Free Republic

I admire Congressman Peter King---he just doesn't give a rat's ass who he angers, he is going to suggest what's right whether it makes him popular or not. He created a fire storm suggesting its time for the US government to more closely monitor Mosques in the US. He fought the Democrats in congress to provide whistle blowers with “immunity for reporting suspicious activities and mitigating terrorist threats relating to transportation security,” Hey also was a fighter for the cause of "Libel tourism" Congressman King just returned from Gitmo. Everything you have heard about the detention center housing terrorist prisoners...

HAVING just returned from leading a con gressional delegation to the terrorist-detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, I am more convinced than ever that President Obama's executive order to close Gitmo by next Jan. 22 is wrong and misguided and, if fully implemented, will threaten American security at home and abroad. ... If there's any scandal at Guantanamo, it is that the detainees are treated too well. Consider what I observed:

Attorney General Eric Holder, just back from his first trip to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said Wednesday he is still determined to carry out President Barack Obama's order to close the prison, but admitted he was "impressed by the people," and said "the facilities are good ones." Attorney General Eric Holder said he didn't witness any prisoner mistreatment during his trip. Holder's positive assessment of "professionalism" at the prison was in distinct contrast to claims by many critics who charge Guantanamo Bay stands as a world-wide symbol of the alleged U.S. mistreatment of enemy combatants. "I did not witness any mistreatment...

While Presidents have the power to pardon, an Executive Order does not rise above existing federal statute or erase the records that show at least twenty (and perhaps all) of the original twenty-two Uighurs are inadmissible into the United States. As I recently pointed out, Section 103 of the Real ID Act of 2005 states that "any alien" who "has engaged in a terrorist activity" or "is a member of a terrorist organization" may not be admitted into the United States. In addition, last August the Long War Journal reported the results of its review of the twenty-two Uighurs originally...

WASHINGTON -- Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on Tuesday provided assurances to the Obama administration Canada will not "interfere" in its review of terrorism charges against Canadian Omar Khadr, the last westerner remaining at Guantanamo. Meanwhile, a row has erupted between Mr. Khadr's military lawyer and the officer's boss -- resulting in the lawyer being barred from seeing the Canadian-born terror suspect as an inquiry unfolds. Mr. Cannon raised Mr. Khadr's case during a meeting in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, seeking information about the U.S. decision to conduct a 120-day review of all Guantanamo detainees facing terrorism...

"That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture." --President Obama 2/24/2009 How can this be? I thought the conditions at Gitmo were okay!

"That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture." --President Obama 2/24/2009 How can this be? I thought the conditions at Gitmo were okay! Obama's own comission said so! I thought we were all supposed to accept the Messiah's word as Gospel, right?...

LONDON (Reuters) - Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.

Two of the “innocent” terrorists released from Gitmo are now appearing in a chilling jihadist website video. According to anti-terrorism experts, Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, now holds an executive position with Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, or prisoner number 333, is now an Al-Qaeda field commander. American network talent scouts, always on the prowl for talent, were quick to note the duo’s charismatic screen presence. “We’re developing a Hannity & Colmes style show for them,” said an executive with NBC. “We’ll call it ‘al-Shahri & al-Oufi.’”.....

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday the Guantanamo detention center is a well-run, professional facility that will be difficult to close — but he's still going to do it. Holder visited the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday and spoke to reporters about his trip during a news conference Wednesday. Closing Guantanamo, he said, "will not be an easy process. It's one we will do in a way that ensures that people are treated fairly and that the American people are kept safe." [snip] Holder said his visit to the site was instructive. He met...

Incidents of uncooperative and beligerent behavior by Gitmo detainees towards military personnel have risen sharply since December. Several defense lawyers are suspected to have suggested to their clients to "pass the word" to gradually increase assaults, verbal abuse, and hunger strikes in an effort to pressure President Barck Obama into making good on his campaign promise to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. An investigation into this allegation is unlikely as lawyer-client conversations are not audibly monitored due to legal privilege. A source close to a well-known legal defense group said, "They are hoping for one 'Abu Ghraib' moment,...

Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees. Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike. The Pentagon said on Monday that it had received renewed reports of prisoner abuse during a recent review of conditions...

Binyam Mohamed is the 14th man to be deported to Britain from Guantanamo. The men are a mixture of British citizens and so-called 'British residents' - meaning they have spent time here but their status is either not permanent or unclear. They are: Omar Deghayes, 39 British resident, granted refugee status from Libya in 1980s. Arrested in 2002 in Afghanistan after supposedly appearing on jihadi internet video for Islamic struggle against Russia in Chechnya. His lawyers say it was someone else. Returned from Guantanamo December 2007. In early 2008 re-arrested in Brighton on Spanish extradition warrant linked to 2004 Madrid...

LONDON (Reuters) - Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees. Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike. The Pentagon said on Monday that it had received renewed reports of prisoner abuse during a recent...

A French appeals court on Tuesday overturned terrorist conspiracy convictions of five former inmates of the Guantánamo prison camp who were tried and convicted in 2007, after they had been returned to France. The court ruled that testimony gathered by French intelligence officials in interrogations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, violated rules for permissible evidence and that there was no other proof of wrongdoing. Their father, Chellali Benchellali, a Muslim cleric from a suburb of Lyon, was arrested in connection with the plot to avenge Russia's crackdown in Chechnya. He had previously gone to Bosnia to help Muslims in the civil...

War On Terror: The administration says the detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan cannot challenge their detentions and have no constitutional rights. Wouldn't that be a perfect place to send the Gitmo jihadists?After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Guantanamo detainees had the legal right to challenge their detentions in American courts, four detainees held at Bagram thought they had a get out of jail free card. Following that ruling, petitions were filed on their behalf in a U.S. district court. Apparently, in handling prisoners of war captured in the war on terror, the first law of...

A FORMER Al Qaeda suspect was flown back to Britain on a luxury jet yesterday – at Government expense. Now taxpayers face a massive bill for his new life on benefits. Alleged torture victim Binyam Mohamed, 30, stepped off a twin-engined Gulfstream at an RAF base after more than six years as a US prisoner being held in Guantanamo Bay. Accompanied on the flight by two Foreign Office officials, two Metropolitan Police officers and a doctor, Ethiopian Mohamed’s return to his adopted country cost an amazing £120,000. Last night, he was preparing to apply for indefinite leave to remain in...

"Swenchonises seek justice in son’s death Killed in terrorists’ 2000 bombing of USS Cole" SNIPPET: "For more than eight years Gary and Debbie Swenchonis have mourned the loss of their son, Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., who was killed Oct. 12, 2000, along with 16 other sailors, when terrorists attacked the USS Cole in Port Aden, Yemen." SNIPPET: "So how do the Swenchonises feel about Obama’s plans? “We think Obama should be impeached if the terrorists are freed because of his intervention on their behalf,” said Swenchonis. Should the local family give up its fight against the big government machine? Would...

Attorney General Eric Holder visited Gitmo today as the first detainee was freed into British society at large. Not to diminish the seriousness of the situation, this whole ordeal reminds me of the movie Ghostbusters. Remember when the idiotic attorney barges into their fire house headquarters and demands the containment grid be shutdown? Eric Holder must not have seen that movie. More at Election Regret.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2009 – The detention facilities at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, meet all standards of humane treatment and are in compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, the vice chief of naval operations said today. Navy Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, vice chief of naval operations, briefs Pentagon reporters on Feb. 23, 2009, about his findings concerning the compliance of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with the stipulations contained in the Geneva Conventions. DoD photo by R.D. Ward  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Navy Adm. Patrick M. Walsh was chosen by Defense...