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Obama to Restart Transfers From Guantanamo
Wall Street Journal ^

Posted on 05/22/2013 3:30:43 PM PDT by Sub-Driver

Obama to Restart Transfers From Guantanamo By JULIAN E. BARNES, EVAN PEREZ and ADAM ENTOUS

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is set to restart transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. officials said, kick-starting a long-stalled drive to close the prison.

In a speech Thursday, President Barack Obama will reassert his case that closing Guantanamo is crucial to U.S. counterterrorism goals. While he isn't planning to detail in the speech how to speed up transfers from the prison, officials said the president in coming weeks plans to lift the administration's prohibition on sending detainees to Yemen.

The president in the speech also is set to lay down the broader outlines of his administration's approach to efforts to fight al Qaeda and its affiliates, including through the use of unmanned aircraft strikes.

Ahead of the president's speech, the administration told Congress in a letter Wednesday that four Americans have been killed in drone strikes, the first official acknowledgment of the deaths by the government. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote that only Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was specifically targeted. Mr. Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in September 2011.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 20130523; benghazi; catchandrelease; gitmo; guantanamo; knownothingpresident; nationalsecurityfail; presflustercluck; prezflustercluck; qumu
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To: kabar
Was it? Do you have a source for that?

A source... not specifically.

Remember WHY the DRONES are even flying over LIBYA ? Remember the 200 Cruise Missiles we fired at Ghaddafi ? Seems like CBA was no problem then.

Obama is giving a speech about the use of DRONES to kill terrorists. How can you kill terrorists without ARMED DRONES ? (Yes, I know they can provide the target for other military craft, but that is not what they have been doing)

Considering that it would appear that ALL THE DRONES are ARMED, why would this one DRONE not be ARMED ?

Why has no one in the MSM mentioned it, even if just to get it on record that it was not armed ?

61 posted on 05/23/2013 7:50:55 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: Sub-Driver
hehe, good luck with that Obama!
62 posted on 05/23/2013 7:51:20 AM PDT by Drawn7979
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To: kabar

After more searching, it appears the Media has printed articles stating that the DRONE(s) were not armed.

There are also articles stating that back in 2011, Obama authorized the use of Armed Drones in Libya.

I still believe that a FORMER NAVY SEAL would not ‘paint’ a target unless HE KNEW there was an armed aircraft immediately available in the vicinity. He knew they could ‘detect’ his position once he turned on the laser pointer.

He was right.


63 posted on 05/23/2013 7:56:02 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: Sub-Driver

64 posted on 05/23/2013 8:04:45 AM PDT by JoeProBono (Mille vocibus imago valet;-{)
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To: UCANSEE2
Everything I have read is that the drones, there were two--one had to leave due to low fuel and was replaced by another, were unarmed. Hence, I found your assertion that the drones were armed to be a major revelation. My, Congressman, Frank Wolf, is heading a major effort to get the truth about Benghazi out including the appointment of a select committee.

If you could have provided me with a source for your assertion, I could have taken that to him. This would be a bombshell that would have attracted major media attention along with Congress. It would be very big news,

You could be right. Since we must negotiate with Libya--now a supposed ally--an agreement to fly in their airspace, there had to be conditions attached, No doubt, such an agreement would specify that these drones be unarmed.

If we, in fact, were flying armed drones over Libya, that could have been a factor in not using them. There could also have been a fear of causing collateral damage and the effect it would have had on bilateral relations. If those were really the factors at play, then it is even more damning and despicable.

65 posted on 05/23/2013 8:44:49 AM PDT by kabar
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To: kabar
If we, in fact, were flying armed drones over Libya,

If that 'caller' was correct, then we WERE flying armed drones over Libya. Otherwise, it would make no sense to order them 'disarmed'.

66 posted on 05/23/2013 8:49:46 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: kabar

“President Obama has given approval for two armed American Predator drones to operate over Libya, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.” Apr 21, 2011
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-approves-armed-predator-drones-libya/story?id=13429788

Obama Sends Armed Drones to Help NATO in Libya War
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/world/africa/22military.html?_r=0

U.S. To Fly Armed Drones Over Libya
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/21/135606950/u-s-to-fly-armed-drones-over-libya

As drone monopoly frays, Obama seeks global rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/17/us-usa-security-drones-idUSBRE92G02720130317
“President Barack Obama, who vastly expanded U.S. drone strikes against terrorism suspects overseas under the cloak of secrecy, is now openly seeking to influence global guidelines for their use as China and other countries pursue their own drone programs.”


Everything you need to know about the drone debate, in one FAQ

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-drone-debate-in-one-faq/
“According to the Post database, there have been 347 in Pakistan, 53 in Yemen and 2 in Somalia. From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya according to the Bureau for Investigative Journalism. That does not include strikes in Libya past September 2011, strikes from 2001 to 2007 in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those since October 2012. The New York Times’ Mark Mazzetti reported that at least one strike has happened in the Philippines.”


67 posted on 05/23/2013 9:00:07 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: kabar
That does not include strikes in Libya past September 2011,

I wonder why ?

68 posted on 05/23/2013 9:02:18 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: UCANSEE2

If you are referring to the caller on Rush’s show, he never said the drones were armed or that they were disarmed. I heard the call myself.


69 posted on 05/23/2013 10:25:11 AM PDT by kabar
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To: UCANSEE2

The war was over. Gaddafi was eliminated on October 20, 2011.


70 posted on 05/23/2013 10:27:48 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Sub-Driver
A condition for the transfer of any detainee should be that a large Star of David be tattooed on his forehead and a full-color American flag be tattooed on each arm.
71 posted on 05/23/2013 10:33:20 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: DoughtyOne

Ya think? But ya got to remember that back then in them thar Cold War days, men were men and women were women, and being PC in the USA was akin to being a wuss, Pilgrim.


72 posted on 05/23/2013 10:54:29 AM PDT by fivecatsandadog (Let's not be so open-minded that our brains fall out.)
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To: fivecatsandadog

Word!


73 posted on 05/23/2013 11:01:46 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Funny thing happened on the way to the Constitution burning, Lefties rights were violated...)
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To: Sub-Driver
Al-Qaeda militants escape from Yemen prison
12:25PM GMT 12 Dec 2011

Several al-Qaeda militants escaped from a prison in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, officials said, tunnelling their way out in the second such jailbreak this year.

'Al-Qaeda fighters' escape from Yemen jail
22 Jun 2011 11:41

Dozens of alleged al-Qaeda fighters have escaped from a prison in southern Yemen, according to security officials. Up to 40 inmates attacked the guards and seized their arms early on Wednesday, as bands of heavily armed gunmen attacked the prison in the port city of Mukalla in Hadramout province, the Associated Press news agency citing security officials said.

3 al-Qaida members escape from prison in southern Yemen
2013-03-07 02:06:50

ADEN, Yemen, March 6 (Xinhua) -- At least three members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch escaped from an intelligence jail in the southern province of Abyan on Wednesday evening, a security official told Xinhua. Three al-Qaida inmates escaped from the military intelligence jail in Mudiyah town in Abyan province, after a short shootout with guards at the prison, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

USS Cole plotter escapes prison
Sunday, February 5, 2006; Posted: 5:17 p.m. EST (22:17 GMT)

CNN) -- Interpol has issued "an urgent global security alert" after 23 "dangerous individuals" -- including a man identified as the mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 -- escaped from a Yemeni prison.

The international crime-fighting organization said Sunday at least 13 of the 23 who escaped Friday were "convicted al Qaeda terrorists, some of whom were involved in attacks on U.S. and French ships in 2000 and 2002."

74 posted on 05/23/2013 11:06:23 AM PDT by Pan_Yan (I believe in God. All else is dubious.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Ulterior motives. FUBO

The man is an anti-colonialist.

Closing the prison is not his main goal. He wants to give the land back to Cuba.


75 posted on 05/23/2013 11:10:33 AM PDT by ThomasMore (Islam is the Whore of Babylon!)
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76 posted on 05/23/2013 11:11:58 AM PDT by RedMDer (May we always be happy and may our enemies always know it. - Sarah Palin, 10-18-2010)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Of course, they’re now eligible for Obamacare, and parole.

Thanks Sub-Driver.


77 posted on 05/23/2013 3:43:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: SoFloFreeper

Did anyone else feel that this Code Pink person was an Obama “Plant”????

Any other heckler would be pulled off the floor....... This woman was feeding into his narrative that he wants to close Guantanamo !!

She interrupted him about 4 times & he reacted to her each time.... This was planned!!


78 posted on 05/24/2013 12:11:30 AM PDT by ebysan (ebysan)
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To: kabar

So.... since we are still killing ‘terrorists’ with Armed Drones, do you think the drones were unarmed ?


79 posted on 05/24/2013 1:02:10 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: kabar; .45 Long Colt; don-o
OK. Here are some reports on the 'drone operator' call.

Drone operator who flew over Benghazi attack: 'I

AND one video

Guy Who Flew Drone Over Benghazi Calls into Sean Hannity Before Benghazi

NOTE: "We were only over the 'consulate' for five minutes when we were told to go watch the annex. We wouldn't have been able to do much anyway, due to the Status of Forces Agreement with other host countries where we are located, WE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO BE ARMED...THAT NIGHT."

Here's a picture of the PREDATOR DRONE, which is the 'model' that was in use.

Here's the NYPOST article where they state (assume) the drone was unarmed.

US ‘too slow’ to act as drone’s cam captured Libya horror

80 posted on 05/24/2013 8:58:51 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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