Plans to close Gitmo anger 9/11 victims' families

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=55256

American Forces Press Service

Guantanamo Bay Closure ‘On Track,’ Pentagon Lawyer Says

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 24, 2009 – Plans to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within President Barack Obama’s one-year time frame are on track, the Pentagon’s top lawyer said today.

The military held about 240 detainees at the center when Obama pledged days after his inauguration in January to close the facility. Since then, the interagency group assigned to reviewing the cases has made recommendations on more than half, including approving the transfer of more than 50 detainees to other countries, Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department general counsel, told the House Armed Services Committee in a prepared statement.

“Additional reviews are ongoing, and the process is on track,”, Johnson said. “We remain committed to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within the one-year time frame ordered by the president.”

Obama announced plans for the closure of Guantanamo Bay as part of a series of executive orders signed Jan. 22. That legislation created two task forces, one of which is responsible for going file by file through each detainee at Guantanamo Bay, making decisions about how to render justice consistent with U.S. laws and values.

The groups comprise officials from the departments of Justice, Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and from the U.S. military and intelligence community.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs this week said a request for a six-month extension for a task force progress report on interrogation policies would not delay the closure. “The task forces and the president believe we continue to make progress and can meet the goal of closing Guantanamo Bay in a year,” he said in a July 21 news conference.

Addressing Congress, Johnson said the panel has made progress on another presidential directive issued in May: reforming military commissions, the process through which detainees are tried in U.S. military courts.

Echoing Obama’s call to reform the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Johnson said he welcomes the opportunity to help change military commissions into a more viable forum.

“By working to improve military commissions to make the process more fair and credible, we enhance our national security by providing the government with effective alternatives for bringing to justice those international terrorists who violate the law of war,” he said.

Under the Senate’s recent Defense Authorization Act, several provisions were made to reform the 2006 legislation. Johnson expressed confidence in the ability of the Obama administration and Congress to continue working together to improve the law.

“Military commissions can emerge from this effort as a fully legitimate forum,” he said.

The new legislation proposes changes that ban in-court use of statements obtained by cruel interrogation methods, which Johnson said will “go a long way towards improving the process.”

Biographies:
Jeh C. Johnson

Related Articles:
Obama Calls for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Changes in Detainee Treatment

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303921/posts

US says prepared to release young Gitmo detainee
Associated Press ^ | July 29, 2009 | NEDRA PICKLER and DEVLIN BARRETT
Posted on July 29, 2009 2:55:35 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Wednesday it was prepared to release one of the youngest prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, days after signaling it might bring him to the United States for a criminal trial.

Government attorneys asked a federal judge to give them three weeks to release Mohammed Jawad.

He’s been held at the U.S. naval facility in Cuba for nearly seven years since being arrested for allegedly wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter by throwing a grenade at their jeep in Afghanistan.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304230/posts

US judge orders release of Guantanamo detainee
AFP via Times of India ^ | July 30, 2009
Posted on July 29, 2009 11:25:24 PM PDT by Schnucki

WASHINGTON: A US judge on Wednesday ordered the release of a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly eight years, directing “all necessary and appropriate” steps be taken to repatriate him, his lawyer said.

Khaled Al-Mutairi, 34, was sent to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being arrested in Pakistan in 2001.

He was picked up after traveling to Afghanistan with a charitable organization to build mosques and provide funds for schools and orphanages.

US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly “ordered that the government is directed to take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate the release of petitioner Al-Mutairi,” defense lawyer David Cynamon said.

The US Justice Department said it would review the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.

Kollar-Kotelly’s reasons for clearing the detainee were not immediately known because her full opinion was classified.

“Since his imprisonment, all that Khaled Al-Mutairi and his family have asked for is a fair hearing before an independent, impartial court to test the evidence against him,” Cynamon said in a statement.

“After more than seven long years of imprisonment, justice has finally been served for Khaled,” he said.

Al-Mutairi was held at the US detention center at Guantanamo as an “enemy combatant,” a designation used by the administration of former president George W. Bush to justify indefinite detention of terrorism suspects.

The US Supreme Court in June 2008 gave detainees at Guantanamo the right to challenge their detention in federal court in Washington under the principle of habeas corpus, the cornerstone of Anglo-Saxon law.

Federal judges have already reviewed some 30 cases and in the majority of them concluded that the government did not have sufficient evidence to establish guilt and continue detentions.

Cynamon noted that three other Kuwaitis suspected of terrorism remain at Guantanamo, including Fayiz Al-Kandari, who has been formally charged with war crimes but is yet to appear before a military court.

Their habeas corpus hearings are supposed to be held in August and September, Cynamon said.

“There were originally 12 Kuwaitis in Guantanamo Bay. In 2005 and 2006, the United States returned eight of them to Kuwait where that country’s courts charged, tried and cleared them of wrongdoing,” he said.

There are currently 229 detainees at the prison in Guantanamo, which US President Barack Obama has promised to close by January 2010.

Blogs:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/19/just-say-no-to-jihadi-dumping-in-your-backyard/

“Just say no to jihadi-dumping in your backyard”
By Michelle Malkin
August 19, 2009 03:32 PM

SNIPPET: “There’s going to be a big showdown in Standish, Michigan, tomorrow over the Obama administration’s plans to dump Gitmo detainees at the local prison.

Just got word of an emergency town hall. Read:
EMERGENCY TOWNHALL MEETING
ON GITMO DETAINEE TRANSFER TO STANDISH MICHIGAN PRISON
“NOT IN MY BACKYARD - NOT IN MY FRONT YARD””

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198522.php

August 19, 2009

“GITMO INMATES IN MY BACKYARD NOW!”

SNIPPET: “I, for one, support the President’s plan to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and dump the detainees in my back yard.

I have a rather large back yard. And it’s fenced.”

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August 24, 2009

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-ag-837.html

United States Transfers Guantanamo Bay Detainee to Afghanistan

The Department of Justice today announced that Mohammed Jawad, a native of Afghanistan, has been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan.

On July 30, 2009, consistent with the U.S. government’s notice that it would no longer treat Jawad as detainable under the Authorization for Use of Military Force, a federal court ordered the U.S. government to release him from detention at Guantanamo Bay. On Aug. 6, 2009, in accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer Jawad.

Jawad’s transfer was carried out under an arrangement between the United States and the government of Afghanistan. The United States has coordinated closely with the government of Afghanistan to ensure the transfer takes place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the Afghan government regarding Jawad.

Since 2002, more than 540 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.

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09-837

Note: Photo included.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52983

“Former USS Cole Commander Assails Release of Terrorist Suspected of Trying to Murder U.S. Soldiers”
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

SNIPPET: ““They are taking a page right out of the Lyndon Johnson Vietnam playbook, where it’s ‘let’s run things right out of the White House on a day-to-day basis, because we trust no one else in the government to be competent enough, talented enough or dedicated enough to be able to run a major war time effort,” former USS Cole Commander Kirk S. Lippold told CNSNews.com.

The Cole was attacked by terrorists in 2000.

The release of Mohammed Jawad and his return to Afghanistan is the latest of dangerous decision by the Obama administration, argued Lippold, a senior military fellow at Military Families United, an advocacy group for military families. Obama has pledged to shut down the controversial prison by January 2010.”

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328246/posts

Obama’s Third Way: Release the Terrorists
National Review ^ | March 3, 2009 | Andrew C. McCarthy
Posted on August 30, 2009 6:10:08 PM PDT by george76

Binyam Mohammed, who planned terrorist attacks on U.S. cities, has been set free.

Let’s imagine we’ve captured a highly trained terrorist al-Qaeda was attempting to embed in the United States, à la Mohamed Atta and company, to carry out mass-murder attacks in American cities. For eight years, our national-security debate in the United States has been divided into two camps on these cases.

In the first are those who accept the post-9/11 law-of-war paradigm. They would have that enemy combatant detained for intelligence purposes (and to remove him from the battlefield) until he could be tried for war crimes by a military commission, and then either executed or imprisoned for life.

In the second are those who uphold the pre-9/11 law-enforcement paradigm...

Each of these philosophies has benefits... Both have downsides.

Here’s the problem: The hypothetical suggested in the opening paragraph, is not hypothethical: It is the real case of a real jihadist, an Ethiopian named Binyam Mohammed. And, rejecting both military and civilian justice, the Obama administration has come up with its own third way: releasing him.

Mohammed is an Ethiopian-born jihadist...he joined al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and met personally with Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda figures. He received extensive, sophisticated terrorist training. In 2002, when he was finally apprehended in Pakistan, he was almost certainly en route to the United States to conduct attacks with José Padilla (who has since been convicted of terrorism offenses).

Padilla is notorious as the alleged “dirty bomber” because he — along with the lesser known Mohammed — studied the possibility of constructing and detonating a radiological bomb in an American city.

(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328239/posts

Release the Terrorist, Investigate the CIA
National Review ^ | August 27, 2009 | Andy McCarthy
Posted on August 30, 2009 6:00:52 PM PDT by george76

The Wall Street Jounral has a terrific editorial this morning on how valuable the CIA interrogation program was in uncovering life-saving intelligence.

Though the Journal does not get into it, Binyam Mohammed was released outright by the Obama administration in February. He is now living freely in England.

That’s our new counterterrorism approach: Release the terrorist who planned mass-murder attacks against U.S. cities but investigate the CIA agents who prevented mass-murder attacks against U.S. cities. I suppose that’s what happens when control of the Justice Department shifts from the lawyers who spent the last eight years going after the terrorists to the lawyers who spent the last eight years representing the terrorists.

That certainly is Change.

(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328386/posts

United States Transfers Two Guantanamo Bay Detainees to the Government of Portugal
US DOJ.gov/opa - Press Release ^ | August28, 2009 | n/a
Posted on August 31, 2009 2:32:29 AM PDT by Cindy

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United States Transfers Two Guantanamo Bay Detainees to the Government of Portugal

The Department of Justice today announced that two Syrian nationals have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the control of the government of Portugal.

As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases. As a result of that review, the detainees were approved for transfer from Guantanamo Bay. On Aug. 6, 2009, in accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the Administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer these two detainees.

The transfers were carried out under an arrangement between the United States and the government of Portugal. The United States has coordinated with the government of Portugal to ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the government of Portugal regarding these detainees.

Since 2002, more than 540 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.

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09-892

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33369

“BREAKING: Obama Administration Misleads Congress on Gitmo”
by Jed Babbin
09/01/2009

SNIPPET: “Now, according to sources who have requested anonymity, we can report that the Obama administration — through the State Department, which is preparing the congressional notices — is apparently manipulating the intelligence and other evidence to sanitize the Congressional notifications.

Our sources say that the State Department is intentionally omitting any information about the detainees derived from intelligence, saying it isn’t “evidence” against them. As a result, State is sanitizing the notices and presenting Congress with false findings that there is little danger posed by the detainees.

At the same time, another part of the Obama administration is telling the U.S. courts a very different story about some of the same detainees.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2336633/posts

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2336633/posts?page=20#20

http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=3945

“Swedish former Guantánamo prisoner arrested in Pakistan”
National News | 2009-09-10 |

SNIPPET: “One of the three Swedish citizens who last week where arrested in Pakistan is, according to public broadcaster SVT, Mehdi Ghezali, who for several years was imprisoned at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay on Cuba.
According to reports in Pakistani media, the three Swedes were arrested together with seven Turks and one Russian, suspected for collaboration with the jihadist terror network al Qaida.

According to SVT the three arrested Swedes have been taken to the Pakistan capital Islamabad.

In December 2001 the 30-year-old Ghezali was arrested in Pakistan, close to the border near the Tora Bora Mountains in Afghanistan and was shortly thereafter handed over to U.S. military.

Ghezali was released from the Guántanamo base in July 2004, without having been brought to justice. The United States never told what crimes he was a suspect of.”

20 posted on September 11, 2009 6:10:21 PM PDT by Cindy

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11104253

“First Guantanamo Uighurs agree to go to Palau
“
Posted: Sep 10, 2009 12:29 AM
Updated: Sep 12, 2009 12:09 AM
By JONATHAN KAMINSKY
Associated Press Writer

SNIPPET: “KOROR, Palau (AP) - Three Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay formally accepted an offer to take up new lives in the Pacific island nation of Palau...”

SNIPPET: “Uighurs who accepted the offer could be transferred to Palau as soon as October, Clarke said.”

SNIPPET:”The Uighurs will not be eligible for Palauan passports but the government has said the men would be free to travel so long as another country accepted them. It’s not clear what passports they would have.”

UPDATE:

Thanks to Mama Dearest for the ping to this article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hDBcNLLLHGxdNV1XYMUm4CyfwJtgD9ATVBUO0

“Up to 8 Uighurs soon leaving Guantanamo for Palau”
By MARK SHERMAN (AP) – 1 hour ago

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says at least six, and as many as eight, Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon leave their island prison for freedom in another island nation, Palau.

Word of the upcoming transfer to the tiny Pacific country, planned for sometime after Oct. 1, came in a letter released Thursday from Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Kagan also confirmed that Palau has agreed to accept all but one of the 13 Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs (pronounced WEE’-gurs), who remain at Guantanamo.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE58P28P20090926

“Three Guantanamo detainees sent to Ireland, Yemen”
Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:50pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

SNIPPET: “Yemeni Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed was sent to his home country, while two other detainees were sent to Ireland, the U.S. government said, adding it would not identify the two at the request of the government of Ireland.”

SNIPPET: “Ireland previously had said it was looking at taking in two Uzbek prisoners.”

SNIPPET: “Earlier this week, the Obama administration said it had struck a deal with the tiny island nation of Palau to take in as many as 12 Chinese Uighur detainees, and that so far six have agreed to go. Another four Uighurs have been moved to Bermuda.”

September 26, 2009

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/September/09-ag-1035.html

United States Transfers Three Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Foreign Nations

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced that three detainees have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the control of the governments of Ireland and Yemen.

As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of each of these cases. As a result of that review, these detainees were approved for transfer from Guantanamo Bay. In accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the Administration informed Congress of its intent to transfer each of these detainees at least 15 days before their transfer.

Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a native of Yemen was transferred to the government of Yemen. On May 4, 2009, a federal court ruled that Ahmed may no longer be detained under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force and ordered the government to release him from detention at Guantanamo Bay.

In addition, two additional detainees were transferred to the government of Ireland. Pursuant to a request from the government of Ireland, the identities of these detainees are being withheld for security and privacy reasons.

These transfers were carried out under individual arrangements between the United States and the governments of Yemen and Ireland. The United States has coordinated with the governments of each of these nations to ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with these governments regarding these detainees.

Since 2002, more than 550 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.

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09-1035

Thanks to sportutegrl for pointing to this thread.

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2350152/posts

Obama team clears 75 at Guantanamo for release
Reuters ^ | Sept. 28, 2009 | Jane Sutton
Posted on September 28, 2009 11:36:53 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

MIAMI (Reuters) - An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The review team is examining each prisoner’s case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.

President Barack Obama had set a January 22 deadline to shut the detention camp although Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that “it’s going to be tough” to meet the deadline.

As the review team makes its decisions, military officials at Guantanamo post an updated list in the camps to let the prisoners know how many from each nation have been judged free to go.

“It was an opportunity to just provide better communication,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. “There’s a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them.”

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...

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