Someday we will know the insider story, but my only hypothesis, really, is that some analyst suddenly realized that the Islamists could come all the way to Bamako (in one day, as did JEM in 2008 in Omdurman and also in N’Djamena by coaltion of opposition to Déby in 2008), loot, kick-ass, burn down the presidential palace at Koulouba, take a whole bunch of hostages, and the Malian army would probably just let them… and then intervening in Bamako would be a real mess if they blew up the runway…. so it was a choice between two nightmares…. Maybe?