Free Republic

Chief of the U.S. Military: Shut down Guantanamo Bay Published on 25 May 2009 by admin in General News, In The Media Admiral Mike Mullen stated it simply, “I’d like to see it shut down.” Mullen believes Guantanamo has significantly damaged the reputation of the United States, even going so far as to say (in other articles) that it has been a powerful recruiting tool for Islamic terrorists. Rand couldn’t agree more. Rand believes America can fight terrorism and maintain its moral integrity without resorting to offshore prison camps, “prolonged detention”, and other, highly questionable legal measures. For Rand, national...

A former Guantanamo detainee transferred from the detention facility to Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2009, has already returned to the Taliban’s ranks, according to multiple intelligence officials contacted by the Long War Journal. The former detainee was identified in documents produced at Guantanamo as Abdul Hafiz (as well as an alternative name, Abdul Qawi) and given an internment serial number of 1030. During the more than six years he was held at Guantanamo, Hafiz was repeatedly identified as “a suspect in the murder of an International Red Cross worker in Afghanistan.” Memos produced at Guantanamo also alleged that Hafiz participated...

That didn’t take long. He’s only been free for 3 months. The Long War Journal reported: A former Guantanamo detainee transferred from the detention facility to Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2009, has already returned to the Taliban’s ranks, according to multiple intelligence officials contacted by the Long War Journal. The former detainee was identified in documents produced at Guantanamo as Abdul Hafiz (as well as an alternative name, Abdul Qawi) and given an internment serial number of 1030. Previously On Released Gitmo Detainees: ** Gitmo Detainees Re-Arrested in Russia ** Former Gitmo Prisoner Arrested for Terrorism in Moscow ** Three...

It is shocking and true: A federal judge has ordered the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, one of the top recruiters for the 9/11 attacks - a man once deemed the highest-value detainee at Guantanamo Bay. With but a two-sentence ruling, Washington Federal Judge James Robertson has taken the dangerous folly of granting enemy combatants entree into civilian courts to its outrageous, indecent limit. Who's next, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed? So that there is no mistake: Robertson's determination that a terrorist with the blood of 3,000 on his hands deserves life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not the work...

The United States Tuesday transferred three inmates from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Georgia, a US official said, leaving 183 prisoners still languishing in the controversial US military jail. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the Georgian ministry of interior had announced "that three Guantanamo detainees were transferred to Georgia." It was believed to be the first time that Georgia has accepted to take in Guantanamo detainees. "We are grateful to the government of Georgia for joining their efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay," Crowley added. President Barack Obama has pledged to close the US military base in...

A "left-leaning, liberal, Clintonista" judge with ties to "ultra-liberal" civil rights groups ordered the release of a Gitmo terrorist yesterday. U.S. District Judge James Robertson—in a secretive move that arrogantly disdained transparency—ordered the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Gitmo terrorist who in the 911 Commission report was implicated for recruiting 911 terror attack operatives like Mohammed Atta. In the same report, he was identified as a "significant al Qaeda operative" and was also once called "the highest value detainee!" But now, thanks to Judge Robertson and his liberal ideology that puts terrorists' rights over national security, Slahi will be...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A judge has ordered the release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee described in the 9/11 commission report as a significant al-Qaida operative who provided advice to three of the Sept. 11 hijackers. The ruling in favor of detainee Mohamedou Ould Salahi was disclosed Monday in a two-sentence court entry. U.S. District Judge James Robertson will issue a written decision at a later date explaining his reasons for granting the detainee's petition.

WASHINGTON — A suspected Al Qaeda organizer once called "the highest value detainee" at Guantanamo Bay was ordered released by a federal judge in an order issued Monday. Mohamedou Ould Slahi was accused in the 9/11 Commission report of helping recruit Mohammed Atta and other members of the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that took part in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Military prosecutors suspected Slahi of links to other Al Qaeda operations, and considered seeking the death penalty against him while preparing possible charges in 2003 and 2004.

A suspected al Qaeda organizer once called "the highest value detainee" at Guantánamo Bay was ordered released by a federal judge in an order issued Monday. Mohamedou Ould Slahi was accused in the 9/11 Commission report of helping recruit Mohammed Atta and other members of the al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that took part in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Military prosecutors suspected Mr. Slahi of links to other al Qaeda operations, and considered seeking the death penalty against him while preparing possible charges in 2003 and 2004.

This would be partisanly hilarious if it weren't so serious. From the Washington Post: The White House is considering whether to detain international terrorism suspects at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, senior U.S. officials said, an option that would lead to another prison with the same purpose as Guantanamo Bay, which it has promised to close. The idea, which would require approval by President Obama, already has drawn resistance from within the government. Army Gen. Stanley A. McCrystal, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and other senior officials strongly oppose it, fearing that expansion of...

Daskal’s anti-CIA activism was not limited to making hyperbolic statements to the press. Daskal and Human Rights Watch played a significant role in uncovering the CIA’s secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan, where top terrorists were detained and interrogated. On November 2, 2005, Dana Priest of the Washington Post reported that the “CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe.” The Post, citing the government’s security concerns, did not name the countries where the facilities were located. But just a few days later, on November...

One of the American legal profession's most venerable traditions is work performed "pro bono publico" -- free of charge to promote the public good. But today's hottest pro bono gig is raising eyebrows. It's seeking freedom for suspected enemy combatants and terrorists detained by the U.S. government at Guantanamo Bay. The lawyers who represent these detainees are from America's most prestigious firms. They may contribute hundreds of hours and make five or more trips to Cuba, indirectly subsidized by fat fees from Fortune 500 clients. Legal giant Mayer Brown is typical. Its website boasts that it considers its "social justice"...

Reality keeps intruding on Attorney General Eric Holder’s approach to terrorism. During recent testimony before the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, Holder had a heated exchange with Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), over the rights of terrorists – specifically over whether a captured Osama bin Laden would need to be read his Miranda rights in accordance with the civilian prosecution model that Holder continues to advocate. Holder’s response: “Let’s deal with reality…we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden.  He will never appear in an American courtroom…He will be killed by us, or he will...

Visit Pajamas. Yesterday morning, I had an encounter on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. with Julia Tarver Mason — a lawyer who represents several accused terrorists. I found that Ms. Mason is more willing to speak with terrorists then reporters. My interest in Ms. Mason began two nights ago, when I read the investigative piece by Debra Burlingame and Thomas Joscelyn in the Wall Street Journal regarding 400 American lawyers from high priced law firms who have “volunteered” their time to personally wage “lawfare” on behalf of enemy combatants held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. One of the premier...

And possibly incited released terrorists to kill again?Gitmo Attorneys shared photos of CIA covert agents with terrorists. Why no media outrage? Gitmo Attorney's violated the rules and passed along anti-U.S. propaganda inciting terrorists to kill again? Are these lawyers now working in Obama's Dept. of Justice? Keep America Safe asks the question:[VIDEO AT SITE] In an op-ed in Monday's Wall Street Journal Debra Burlingame, sister of "Chic" Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, describes how attorneys representing the terrorists at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba...

Last June, I noted Gen. David Petraeus's MoveOn.org-like take on Guantanamo Bay -- close it because it causes us problems and violates (unspecified) Geneva Conventions -- and his willingness to attribute to the Palestinian war on Israel "justifications" for the existence of Hezbollah. Now this from Foreign Policy (via Judeosphere): On Jan. 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East), arrived at the Pentagon to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen on the Israeli---http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1318/Is-Petraeus-an-Islamic-Tool-Part-2.aspx

On Feb. 20, 2007, a post on the Paul, Weiss Web site proudly announced "Paul, Weiss achieves more victories for Guantanamo detainees." Two detainees were released from Gitmo to their home in Saudi Arabia. One was Majeed Abdullah Al Joudi, a recipient of the Amnesty International "report." The Web site needs an update. The Pentagon has identified Al Joudi as a "confirmed" recidivist who is "directly involved" with the facilitation of "terrorist activities." Yousef Al Shehri, the detainee who led his cell block in the feeding tube rebellion, was also released in November 2007. In early 2009 he was listed...

"Gitmo's Indefensible Lawyers" [Andy McCarthy] That's the title of of a mind-blowing op-ed by Debra Burlingame and Tom Joscelyn in Monday's Wall Street Journal. Debra and Tom make mince-meat of the hallucination that casts the Gitmo Bar as modern John Adamses. The essay recounts, among other things: The Gitmo Bar — in gross violation of the conditions of access to the enemy combatants — provided al Qaeda detainees with a propaganda brochure that instructed them on how falsely to claim that they had been tortured and abused. As the Gitmo commander put it, "The very nature of this document gives...

(snip) But Graham has heard it all before. "What drives my train," he told me when I reached him late in the week, "is not their approval; it's getting it right." The fact that such a sentiment makes Graham an oddball in the Republican Party, and to some extent Congress generally, says less about him than about his colleagues. For all his supposed heresies -- on climate change, judicial nominees, immigration and now his offer to help close the Guantanamo Bay prison -- Graham had a 2009 rating of 88 percent from the American Conservative Union and a lifetime rating...

Al Qaeda, Gitmo & National Security Bethany Stotts, March 9, 2010 Are the Obama Administration’s actions putting Americans at increased risk of a terrorist attack? Keep America Safe and its board members argue that it is. A recent ad released by KAS questions the loyalties of “The Al Qaeda 7,” the seven unnamed Department of Justice lawyers who have either represented terror suspects, worked on related cases, in some cases, advocated for detainees. In a February 18 letter to Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Assistant Attorney General Ron Welch wrote (pdf) that “To the best of our knowledge, during their employment...