Analysis of many profiles of Guantanamo detainees suggests that becoming a member of al Qaeda in Yemen in the late 1990s was relatively easy, which may explain why (after Afghans and Saudis) Yemenis comprised the third largest group held there.  The documents, compiled by the U.S. Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay, show that:  -- A network of al Qaeda recruiters was able to operate in Yemen with virtual impunity.  -- Salafist religious institutes in Yemen influenced many to take up jihad and join bin Laden.  -- Many of the recruits had little education and few opportunities.  The documents were obtained by WikiLeaks and published this week.  Several religious institutes in Yemen were fertile al Qaeda recruiting grounds, according to the documents. They included Al Khair Mosque in Sanaa, the Dammaj Institute in Sadah and the al Furqan Institute. The founder of the Dammaj Institute, Sheikh Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi, is described in the documents as "one of the most influential Yemeni Islamic leaders who preached and financed jihad." (He was also an influence on bin Laden's thinking, but consistently opposed violence against other Muslims.)  From the Dammaj Institute, recruits were taken to a training camp in Yemen where they would learn assassination techniques and bomb-making. Rarely did the Yemeni authorities interfere. In fact, the documents suggest Yemeni officials could be bribed to provide medical releases and alter travel documents. Recruiters also had money to assist with airline tickets.  One of the recruiters was Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj, a Yemeni who "had access to the identities of many al Qaeda-related travelers and plausible knowledge of the detainees' travel times and locations," according to the documents. Al-Wadi, who died in 2001, and other radical imams in Yemen also provided money to several of the jihadists who would end up among the "Dirty Thirty."
On December 15, 2001, Pakistani border troops came across some 30 al Qaeda fighters in a mountain pass. They had fled the U.S. bombardment of Tora Bora, Osama bin Laden's last stronghold in