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The Estonian government has agreed to a U.S. request to resettle a Guantanamo Bay detainee as long as that person has not been convicted of a crime. The government's press office said Thursday that Estonia reserves the right to choose the prisoner, who is among nearly 80 cleared for release from the prison on the U.S. base in Cuba but who cannot return to their homeland.

Colorado Democrat Mark Udall has taken the unprecedented step of refusing to debate his Republican opponent on statewide television, so the voting public’s insights into his views generally come from one of three sources: (1) His voting record, which backs Barack Obama 99 percent of the time, (2) his ads, a ludicrous percentage of which obsess and mislead over birth control, and (3) clips from untelevised candidate forums and interviews. On that last front, Udall has uncorked some real head-turning quotes over the last 48 hours. In an exclusive sit-down with KDVR television, Udall said he doesn’t regret any...

A US judge has ordered the government to release videotapes depicting a Guantanamo Bay prisoner being force-fed while on hunger strike. US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler granted a request from a number of media organisations for their release. The videos show Syrian prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell and fed. But the tapes will remain sealed until some information, including faces and voices, has been redacted.

The transfer of prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay has ground to a halt amid a slow Pentagon approval process, causing deep frustration within the administration and raising doubts that President Barack Obama will be able to fulfill his campaign promise to close the offshore prison for terrorism suspects. Obama has said Guantanamo's continued operation hurts U.S. standing overseas and is a recruitment tool for terrorists. "The president would absolutely like to see more progress in our efforts to close Guantanamo," Obama counter terrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said. "He wants it closed. He's pushing his own team very hard, raising it...

Iowa Democrat continues to support plan despite years of congressional opposition.Rep. Bruce Braley (D., Iowa) continued to vote in favor of transferring terrorist prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a U.S. facility even after the plan collapsed due to congressional opposition, according to government records. Republicans have blasted Braley this week for supporting an initial proposal in 2009 to move the detainees to an Illinois correctional center near the Iowa border. The criticism comes as polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans view the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), the al Qaeda offshoot that...

The top Guantanamo detainees released a statement this week defending the 9-11 terrorist attacks against America.Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the architect of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The Group of detainees call themselves The 9/11 Shura Council. The committee includes: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Ramzi bin As-Shibh Walid bin ‘Attash Mustafa Ahmed AI-Hawsawi ‘Ali ‘abd Al-’Aziz ‘Ali The 9-11 Shura Council defended their attacks on America insisting that their actions were in defense of Islam and Muslims. The statement is being passed around on Islamic Twitter accounts. THE ISLAMIC RESPONSE TO THE GOVERNMENT’S NINE ACCUSATIONS In the Name of Allah, the Most...

On Tuesday, ISIS terrorists beheaded American journalist James Foley. President Obama responded by bombing the fourth green during his long vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. He also lectured ISIS on the true meaning of Islam: “ISIL speaks for no religion…ISIL has no ideology of any value to human beings….One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century.” The faculty-lounge insult approach has proved ineffective. ISIS is now threatening to kill journalist Steven Sotloff. They reportedly hold two other Americans as well. And they will undoubtedly seek to kidnap more Americans...

There is little question that the deal approved by Barack Obama to trade five dangerous terrorists for an Army sergeant accused of desertion struck many Americans as ill-advised and potentially dangerous. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, however, took the criticism to a higher level in a report released Thursday. By failing to give Congress 30 days’ notice before releasing the prisoners, the agency found the Defense Department in clear violation of a federal law.

The British accent in the video that depicted the despicable and cowardly murder of an American journalist has raised concerns in the UK about the background of the ISIS jihadist. The Washington Post’s report on the butchery includes this nugget that should have Americans thinking twice, too: In an interview with the BBC, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged that the apparent executioner spoke with a British accent and said the video seemed to be genuine.Hundreds of Britons are believed to have traveled to Syria to fight in the country’s civil war, including many who have joined the Islamic State.“We’re...

Via the Daily Caller, you would think an eyewitness account of the disappearance of the last American POW in Afghanistan would be easy money for a publisher. But sometimes there are higher considerations. While the U.S. Army weighs whether to bring charges against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed earlier this year after spending nearly five years as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan, six of his former platoon mates are shopping proposals for a book and movie that would render their own harsh verdicts… “I’m not sure we can publish this book without the Right using it to their ends,”...

Tagline: “It’s not as black-and-white as they said it was going to be.” IFC Films on Friday released the first trailer for "Camp X-Ray", an independent drama film about a detention facility based at the Guantanomo Bay Detention Camp.  The film stars Kristen Stewart and Peymaan Moaadi and premiered in January to mostly positive reviews at the Sundance Film Festival. "Camp X-Ray" will premiere in theaters in October. 

The Pentagon recently notified members of Congress that it intends to transfer six low-level detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Uruguay soon, including a Syrian man who is legally challenging the manner in which the military force-feeds some prisoners, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The men — four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian — are among the more than 70 detainees who have long been cleared for release from the U.S. detention facility because they are not deemed an ongoing threat. The move would mark a significant step in the Obama administration’s long-stymied quest to shut down Guantanamo Bay, where...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel quietly notified Congress last week that the military is set to transfer six Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Uruguay as soon as next month, The New York Times revealed Wednesday. The deal has been waiting for Mr. Hagel’s approval since March, but stalled after the Obama administration received a wave of backlash for releasing five Taliban detainees to Qatar in exchange for the release Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The administration did not give Congress 30-days notice in that deal, but argued it was still legal because any delay could have risked Sgt. Bergdahl’s life. Of the six...

Attorneys say clients have religious rights afforded by same law cited by SCOTUS in controversial Hobby Lobby ruling.Lawyers for two Guantanamo Bay detainees have filed motions asking a U.S. court to block officials from preventing the inmates from taking part in communal prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The lawyers argue that – in light of the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision – the detainees’ rights are protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The motions were filed this week with the Washington D.C. district court on behalf of Emad Hassan of Yemen and Ahmed Rabbani...

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for six low-level detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, whom Uruguay has offered to resettle sent a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday urging it to act on the deal, which has been awaiting the signature of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel since March. In addition, a military judge overseeing the war-crimes tribunal against a high-level detainee issued an order this week that generated a new dispute over military commission rules. The order relates to how much classified information about C.I.A. interrogations must be turned over to defense lawyers. Together, the developments reflect the legal, policy and political...

Sgt Bowe Bergdahl spoke English for 23 years until he was captured by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan five years ago. But since his release, he has trouble speaking it, says his father. How can you lose your native language, asks Taylor Kate Brown. Some people have gone decades without speaking or hearing their first language but they retain the ability to speak it easily, says Dr Monika Schmid, a linguistics professor at the University of Essex in the UK. But others begin losing fluency within a few years of not speaking it. It's rare to totally lose command of a...

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who spent five years as a Taliban prisoner of war before being released last month, has been discharged from a military hospital in Texas and will continue treatment as an outpatient, the Army said Sunday. Bergdahl was transferred from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, to the nearby Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, said Army spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Carol McClelland. "It’s a sign of progression, showing he's no longer a patient of a hospital," McClelland said. Bergdahl's next phase of recovery, during which he'll continue to get medical care and undergo psychological...

In a story unlikely to receive attention from the mainstream media in the United States, a former Guantanamo Bay captive has been arrested in Spain for operating what authorities there say is a sophisticated jihadist recruitment network. Spanish media is reporting that the one-time Gitmo prisoner is a 46-year-old Moroccan named Lahcen Ikassrien, who heads an Islamic cell that recruits fighters for the Syrian and Iraqi-based terror group known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Ikassrien and seven others were arrested in Madrid recently as part of a dozen raids on terrorism cells in the Spanish capital,...

For the first time since being freed by the Taliban in a covert and hasty exchange, US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is being exposed Tuesday to limited media and made aware of the swirling controversy surrounding his release. Bergdahl, his freedom brokered by the Obama administration in exchange for five top Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay military prison (Gitmo), now faces a formal military investigation into his disappearance in Afghanistan. "He is gradually being provided media coverage about him," US Army Colonel Hans Bush, reintegration mission spokesman, said in a brief statement. Republican leaders are referring to the exchange as...

The U.S. military has captured a man believed to be one of the ringleaders of the deadly attacks on the American diplomatic compound and a CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, officials said Tuesday.