Just six short weeks after he was arrested, al Qaeda operative and Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is once again talking to authorities. According to anonymous sources.

Why the sudden reversal in cooperation? Because the government supposedly brought in his family to convince him to talk. Oh, and he’s supposedly going to get a plea deal.

Did I mention this is six freaking weeks after he was arrested and we learned he possessed information regarding impending operations against the United States? Six weeks.

The Nigerian man accused of trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day has been cooperating with investigators since last week, discussing his contacts in Yemen and providing intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials said Tuesday.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s cooperation could prove to be a national security victory and a political vindication for President Barack Obama, who has been under fire from lawmakers who contend the administration botched the case by giving Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, rather than interrogating him as a military prisoner.

Yeah, no. We waited six weeks to gain valuable information, just so Barack Obama could feel good by reading an foreign al Qaeda operative his non-existent rights. No one outside of MoveOn.org views this as vindication of his policies. Waiting six weeks to gain valuable information about possible impending attacks isn’t acceptable under any definition.

In the days following the failed bombing, a pair of FBI agents flew to Nigeria and persuaded Abdulmutallab’s family to help them. When the agents returned to the U.S., Abdulmutallab’s family came, too, according to a senior administration official briefed on the case. The family persuaded Abdulmutallab to work with the FBI, believing he would be treated fairly in U.S. courts, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

And so a month-and-a-half later, this al Qaeda operative was again cooperating. Could a terrorist attack he had information about have occurred in that time span? Sure. But hey, at least we wouldn’t have to live with having really interrogated him. Americans would be dead, yes, but the terrorist would be comfortable. So, victory!

By the way, there’s reason to believe this entire report is bullcrap. Or that the administration is lying. Since the criticism first started the White House has claimed that all of the useful information possessed by Abdulmuttalab was received in the short 50 minutes of FBI interrogation following his arrest. Now he’s giving valuable information again? Which is it?