Gitmo Update

[Undertoad]

His past history says... in spite of.

Originally Posted by NYTimes

Mr. Shihri, 35, trained in urban warfare tactics at a camp north of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to documents released by the Pentagon as part of his Guantánamo dossier. Two weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he traveled to Afghanistan via Bahrain and Pakistan, and he later told American investigators that his intention was to do relief work, the documents say. He was wounded in an airstrike and spent a month and a half recovering in a hospital in Pakistan.

The documents state that Mr. Shihri met with a group of “extremists” in Iran and helped them get into Afghanistan. They also say he was accused of trying to arrange the assassination of a writer, in accordance with a fatwa, or religious order, issued by an extremist cleric.

However, under a heading describing reasons for Mr. Shihri’s possible release from Guantánamo, the documents say he claimed that he traveled to Iran “to purchase carpets for his store” in Saudi Arabia. They also say that he denied knowledge of any terrorists or terrorist activities, and that he “related that if released, he would like to return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wherein he would reunite with his family.”

“The detainee stated he would attempt to work at his family’s furniture store if it is still in business,” the documents say.

I doubt NATO bombed a lot of "relief workers" at those al Qaeda training camps.

[Beestie]

Big deal. Some half-wit decides to turn or return to terror. I'm quakin' in my boots I am.

[classicman]

or kill 'em all and take the credit.
(Wasn't that the plan to begin with?)

[Undertoad]

Another one. In the same group as our previous al-Shihri. You'll have to read this one carefully:

"By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for," al-Shihri was quoted as saying.

Well, next time he won't be imprisoned. Next time he'll be reduced to paste by a predator drone:

PAKISTAN received an early warning of what the era of “smart power” under President Barack Obama will look like after two remote-controlled US airstrikes killed 22 people at suspected terrorist hideouts in the border area of Waziristan.

That IS smart: instead of the messy business of invading, shooting at people, having to take prisoners, set up military tribunals with attention whore lawyers and code pink morons banging at the door -- just kill them, remotely.

If the jihadi's abdomen can't be located, it just might decrease his persistence.

[xoxoxoBruce]

"By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for," al-Shihri was quoted as saying.

Sure sounds like an admission of guilt to me.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

If the jihadi's abdomen can't be located, it just might decrease his persistence.

Well stated.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

That IS smart: instead of the messy business of invading, shooting at people, having to take prisoners, set up military tribunals with attention whore lawyers and code pink morons banging at the door -- just kill them, remotely.

Boom goes the dynamite!

[TheMercenary]

I think they really should not give them a choice. Load them up in a C-17 and drop them off. End of story.

April 24, 2009
Yemen Dispute Slows Closing of Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and ROBERT F. WORTH
The Obama administration’s effort to return the largest group of Guantánamo Bay detainees to Yemen, their home country, has stalled, creating a major new hurdle for the president’s plan to close the prison camp in Cuba by next January, American and Yemeni officials say.

“We’re at a complete impasse,” said one American official who is involved in the issue but was speaking without authorization and so requested anonymity. “I don’t know that there’s a viable Plan B.”

The Yemeni government has asked Washington to return its detainees and has said that it would need substantial aid to rehabilitate the men. But the Obama administration is increasingly skeptical of Yemen’s ability to provide adequate rehabilitation and security to supervise returned prisoners. In addition, American officials are wary of sending detainees to Yemen because of growing indications of activity by Al Qaeda there.

The developments are significant for the Obama administration because the 97 Yemeni detainees make up more than 40 percent of the remaining 241 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. The question of what to do with them “is integral to the process of closing Guantánamo,” said Ken Gude, an associate director at the Center for American Progress who has written about closing the prison camp.

The standoff over the Yemeni detainees comes on top of other difficulties that have emerged since President Obama announced his intention to close the prison that has drawn international criticism for years.

continues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/wo...gewanted=print

[classicman]

Officials: Gitmo court system likely to stay open

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration may revamp and restart the Bush-era military trial system for suspected terrorists as it struggles to determine the fate of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and fulfill a pledge to close the prison by January.
The move would further delay terrorism trials and, coupled with recent comments by U.S. military and legal officials, amounts to a public admission by President Barack Obama's team that delivering on that promise is easier said than done.
One official said the Obama administration planned to use the extra time to ask Congress to tweak the existing military tribunals system that was created for the detainees. Critics of former President George W. Bush, who pushed Congress to create it, have said the system violated U.S. law because it limits the detainees' legal rights.

Now, faced with looming deadlines and few answers for where to transfer the detainees, the Obama administration may keep the tribunal system — with a few changes.

Asked at a Senate hearing last week if the administration would abandon the Guantanamo system, Defense Secretary Robert Gates answered: "Not at all."

"The commissions are very much still on the table," Gates said, adding that nine Guantanamo detainees are already being tried in military tribunals.

Gates also alluded to the administration's likely request for Congress to tweak to law that created the Guantanamo legal system.

But administration officials have said they hoped to try many in U.S. federal courts, relying on civilian prosecutors instead of on the military law.

Among the planned changes to the law, both officials said Saturday, would be limits on the evidence used against the detainees. Much of the evidence compiled against at least some of the detainees is classified and cannot be used in civilian courts without exposing the secret material.

Since Obama ordered the prison closed, Republicans have seized on the issue of where the detainees will go — and the new Democratic administration lack of a plan to deal with them.

"Closing Guantanamo is not a good option if no safe alternatives exist," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement Saturday.

Paul F. Rothstein, a Georgetown University legal ethics professor, said the dilemma highlights differences between campaign rhetoric and the realities of the courtroom.

"Once you become president and see the whole panoply of issued that you face, some of the things that seemed easy to promise or talk about during the campaign sometimes appear more difficult," Rothstein said Saturday. "Elections are fought on big slogans without much nuance or detail. I think we want a president who responds to what he sees when he actually gets in there and sees the whole picture, rather than one who adheres rigidly to what he said before."

Hmm.. Now what?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Open the doors and let Cuba deal with them.

[TGRR]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Open the doors and let Cuba deal with them.

You're supposed to try them before they get shot.

[TGRR]

Try 'em. If they're guilty, shoot 'em. If not, process them as a regular deportee.

[classicman]

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will keep the military tribunal system for trying terrorism suspects held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and expand legal protections for defendants.

The Defense Department will ask a military court for another delay in trials of suspected terrorist as the first step in revamping and reviving tribunals for some detainees, Obama said in a statement.

“We will seek more time to allow us time to reform the military commission process,” the statement said. “These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law.”

The actions would revive a system put in place by former President George W. Bush with changes that address objections that Obama raised about the policy during his presidential campaign. Human rights groups criticized the president’s decision, while several key lawmakers voiced their support.

Obama said he wanted to preserve the military commissions system as a proper forum “for trying enemies who violate the laws of war, provided that they are properly structured and administered.”

Good - If done properly this is the best course of action - Try and convict if guilty then sentence or if innocent move on.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think he came to the conclusion that allowing them into the court system would become a dog & pony show of mammoth proportions. Defense lawyers would be subpoenaing everybody and their brother, plus millions of documents the government doesn't want public.
I think Obama want to clean up this mess as expeditiously as possible.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I think Obama want to clean up this mess as expeditiously as possible.

Worse, we imprisioned hundreds who were not guilty. Now that we have created hundreds of enemies, and are not guilty, what happens to these people? Where do they go free?

Amazing how torture turns innocent people into good people.

Why would any nation want people now embedded with so much hate? We programmerd them. Where do we put them? In an open trial, they would have to go free.

Of some 400 innocent prisoners from Guantanamo, about 60 harbored so much hate of America and as to be easily recruited as soldiers against America. Every possible solution is negative. A tribute to the intelligence of people such as Condi Rice whose job was to avert such problems.