Saudis Demand that the US Release Most of the Terrorists Held in Cuba.

CBS News - Saudis Want Detainees Turned Over ^ | Mon, 28 Jan 2002 20:25:04 EST -- BREAKING! | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

Saudis Want Detainees Turned Over

Saudi Minister: Over 100 Saudis Being Held At Guantanamo Bay

Jan. 28, 2002

Shackled Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners in orange jumpsuits, sit in holding area.

(CBS) So far, U.S. officials have steadfastly refused to identity by name or nationality the 158 men locked up at the American Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But Monday, Saudi Arabia claimed that nearly two-thirds of them were Saudi citizens – and the Saudis want them back, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

Although acknowledging that the men were captured during fighting inside Afghanistan, Interior Minister Prince Nayef told reporters, "The issue of prisoners is important to us and we ask that they be handed over to us so we can interrogate them."

But they're important to us, too, responded President Bush, who met at the White House with the new leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

"We'll make a decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether they go back to Saudi Arabia or not. I appreciate his suggestion," said Mr. Bush.

And Pentagon officials made it clear they're in no hurry to return the Saudis.

"We have no desire to hold on to large numbers of detainees of any kind for any great length of time. But we want to make sure these people are not back out on the streets," said Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.

She said the nationalities of all the prisoners' had not yet been determined. U.S. officials have said they are considering sending some of the prisoners to their homelands on condition their governments punish them. Some may be tried by the United States for alleged involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks and other terrorism.

Asked about handing over Saudi citizens, Clarke said prisoners would be repatriated to "those countries that we feel will handle them appropriately."

Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally in the Middle East, has come under criticism in the United States from some who say the Saudi government has done too little to crack down on terrorists and extremists within its borders.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers of the passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 were Saudis, according to U.S. officials. Saudi officials insist no Saudi involvement has been proven. Osama bin Laden, whose al-Qaida terror network is accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, was a Saudi national until his citizenship was revoked in the 1990s.

Saudi Arabia's southern neighbor, Yemen, has said it was also seeking information from the United States on 17 of its nationals it says are being held at the Guantanamo base.

At the White House, meanwhile, Mr. Bush said he is weighing legal questions on whether the Geneva Convention applies to the 158 suspected terrorists being held in Cuba. He pledged to treat them humanely, but said: "These are killers."

Mr. Bush and his national security advisers failed to resolve the issue at a Monday morning meeting, but said they agree that the detainees will not be considered prisoners of war, which could confer on them an array of rights.

"We are not going to call them prisoners of war," said Mr. Bush, who three times called them "prisoners" and then corrected himself to refer to them as "detainees."

"And the reason why is al-Qaida is not a known military," Mr. Bush said. "These are killers, these are terrorists, they know no countries. The only thing they know about country is when they find a country that's been weakened and they want to occupy it like a parasite."

Mr. Bush said he will listen to "all the legalisms, and announce my decision when I make it."

Some in the administration argue that the convention should apply. Others, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, believe that whether it applies is irrelevant because the al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners are "unlawful combatants" and therefore not deserving of prisoner-of-war status.

Regardless of the outcome of the debate over the Geneva Convention, the president and his national security aides are agreed that the prisoners are not POWs.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Mr. Bush's team agrees that the "core principles" of the convention should be observed, including providing food and medicine to the detainees. However, the national security team is split on whether the detainees are covered under the full weight of the Geneva Conventions, Fleischer said.

He said the conventions must be "interpreted in a modern light," now that the country is at war with terrorists. He added that the detainees were "lucky to be in the custody of our military because they're receiving three square meals a day."

"They're receiving health care that they've never received before, their sleeping conditions are probably better than anything they've had in Afghanistan, and they're being treated well because they're in the hands of the men and women of our military, and they're being treated well because that's what Americans do," Fleischer said.

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[Bonaparte]

Great minds think alike, Miss Lily! See 77.

[veryconernedamerican]

But they're important to us, too, responded President Bush, who met at the White House with the new leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. "We'll make a decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether they go back to Saudi Arabia or not. I appreciate his suggestion," said Mr. Bush. i love it

[mercy]

Fine. Let's kill three birds with one stone. First drug them and get everything out of each one of them that they know. Then fit them with transmitters during their drugged out days that even the receptors will not know they have implanted in their bodies. These transmitters will be the type that can be turned on and off by us at will. Hard to detect. Then turn the whole lot of them over to Saudi at once. Just load them onto a plane and dump them whole sale right in King Faud's lap. It will be interesting and perhaps informative to see how many of them and how quickly are released and where they go?

[EternalHope]

That means, either this report is wrong, or the Saudis are trying to provoke a showdown between the countries as a pretext for having American troops leave the country.

Obviously, a lot is going on behind the scenes. The Saudi's have not done all we wanted in the war on terror, and we are applying pressure to change that. We raised the stakes when we publicly changed the off-base attire rules for female members of the military.

I do not know what the behind the scenes response was, but this could easily be the public portion of the Saudi response to our demands.

If so, they are sending us the message that either we back off, or they will demand we withdraw. In other words, they are laying the foundation to call our bluff.

If we are bluffing, we will back down and keep our base (for now, anyway). If we do not back down (i.e., we are not bluffing), the Saudis will either back down, or ask us to leave. (I do not think we would stay after being publicly told to leave.)

I am confident that we are not bluffing. Therefore, the Saudis have a decision to make: back down, or ask us to leave. Given the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, my bet is that they ask us to leave.

We live in interesting times (which is, BTW, an ancient Chinese curse...).

[Bonaparte]

I liked that one, too."I appreciate his suggestion." = "I see right through him."

[liberalism=failure]

1) 15 out of 19 hijackers
2) 100 out of 158 detainees
3) the home of the most hateful sect--Wahhabist Islam
4) The home of hundreds of hate indoctrinating madrasses
5) Coldly booting out the guys who saved their sorry asses
6) Telling us its "unacceptable" not to condemn Israel for defending itself.

These guys shouldn't be on the top of our friend list they should be on the top of our sh** list

[a_Turk]

Castrate'm then pass 'em back.

[AmishDude]

I like your analysis. I would also add that diplomatic statements are rarely what they appear to be. This one was primarily for domestic consumption. I don't know what their endgame is, but if they want us to leave Saudi soil, they clearly want to provoke us into it.

[TigersEye]

These guys shouldn't be on the top of our friend list they should be on the top of our sh** list

Sure seems like a target rich environment doesn't it?

[monday]

"Then fit them with transmitters "

Hmmmmm ..... we do have the technology. You might be onto something mercy. Track those bad boys just like the animals they are. Maybe need to get some scientests w/ those cool tranquilizer guns and experience in tagging wolves or polar bears:)

[Dog Gone]

Given the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, my bet is that they ask us to leave.

That seems to be increasingly likely, based only on what we know. I agree, there is much going on behind the scenes that we can only guess at.

If they ask us to leave, they will be caving to their religious clerics and the fundamentalist movement. That could buy them some short-term political gain at home, but it will only make things worse for them in the long run. The clerics will soon be powerful enough that they can simply tell the royal family to leave. Or else.

I still think the Saudis are trying to walk the tightrope of trying to appease the fundamentalists while keeping a western presence for their own protection. There's no guarantee that approach would work in the long run, either.

The only strategy that might work for the royal family would be to apply pressure to the clerics and try to dampen their influence in the country. Whether that's even possible, I don't know.

The House of Saud had better enjoy itself today, because it will take a political miracle to keep it power for another 25 years.

[monday]

"The House of Saud had better enjoy itself today, because it will take a political miracle to keep it power for another 25 years."

So true, the House of Saud has no friends left. The Saudis themselves hate them, Iraq of course hates them, and they are telling us to kiss off too. Don't know maybe they have a death wish? If so its looking like their wish may just come true..

[piasa]

Why did you title this "Saudis Demand that the US Release Most of the Terrorists Held In Cuba" when the actual title of the article is "Saudis Want Detainees Turned Over" ?

This isn't breaking news either- the story was out yesterday, and known before then. They DON'T want them 'released'... they want them turned over so they can have a crack with them. More likely they want to separate a few heads from a few bodies... or even more likely, since they aren't talking quite as much as we would like, we may want to take them over to a country where some more intensive questions can be asked and where we would get answers. What better way than to 'repatriate' them to a country where there isn't a bunch of bleeding hearts wringing their hands over the sogginess of froot loops and the breeziness of the kennels?

[Agent Smith]

Send Ambassador Gilespie back to BAHGDAD with a WRITTEN go ahead to our new/old best friend Saddam. These Saudi SOPs (sons of pigs) are finished one way or another, they just don't know it yet.

[Caipirabob]

Message to Saudis:

[Dog Gone]

Well, they've got a real problem and it's hard to feel very sorry for them. They are ruling a country in a fashion that is from the Dark Ages. It's a huge, extended family, trying to run a benevolent dictatorship.

Most of the family has no responsibilities, just the ability to spend millions of dollars a year on whatever they choose. It absolutely fosters irresponsibility and an arrogance that is hardly endearing.

Saddam Hussein has a far more effective form a government. Absolute power vested in a single despot. Saudi Arabia has a dysfunctional family running a country sitting atop vast riches, where no one person calls the shots, and in a country where powerful political forces, the clerics, control the masses.

All it would take is for a conspiracy of the clerics to suddenly declare that the royal family has committed an affront to Islam, for the entire bunch to be flushed. Perhaps the Saudi army would protect them. Perhaps it wouldn't.

Either way, it's a tenuous hold on power and it can't last forever in a modern world.

[Neophyte]

Saudi Arabia claimed that nearly two-thirds of them were Saudi citizens – and the Saudis want them back

Why not? Return them... in body bags.

[t4texas]

F'em and feed 'em fish heads!

Seriously, how long are we going to put up with these backward neanderthals?

I suppose we will have to REALLY find an alternaternative to fossil fuels so that the camel jocks are left holding buggywhips instead of the natural resource we continue to depend on!!!

[Neophyte]

Agree with every word in your post #73. The only correction:

Buy from Dalmier, help Chrysler. Buy Opal, help Ford.

It's Daimler, and it's Opel. And Opel belongs to General Motors, not to Ford.