Friday, January 23, 2009

The Dangers of closing Guantánamo


Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief -Robert F. Worth

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official. Although the Pentagon has said that dozens of released Guantánamo detainees have “returned to the fight,” its claim is difficult to document.
[New York Times]

2 comments:

LHwrites said...

Not only is the majority of these claims unsubstantiated, but even when true, it is a murkier story than meets the eye. First off, no one is saying throw them all to the streets, but rather, begin a formal due-process and see if anyone there really merits imprisonment. This is in response to the heinous crimes against humanity that the Bush administration committed, by deciding unilaterally that anyone who it found suspicious had no human rights at all, and could be secreted away to a foreign land, imprisoned and tortured with impunity, for years, with no recourse, until the United States decided they were okay. This has created yet another fertile recruitment tool for terrorists. Not since Bush drove Hussein out of power in Iraq has the U.S. done so much to support the growth in terrorism, by showing its utter contempt for Muslims and anyone who "looks threatening". Even when detainees end up going over to terrorism, you cannot show they were already leaning that way, or simply were driven to it by their mistreatment for years at the United States' hands. What law abiding, peace loving American would not take up arms and wage the fight against any nation on this earth if they were unlawfully imprisoned and tortured for years, kept in isolation away from their family and country, afforded no human rights until their captors decided they were acceptable? Closing Gitmo, after reviewing the evidence against all of its detainees, will be one more step forward in America's fight AGAINST terrorism. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration pushed us so many steps back, it will take us years to get back to where we started.

Bruce said...

My educated guess is that anyone who rightfully winds up in Gitmo, is an ideologue in the severest sense of the word. They don't need any further reasons to take up arms.