http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=101745
“Guantanamo detainee set to start new life in France”
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, May 09, 2009
SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON: The family of an Algerian national held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo for seven years is delighted he is due to arrive in France next week to start a new life. Lakhdar Boumediene, 42, would be the first non-French citizen from Guantanamo to be taken in by France since President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the prison camp when he took office in January.
“I cannot hide the fact I am really happy. Soon, he is going to be freed,” his wife Abassia Bouadjimi told AFP Wednesday from Algeria.
“He really is keen to be free, and be with his wife and children,” said his sister-in-law Louiza Baghdadi, who plans to welcome him into her home in Nice, she told AFP.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said earlier in Paris that France was “finalizing details to be able to accept him in France before the end of next week.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy had agreed following a meeting with Obama in Strasbourg last month to take in the detainee who was cleared for release in November.
Sarkozy applauded Obama’s decision to shut down the camp that he described as an affront to US values and democracy.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2248957/posts
EDITORIAL: Al Qaeda in Alexandria
The Washington Times ^ | May 12, 2009 | Editorial
Posted on May 11, 2009 6:43:09 PM PDT by jazusamo
It’s not every day that a congressman asks for terrorists to be shipped to his hometown. So we were surprised to see Rep. Jim Moran, Democrat of Virginia, pen a column entitled “From Guantanamo to Alexandria” in Saturday’s Washington Post. He actually championed the idea of bringing terrorists like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other al Qaeda detainees to historic Alexandria. What’s next? Does he want the nuclear waste that Nevada won’t take?
We understand why congressmen work to bring federal office buildings to their district or fight off noisome incineration plants. So we read Rep. Moran’s column with amazement. It simply makes no sense.
While acknowledging that other solutions might be suitable, Mr. Moran wrote: “Taking the easy route and joining the chorus of those crying ‘not in my backyard’ is appealing. But that’s not the Alexandria I know and have represented in Congress for nearly 20 years.”
~snip~
In light of these considerations, Alexandrians have a right to know what is motivating their congressman. Mr. Moran is a smart man. Would Alexandria get any additional federal subsidies? Would Northern Virginia get some other valuable concessions? Or is Mr. Moran merely playing to a Justice Department that is currently investigating the former PMA lobbying group that made him one of the top four recipients of its campaign-donation largesse in recent years?
Mr. Moran has made a career of playing it straight with his constituents, even when they didn’t like what he had to say. So he should step forward now and tell us: What was he promised in exchange for compromising Virginia’s security?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...