closed by January, although his Democratic allies in the House last week rebuffed the administration's request for $50 million to relocate prisoners.

U.S. officials have made a strong push for Yemen to endorse the Saudi plan, which would reduce the number of detainees that would be relocated to the United States. Senior security official John Brennan visited Yemen in March and spoke with Saleh last week. Defense Secretary Robert Gates discussed the plan with Saudi officials during his trip there this week.

Gates said that Saleh could be "reluctant to speak out openly and say that this would be a good idea, in part because he may feel that it reflects an inability in Yemen to handle the problem. So I think he is not likely to speak out."

The senior administration official said the two presidents were satisfied with the discussion and arrangements for potential transfers were still being worked out.

Few dispute that Saudi Arabia has one of the most successful jihadist rehabilitation programs in the world. Thousands of extremists, including Guantanamo detainees, have received job training, psychological therapy and religious re-education before being sent back to society. The vast majority have not rejoined the fight, according to Saudi officials and terrorism experts.

Yet some have. In an embarrassing episode for the kingdom, Saudi officials announced in February that 11 former Guantanamo detainees who went through the rehab program are now on its government's most wanted terrorist list for their connections to al-Qaida. Among them is Said Ali al-Shihri, who emerged as a leader of Yemen's branch of al-Qaida after being released from the Saudi program a year ago.

And the U.S.-Yemeni relationship has challenges as well.

Yemen infuriated the United States in 2007 by releasing Jamal al-Badawi, the convicted mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors. Al-Badawi was set free after turning himself in and pledging loyalty to Saleh. He has since been taken back into custody after pressure from Washington.

Kirk Lippold, who commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked, sharply criticized the plan to turn the detainees over to either Yemen or Saudi Arabia as "an unacceptable compromise to our national security."

"Yemen has consistently proven themselves over the years to be an untrustworthy and unreliable partner in the war on terror," said Lippold, who now is with the nonpartisan advocacy group Military Families United.

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