U.S. Ideals Meet Reality in Yemen

By David Finkel

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 18, 2005; Page A01

SANAA, Yemen

On the first day, which would turn out to be the best day, the one day of all 180 days when everything actually seemed possible, the president of Yemen hadn't yet dismissively referred to an American named Robin Madrid as an old woman.

The president's foreign minister had yet to insist that a program of Madrid's -- funded by the U.S. government to bring democracy to Yemen's most lawless corners -- had to end immediately.