Obama's 9-11 Trial About Face Angers Liberals, Closes Gitmo

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Trying 9/11 Suspects In Military Court Could Pave Way To Closing Gitmo



Moving the trial of suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of criminal court and into a military tribunal could finally enable President Obama to close the terrorist detainee center at Guantanamo Bay.

Moving the trial of suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of criminal court and into a military tribunal could finally enable President Obama to close the terrorist detainee center at Guantanamo Bay.

But how it will sit with his supporters on the left remains an open question.

The administration is considering reversing its decision to try Mohammed and four others accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks in civilian court, moving them instead to a military court -- either at Guantanamo or a military facility within the U.S. Such a move could prove poisonous for the administration's relationship with its liberal base.

The president has already disappointed his supporters by maintaining military tribunals after temporarily suspending them, by continuing the option of indefinite detention and by faltering in his vow to close Guantanamo Bay one year after his inauguration.

"If this stunning reversal comes to pass, President Obama will deal a death blow to his own Justice Department, not to mention American values," American Civil Liberties Union Director Anthony Romero said in a written statement.

"Hope and change will not rectify the damage today to the United States' international reputation," Amnesty International USA Director Larry Cox said.

But reversing course on the plan to try suspected terrorists in criminal courtrooms could be pitched as a concession made for the greater goal of closing the Guantanamo detention camp. A source familiar with the administration's policy review told Fox News that Obama is testing the waters to see how far he can push his base without sending it over the edge, for the sake of an elusive bipartisan bargain that would ultimately allow him to follow through on his pledge one day after his inauguration to close the Cuban military prison for good.

The venue for the Sept. 11 terror suspects has emerged as somewhat of a bargaining chip in that effort. Republicans, namely Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who are willing to support Obama's effort to close Guantanamo are fiercely opposed to civilian trials.

Asked on Friday whether the view exists that turning over the suspects to tribunals would help free up funding in Congress to close Guantanamo, Graham told Fox News, "Not that I'm aware of."

But he said sending the suspects to tribunals would demonstrate "good leadership," and he suggested it could grease the wheels toward closing the Cuba-based camp.

"I have advocated the closing of Guantanamo Bay if you can do it safely," Graham said. Trying the suspects in tribunals "would give us a chance to close Guantanamo safely."

Graham said more research will need to be done to determine what to do with those detainees the administration has determined are too dangerous to be released or tried.

The Washington Post reported Friday, citing unnamed administration officials, that top advisers are close to a decision recommending that the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks be prosecuted in a military tribunal.

According to the report, the president's advisers have grown increasingly wary of bipartisan opposition to the planned civilian federal trial for Mohammed and his four alleged conspirators in New York City, mere blocks from where nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center.

White House officials told Fox News that no final decision has been made. The administration has been considering tribunals for the alleged Sept. 11 attack plotters for several weeks. At issue is both the location of the planned trial and the venue.

First the administration would have to decide whether to have the trials in New York City, and then whether to hold them in a tribunal elsewhere. A military tribunal would have to be held at a military base -- and Guantanamo Bay itself is one option. Other possibilities are Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C.

Sources: MSNBC, Fox News

Obama Halts Yemen Transfers; Re-opens Yemen's U.S. Embassy

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No Yemen Transfers "Right Now"


President Barack Obama does not plan to transfer additional detainees to Yemen "right now," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday — a stance that could complicate Obama’s efforts to close the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects.

Nationals from Yemen make up nearly half of the remaining 198 prisoners at Guantanamo. Gibbs acknowledged that the decision not to send any more of them home soon could mean that an added number of them will have to be transferred to a new prison for former Guantanamo detainees that the administration hopes to set up in Thomson, Ill. There was never a plan to transfer the Yemenis as a block back to Yemen, White House aides said.

"While we remain committed to closing the facility, the determination has been made that right now any additional transfers to Yemen is not a good idea," Gibbs said. "We would not move additional people into Yemen."

The suspension is for the foreseeable future, as long as the current situation remains, the aides said.

Obama has said the Christmas Day bombing plot was hatched in Yemen, an extremist haven on the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S. Embassy there closed Sunday and Monday because of a terrorist threat. The suspect in the attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has reportedly told the FBI that he crafted the plot with Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. In addition, the Al Qaeda branch there claimed responsibility for the attack.

A senior administration official said: "The president created the [Guantanamo] Task Force to conduct the thorough work that had not been done before: to review the relevant information about each detainee on an individual basis, including the threat they pose, to determine whether they should be prosecuted, detained or transferred. That review resulted in different recommendations for the Yemeni detainees."

The administration has sent mixed signals on the issue in recent days. During appearances on Sunday television talk shows, White House counterterrorism and homeland security adviser John Brennan brushed aside questions about a halt to repatriations to Yemen.

“We haven't, you know, stopped the process as far as dealing with them," Brennan said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Many of them are going to be prosecuted, some under the Article III courts, and some under — in military courts. Some of these individuals are going to be transferred back to Yemen at the right time and the right pace and in the right way."

"We are looking at it every day," Brennan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We're not going to make any decisions that are going to put people at risk. We will decide and determine when we should send additional people back."

Last month, the Obama administration sent six Guantanamo prisoners home to Yemen. However, that was prior to the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

While Republicans have long been critical of Obama for transferring prisoners to Yemen, the issue became more politically problematic for the White House last week when key Democrats like Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called for a stop to such repatriations. Thompson also said members of Congress were likely to have objections to bringing the detainees to the U.S.

A total of seven prisoners have been returned to Yemen since Obama took office last January. Under President George W. Bush, 13 men were sent from Guantanamo to Yemen.

Last week, administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity told news outlets, including POLITICO, that no more prisoners would be sent to Yemen in the coming months. One official told The New York Times that such a decision was actually made weeks ago, before the Christmas Day bombing attempt. It was not clear why Brennan seemed unwilling to repeat those statements during his TV interviews Sunday.

While Republicans and some security analysts have expressed skepticism about Yemen’s ability to keep returning Guantanamo prisoners out of trouble, Brennan has said that the U.S. worked closely with Yemen’s government to obtain such assurances for the men returned last year.





U.S. Embassy In Yemen Re-opens


The U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, has re-opened, two days after it was shut out of concern for terrorism threats, Reuters reports:

The U.S. embassy in Yemen re-opened on Tuesday, an embassy official said, a day after Yemeni forces killed two al Qaeda militants they said were behind a threat that forced U.S. and European missions to close.

"We are reopened," a U.S. embassy official said. The embassy had closed on Sunday in response to what it said were threats from al Qaeda. Washington says the group is trying to use Yemen as a base for attacks far beyond the region. ....

A number of western embassies closed their doors this week due to security fears. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said fighting in Yemen was a threat to regional and global stability.

The British and French embassies resumed operations on Tuesday but remained closed to the public, diplomats at those missions said.

Yemeni forces killed at least two al Qaeda militants on Monday they said were behind the threat that forced the foreign embassies to close, and President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Yemen was "ready to confront and defeat anyone thinking of harming the country and its security."




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Sources: AP, Politico, MSNBC, Reuters, NY Times, Google Maps

Former Gitmo Detainees Mastermind of Detroit Plane Jihad Plot...911 Trials

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Two Al-Qaida Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released By U.S.


Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the Al Qaida Plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit, were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

Both Saudi nationals have since emerged in leadership roles in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and the men's own statements on al Qaeda propaganda tapes.

Both of the former Guantanamo detainees are described as military commanders and appear on a January, 2009 video along with the man described as the top leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Basir Naser al-Wahishi, formerly Osama bin Laden's personal secretary.

In its Monday statement claiming responsibility for the Northwest bombing, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab a "hero" and a "martyr" and lauded him for beating U.S. intelligence.

The two-page written claim included a photo of Abdulmutallab and boasted of Al Qaeda's success in designing "advanced explosive packages" that can pass through airport screening undetected.

The statement also asks for attacks upon Americans in the Arabian peninsula, and promises further attacks on the American people.


Abdulmutallab: Northwest Airlines Bomb Suspect

The suspected bomber, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told FBI agents he was trained for his Christmas Day mission in Yemen by top leaders of al Qaeda who provided him with the explosive materials.

"The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke," a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.

Saudi officials concede its program has had its "failures" but insist that, overall, the effort has helped return potential terrorists to a meaningful life.

One program gives the former detainees paints and crayons as part of the rehabilitation regimen.

A similar rehabilitation program in Yemen was stopped because so many of the detainees quickly joined with al Qaeda or its affiliates, the official said.

The increased role of al Qaeda in Yemen, which joined with the Saudi al Qaeda unit, has underscored the problem of how to best handle the repatriation of detainees at Guantanamo.




Two Al-Qaida Top Dogs Behind Flight 253 Jihad Plot Were Released From Gitmo


Gitmo Recidivism comes back to bite us directly. "Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by U.S.: Former Guantanamo Prisoners Believed Behind Northwest Airlines Bomb Plot; Sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007," by Brian Ross, Anna Schecter and Joseph Rhee for ABC News, December 28 (thanks to Awake):

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

An "art therapy rehabilitation program." Yes, you read that right.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

Both Saudi nationals have since emerged in leadership roles in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and the men's own statements on al Qaeda propaganda tapes.

Both of the former Guantanamo detainees are described as military commanders and appear on a January, 2009 video along with the man described as the top leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, Abu Basir Naser al-Wahishi, formerly Osama bin Laden's personal secretary.

In its Monday statement claiming responsibility for the Northwest bombing, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab a "hero" and a "martyr" and lauded him for beating U.S. intelligence.

The two-page written claim included a photo of Abdulmutallab and boasted of Al Qaeda's success in designing "advanced explosive packages" that can pass through airport screening undetected.

The statement also asks for attacks upon Americans in the Arabian peninsula, and promises further attacks on the American people.

The suspected bomber, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told FBI agents he was trained for his Christmas Day mission in Yemen by top leaders of al Qaeda who provided him with the explosive materials.

"The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke," a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.

Saudi officials concede its program has had its "failures" but insist that, overall, the effort has helped return potential terrorists to a meaningful life....

I.e., jihad.



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Sources: ABC News, MSNBC, Jihad Watch, Media Matters, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama's Closing Gitmo Plan Hits A Financial Speed Bump

Plan To Move Guantánamo Detainees Faces New Delay


Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a prison in rural Illinois, the Obama administration is struggling to come up with the money to replace the Guantánamo Bay prison.

As a result, officials now believe that they are unlikely to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer its population of terrorism suspects until 2011 at the earliest — a far slower timeline for achieving one of President Obama’s signature national security policies than they had previously hinted.

While Mr. Obama has acknowledged that he would miss the Jan. 22 deadline for closing the prison that he set shortly after taking office, the administration appeared to take a major step forward last week when he directed subordinates to move “as expeditiously as possible” to acquire the Thomson Correctional Center, a nearly vacant maximum-security Illinois prison, and to retrofit it to receive Guantánamo detainees.

But in interviews this week, officials estimated that it could take 8 to 10 months to install new fencing, towers, cameras and other security upgrades before any transfers take place. Such construction cannot begin until the federal government buys the prison from the State of Illinois.

The federal Bureau of Prisons does not have enough money to pay Illinois for the center, which would cost about $150 million. Several weeks ago, the White House approached the House Appropriations Committee and floated the idea of adding about $200 million for the project to the military spending bill for the 2010 fiscal year, according to administration and Congressional officials.

But Democratic leaders refused to include the politically charged measure in the legislation. When lawmakers approved the bill on Dec. 19, it contained no financing for Thomson.

The administration will probably not have another opportunity until Congress takes up a supplemental appropriations bill for the Afghanistan war. Lawmakers are not likely to finish that bill until late March or April.

Moreover, the administration now says that the current focus for Thomson financing is the appropriations legislation for the 2011 fiscal year. Congress will not take that measure up until late 2010.

Frustrated by the difficulties in obtaining financing from Congress, administration officials had discussed invoking a little-known statute that would allow the president to declare a national emergency and then use military funds allocated for other construction projects to buy and retrofit the Illinois prison.

That statute, however, has never been used for a project quite like this one. Fearing that lawmakers would be angered by such a move and could respond by erasing the statute, the administration decided not to invoke it.

Matthew Waxman, who was assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs in the Bush administration, said the Obama administration would need lawmakers’ support for its long-term post-Guantánamo plans. Invoking emergency powers to unilaterally buy Thomson, he said, would be “poking Congress in the eye in a way that would be very counterproductive.”

Still, it is not clear that Congress will be willing to approve money enabling the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to domestic soil — especially as the 2010 midterm election campaign heats up, with the likelihood that Republicans will pick up seats.

This year, Congress restricted the ability of the executive branch to transfer detainees into domestic prisons, a ban reiterated in the 2010 military appropriations bill.

The Thomson proposal enjoys strong support from Illinois Democrats, including Gov. Patrick J. Quinn and Senator Richard J. Durbin, who have hailed the idea as a means of creating jobs. More than 300 people turned out Tuesday in Sterling, Ill., for a hearing on the proposal, The Associated Press reported, and emotions ran high among people on each side of the proposal.

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The White House has argued that closing Guantánamo would enhance national security by removing a symbol used by terrorist recruiters. It also said the closing would save taxpayers money because the Defense Department pays $150 million a year to operate the Guantánamo prison on the naval base there, while running the Illinois prison would cost $75 million.

Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, said Mr. Obama remained committed to closing the Guantánamo prison, adding, “We will continue to work with Congress to ensure that we secure the necessary funds to purchase and upgrade the Thomson prison, which will operate at a substantially lower cost to taxpayers, next year.”

But many Republicans oppose closing Guantánamo, arguing that housing the detainees on United States soil would create unnecessary security risks. Some crucial moderate Democrats are also skeptical.

Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is said to have privately expressed doubts to administration officials about the plan. Another member of that committee, Representative Loretta Sanchez, Democrat of California, also raised security and legal questions about the proposal.

“Particularly making something on U.S. soil an attraction for Al Qaeda and terrorists to go after — inciting them to attack something on U.S. soil — that’s a problem, and we need to think it through,” Ms. Sanchez said in an interview Tuesday.

In the Senate, Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has argued that the problem with Guantánamo has been its lack of due process rights, not its physical location. He said recently that terrorism suspects “do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons.”

Mr. LaBolt pointed out that the detainee population was now smaller than it had been at any time since 2002, and that on other fronts in the effort to close Guantánamo, “substantial progress has been made in recent weeks.”

For example, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. recently announced the first sets of civilian and military prosecutions for 10 detainees, and more such announcements are expected soon.

Last week, the United States transferred six detainees to Yemen in a trial program of repatriation to that country. About 91 of the roughly 200 detainees at Guantánamo are Yemeni; many are not considered “high value” suspects, but officials have been reluctant to repatriate them because of security conditions in Yemen.

Still, Congressional resistance to approving money for Thomson represents a steep hurdle toward dealing with the detainees who the administration has decided can neither be prosecuted nor safely transferred to the custody of other countries.

Indeed, Mr. Waxman said, the debate is certain to set off discussions on an issue that could drive away many civil-liberties-minded Democrats who have voiced initial support for Mr. Obama’s Thomson plan: the administration’s intention to imprison some detainees on United States soil without trials. “Some members of Congress may want to support rapid closure of Guantánamo but not to signal support for broad military detention powers,” Mr. Waxman said.



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Sources: NY Times, Politico, AP, MSNBC, Google Maps

Illinois Prison Being Considered To House Gitmo Detainees...3,000 Jobs Expected

Illinois prison eyed for Guantanamo inmates


The Obama administration may buy a near-empty prison in rural northwestern Illinois to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay along with federal inmates, a White House official said Saturday.

The maximum-security Thomson Correctional Facility, about 150 miles west of Chicago, was one of several evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and emerged as a leading option to house the detainees, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a decision has not been made.

President Barack Obama wants detainees from the controversial military-run detention center in Cuba to be transferred to U.S. soil so they can be prosecuted for their suspected crimes.

It is unclear how many Guantanamo detainees — alleged terrorism suspects, many held without charges since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan — might be transferred to Illinois or when. Obama initially planned to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by Jan. 22, but the administration is no longer expected to meet that deadline.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has been hinting at a possible new use for Thomson, and he issued a statement saying he would hold a news conference Sunday to outline those plans.

Quinn's spokeswoman Marlena Jentz did not return a phone message from the AP Saturday.

Thomson was built by the state in 2001 with 1,600 cells, but budget problems prevented it from fully opening, and it now houses about 200 minimum-security inmates.

If the Federal Bureau of Prisons buys the facility, it would be run primarily as a federal prison, but a portion would be leased to the Defense Department to house a limited number of Guantanamo detainees, the White House official said. Perimeter security at the site would be increased to surpass that at the nation's only Supermax prison, in Florence, Colo., the official said.

3,000 jobs expected

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the House's second-highest-ranking Democrat, said in a statement Saturday he would support the plan. He said the prison would house fewer than 100 Guantanamo detainees and would have a "significant positive impact on the local economy" by generating more than 3,000 jobs.

Thomson Village President Jerry Hebeler said the move would generate desperately needed revenue for the town of about 500 residents near the Mississippi River.

"It's been sitting there for eight to nine years and our town is like a ghost town," Hebeler said of the prison, adding that a tavern recently closed and a planned housing development fell through. "Everybody moved or got different jobs."

Some lawmakers opposed the idea of terrorism suspects being brought to Illinois.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Northbrook Republican running for Obama's old Senate seat, circulated a letter among elected officials asking them to write to Obama opposing the plan, saying bringing Guantanamo prisoners to the state would make it a target for terrorist attacks.

Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat, said Kirk was "pandering to irrational fears" and that closing the Guantanamo Bay facility would strengthen national security because al-Qaida used it as a recruiting tool.

Thomson is not the only U.S. town that had hoped to lure Guantanamo detainees. Officials in Marion, Ill., Hardin, Mont., and Florence, Colo., also have said they would welcome the jobs that would be generated.



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Sources: MSNBC, Day Life, Google Maps

Obama Administration Gives Up Fight On Bringing Cleared Detainees To U.S....Keeping America Safe

Washington Post----


The Obama administration has all but abandoned plans to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been cleared for release to live in the United States, administration officials said yesterday, a decision that reflects bipartisan congressional opposition to admitting such prisoners but complicates efforts to persuade European allies to accept them.

Four Uighur detainees, Chinese Muslims who were incarcerated at the U.S. military prison in Cuba for more than seven years, arrived early yesterday in Bermuda, where they will become foreign guest workers. An administration official said the United States is engaged in negotiations with other countries, including Palau, an island nation in the western Pacific, to find places for the remaining 13 Uighurs held at Guantanamo.

The Uighurs, who were ordered released by a federal judge last year, never counted America as an enemy, according to the men's lawyers and human rights groups, giving the administration grounds to argue that they should live in the United States. Picked up in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2002, the Uighurs were later cleared of the "enemy combatant" label but remained in minimum-security confinement at Guantanamo.

Attempting to settle non-Uighur detainees in the United States would generate even greater congressional opposition, and the administration has decided not to pursue it broadly, an administration official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. But he said there may yet be "a few" candidates for settlement in the United States among the dozens of Guantanamo detainees who have been cleared for release.

Congressional Democrats yesterday reached agreement on a war-funding bill that would allow detainees to be sent to the United States for trial. The draft bill included no provision for prolonged detention without trial, a step that President Obama has said will be necessary to incarcerate detainees who are too dangerous to release but who cannot be prosecuted.

The four released Uighurs -- Huzaifa Parhat, 38, Abdul Semet, 32, Abdul Nasser, 32, and Jalal Jalaladin, 29 -- were flown out of Guantanamo on a chartered plane early yesterday and are staying in a guesthouse in Bermuda.

"They are thrilled to be free and trying to get a sense of where they are," said Susan Baker Manning, a lawyer for the four men who accompanied them on the flight. "They are understandably very eager to put their lives back together."

Nasser thanked the government and people of Bermuda, which is a British territory. "Growing up under communism," he said, "we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring."

British officials, however, expressed displeasure that they were not consulted about the transfer. A Foreign Office spokesperson in London questioned "whether this falls within [Bermuda's] competence or is a foreign affairs or security issue for which the Bermuda Government do not have delegated responsibility."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton later discussed the matter with Foreign Secretary David Miliband to assuage British concerns.

Shortly before the announcement of the transfer to Bermuda, Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, called the Uighur detainees "terrorist suspects" and insisted they be returned to China. The Obama administration has ruled that out, fearing they could be tortured or executed.

Two other Guantanamo detainees, an Iraqi and a Chadian, were released and arrived in their countries yesterday. The Chadian, Mohammed El Gharani, was the youngest detainee at Guantanamo. He was 14 when he was picked up in Pakistan in 2001 and turned over to U.S. authorities.

"It could be a big week for Gitmo," said a second administration official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that there is a possibility that as many as four more detainees could be transferred in the next couple of days. The administration is also finalizing a deal with Saudi Arabia to accept some of the nearly 100 Yemenis who are among the 232 detainees remaining at Guantanamo, U.S. and Saudi officials said.

The news that the Uighur detainees would not be transferred to the United States was greeted with a mix of relief and disappointment by Uighurs who reside in Northern Virginia, some of whom had been preparing for the arrival of the detainees.

"Here we have a big community," said Elshat Hassan, 47, a former university professor, who came to the United States in 2006. "We have lots of Uighurs and organizations. We are willing to help them in any aspect of their lives. It is much better if they were resettled in Virginia."

More than 300 Uighurs, believed to be the largest concentration in the country, live in the Washington area. They have trickled in over the past 40 years from Xinjiang, a Chinese province where their movements are closely tracked and outward religious displays are banned.

Hassan said he had left a one-bedroom apartment in McLean for a larger one in Alexandria in the hopes of hosting at least one of the detainees.

But opposition on Capitol Hill to freeing detainees has dramatically intensified since January, when Obama announced plans to close the military prison within a year. Virginia lawmakers, including Sen. James Webb (D) and Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R), say they oppose Uighur resettlement as a matter of national security. Some of the Uighur detainees had received rudimentary military instruction at an Afghan camp, which some critics have described as a terrorist training camp but which the detainees' lawyers have said was a village of Uighur refugees.

Wolf, whose Northern Virginia district is home to many Uighurs, has been among the community's closest allies in Congress. But he has found himself at odds with it over this issue.

"There is a clear distinction between those individuals who have received training as terrorists and the Uighurs who are here, who yearn for democracy and fundamental freedom and rights," Wolf told about 100 advocates last month at the Capitol during a meeting of the World Uyghur Congress, an international coalition of expatriate groups.

Obama said recently that 50 detainees have been cleared for release as part of an ongoing review of each detainee's case. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said the number cleared for release is now "substantially higher" than 50, but he was not able to provide an exact number.

State Department special envoy Daniel Fried visited Palau last week, and a delegation from the country is on its way to Guantanamo to interview other Uighur detainees this weekend. But military and administration officials said Palau would not be taking all of the remaining Uighurs at Guantanamo.

Fried also visited Australia last week, but officials declined to say if the United States is close to a deal with its Pacific ally to accept detainees.

Fried also negotiated with Germany, which has a Uighur population in Munich. But Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble balked at any transfer and pointedly asked U.S. officials why they were not accepting the Uighurs themselves if, as they insisted, they were not dangerous, according to German reports.

According to Sarah Mendelson, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who authored a report on closing Guantanamo, "Once it becomes clear no detainees will be settled in the U.S., potentially you could hear doors slamming all over Europe."


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Sources: Washington Post, FBI, Day Life, Wikipedia, Google Maps

Senators Lieberman, Graham Attempts To Hold Congress Hostage Until Law Preventing Release of Detainee Photos Passes

Huffington Post----

Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lambasted transparency advocates at a press conference Tuesday, when they renewed their promise to bring Senate business to a halt until their bill blocking the release of detainee photographs becomes law.

"We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said, his face flushed red. "Nothing's going forward until we get this right."

The duo's bill, which would allow the Pentagon to exempt Bush-era photos from the Freedom of Information Act, was stripped from the conference version of the war supplemental Monday night. In anticipation of trouble, Lieberman and Graham had already inserted the bill into the tobacco-regulatory legislation currently on the floor of the Senate.

By turns sober and furious, the two senators vowed again Tuesday to vote against -- and, if possible, filibuster -- the troop-funding bill and all other legislation until they get their way. They equated the weapons supplied by the war supplemental spending bill with detainee photos that they said would serve as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and a weapon against U.S. troops.

"If these photos see the light of day, it will be a death sentence to some serving abroad," Graham said. The removal of the photo amendment, he said, "is one of the most outrageous and irresponsible acts in the history of the Congress." He said the initial response to the Abu Ghraib scandal was necessary and the punishments meted out were appropriate.

Lieberman, for his part, dismissed release of the photos as "sheer voyeurism" and "disclosure without a purpose." The Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commissions Act, Lieberman said, are ample enough evidence that the system has been sufficiently reformed.

"Transparency in government is an American value, but it is not without limits, no more than any of the values embraced in our Constitution," Lieberman said. "The transparency in this case is needless and dangerous transparency."

Graham said there is consensus among many senators, military officials and diplomats about the need to pass the bill. Even the White House is in support, he said, and helped them draft the bill, remaining supportive of it in conference. Both senators dismissed House Democrats' concerns about the bill as "naive" opinions held by a "fringe minority."

"Is the ACLU now in charge of the House of Representatives?" Graham asked.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is "very concerned" by the bill's stalling, Graham said. American embassies, he said, have been fortifying their defenses in anticipation of the photos' release, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has warned that "Baghdad will burn."

Key House Democrats said Monday they would want hearings on the photos bill before they even consider voting it into law, but Lieberman and Graham said that wasn't going to happen. The bill is explicitly designed to apply retroactively to the ACLU's victorious federal court case compelling release of the photos, which the Obama administration has appealed.

Even in the unlikely event that the government wins that appeal, however, Lieberman and Graham said they will still fight to exempt detainee photos from FOIA.

"This is the first shot in a long war," Graham said. "There are other lawsuits pending out there that want to compromise our national security in the name of freedom of information and transparency. There's more to come. Let us fight this battle today. Let us win the day so we don't have to fight it tomorrow."

UPDATE: Media Matters notes that a mere two years ago, Sen. Lieberman vehemently condemned any political delay of funding for the troops:

"We all know what our most important responsibility is. Our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are looking to us. They need the funding that only we in Congress can provide them. The money is running out.

I understand that many in this chamber saw the supplemental appropriations bill as an opportunity to force a withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, and that many of us argued vigorously against the amendments that attempted to do that. Each side has now had an opportunity to make its case, and the result is clear: there are not enough votes in Congress to enact a mandatory date for withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. The time for having debates and sending messages on this troop funding bill should be over.

It is time to get our troops the equipment, the training, the supplies they need-and without delay.

We in this chamber have a responsibility to make certain that-no matter what our disagreements and differences here in Washington-our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan are not caught in the political crossfire." [Lieberman.senate.gov, 5/10/07; emphasis added]

Sources: Huffington Post

First Gitmo Detainee Ahmed Ghailani Arrives In NYC

Huffington Post----

WASHINGTON — U.S. authorities have brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to the United States, flying him into New York to face trial for bombing U.S. embassies, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The department said Ahmed Ghailani arrived in the early morning hours Tuesday. U.S. Marshals took custody of Ghailani from his military jailers and brought him to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Ghailani is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court later Tuesday.

"With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a press release. "The Justice Department has a long history of securely detaining and successfully prosecuting terror suspects through the criminal justice system, and we will bring that experience to bear in seeking justice in this case."

Ghailani's trial will be an important test case for the Obama administration's plan to close the detention center at Guantanamo in seven months and bring some of the suspects to trial.

Ghailani was indicted in 1998 for the al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks which killed more than 224 people, including 12 Americans.

U.S. officials charge Ghailani began his terrorist career on a bicycle delivering bomb parts and rose through the al-Qaida ranks to become a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden.

Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was in his twenties when prosecutors say he helped terrorists build one of the bombs that destroyed U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.

He left Africa just before the bombings, according to investigators.

After the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings at U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Ghailani worked for al-Qaida as a document forger, trainer at a terror camp and bodyguard to bin Laden, according to military prosecutors.

He was categorized as a high-value detainee by U.S. authorities after he was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and was transferred to the detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba two years later.

Since his capture, Ghailani has denied knowing the TNT and oxygen tanks he delivered would be used to make a bomb. He also denied buying a vehicle used in one of the attacks, saying he could not drive.

Now, the Obama administration is trying to put him into the U.S. criminal justice system, despite claims by Republican critics that doing so would endanger American lives. Some lawmakers have opposed bringing any Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial, even in heavily guarded settings.

Last month, President Barack Obama said that preventing Ghailani from coming to U.S. soil "would prevent his trial and conviction. And after over a decade, it is time to finally see that justice is served, and that is what we intend to do."

Relatives of those killed in the embassy attacks have supported the decision to bring Ghailani to the U.S. for trial. Many of those relatives say that since the 2001 terror attacks, the earlier victims of al-Qaida have been forgotten.

Yet the president faces pressure from across the political spectrum on his plan to close the detention center. Democrats have said they want to see the president's plan for closing the base before approving money to finance it, and Republicans are fighting to keep Guantanamo open.

The decision to try Ghailani in New York also revives a long-dormant case charging bin Laden and top al-Qaida leadership with plotting the embassy attacks that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands, including many who were blinded by shards of flying glass. The attacks prompted then-President Bill Clinton to launch cruise missile attacks two weeks later on bin Laden's Afghan camps.

Four other men have been tried and convicted in the New York courthouse for their roles in the embassy attacks. All were sentenced to life in prison.


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Sources: Huffington Post, Google Maps

CIA Director Leon Panetta Tells Judge To Keep Detainee Docs Secret

Huffington Post----


WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta told a federal judge Monday that releasing documents about the agency's terror interrogations would gravely damage national security.

Panetta sent a 24-page missive to New York federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, arguing that release of agency cables describing tough interrogation methods used on al-Qaida suspects would tell the enemy far too much about U.S. counterterrorism work.

The CIA director filed the papers in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit has already led to the unveiling of Bush administration legal memos authorizing harsh methods _ among them waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning, and slamming suspects into walls _ and a fight over releasing long-secret photos of abused detainees.

"I have determined that the disclosure of intelligence about al-Qaida reasonably could be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security by informing our enemies of what we knew about them, and when, and in some instances, how we obtained the intelligence," Panetta wrote.

Panetta acknowledges in the court papers that the CIA destroyed 92 videotapes of detainee interrogations that took place in 2002. Officials have previously said that a dozen of those tapes showed the so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," which critics call torture. The destruction of the videotapes has spurred a criminal investigation into why they were destroyed.

The tapes _ and the interrogations _ are also an issue in the ACLU's lawsuit.

The CIA is fighting efforts to force release of the documents, including dozens of agency cables. The cables, Panetta said, describe in detail the methods used on terror suspects, the information gleaned from them and what U.S. officials still did not know at the time the suspects were being questioned.

The CIA last month denied a request by former Vice President Dick Cheney to declassify secret memos that detail whether valuable intelligence was gained from the use of the harsh interrogation techniques. Cheney said the documents show that the tactics prevented terrorist attacks and saved lives, contrary to the Obama administration's criticism of the Bush-era policies.

President Barack Obama also said last month he would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners, reversing his position out of concern the pictures would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Sources: Huffington Post

Senators Lieberman and Graham Threaten To Block Or Filibuster Release Of Detainee Torture Photos

Politico----

The Senate and House may be on a major collision course over the possible release of those photographs of detainee interrogations.

In an incendiary joint statement, Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham are threatening to use any means possible — including a filibuster — to block the House from overturning their amendment blocking the release of detainee interrogation photos.

Some House Dems were incensed when the pair — with the backing of the White House — inserted a three-year ban on Freedom of Information Act releases of the pictures without notifying them.

After initially saying she'd back the ban, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is apparently wavering under pressure from the left wing of her party.

Word that Pelosi was on the fence prompted Graham and Lieberman to blast away, according to a snior Senate Democratic aide.

Calling the release of the so-called torture pics tantamount to a "death sentence" for some U.S. operatives working in hostile countries, Lieberman and Graham took the unusual step of vowing to attach their ban to every piece of legislation passed in the upper chamber if their amendment is removed from the war supplamental.

Their statement:

“We will employ all the legislative means available to us including opposing the supplemental war spending bill and attaching this amendment, which was unanimously adopted by the Senate, to every piece of legislation the Senate considers, to be sure the President has the authority he needs not to release these photos and any others that would jeopardize the safety and security of our troops.

“The release of the photos will serve as propaganda and recruiting tool for terrorists who seek to attack American citizens at home and abroad. We should strive to have as open a government as possible, but the behavior depicted in the photos has been prohibited and is being investigated. The photos do not depict anything that is not already known. Transparency, and in this case needless transparency, should not be paid for with the lives of American citizens, let alone the lives of our men and women in uniform fighting on our behalf in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“Let it clearly be understood that without this legislation the photos in question are likely to be released. Such a release would be tantamount to a death sentence to some who are serving our nation in the most dangerous and difficult spots like Iraq and Afghanistan. It is this certain knowledge of these consequences of having the photos released that will cause us to vote against the supplemental and continue our push to turn our important amendment into law.”

Sources: Politico, Washington Post

U.S. Might Execute Some 9/11 Terrorist Detainees To Avoid Trials Which May Reveal Interrogation Techniques

"This unfortunately strikes me as an effort to get rid of the problem in the easiest way possible, which is to have those people plead guilty and presumably be executed. But I think it’s going to lack international credibility."

David Glazier, associate law professor


Newser----

The Obama administration may let some accused 9/11 terrorists at Guantanamo Bay plead guilty and be executed without facing trial, the New York Times reports. A proposed change in military law, which governs Guantanamo tribunals, would give the alleged attackers what they seek—martyrdom—and avoid trials that could reveal harsh US interrogation techniques. It would also avoid charging the accused in Federal court.

The five 9/11 detainees said last December that they wanted to plead guilty, but defense lawyers argued that military law should be followed, forbidding guilty pleas in capital cases. A military judge is still mulling it over. But critics of the proposed legislation, which is circulating privately among officials, are already speaking out: “They’re encouraging martyrdom," said a lawyer for a 9/11 detainee.


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Sources: Newser, NY Times, Day Life, Google Maps

U.S. Senate Votes NO (90-6) To Closing Gitmo! Keeping Detainees Out Of American Communities!

"I can't make it any more clear." "We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev)

"For months, we have been saying what Senate Democrats now acknowledge: that because the administration has no plan for what to do with the 240 detainees at Guantanamo, it would be irresponsible and dangerous for the Senate to appropriate the money to close it." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

In what may appear to be an unusual crushing defeat for popular President Barack Obama, was a resounding vote of NO from congress as it relates to him receiving funding to help close Gitmo.

The president previously pledged to close the detainee prison camp by January of 2010.

However today congressmen and women from both sides of the political spectrum were spot on as they agreed closing Gitmo would be a huge mistake, adversely impacting the safety of our entire nation.

No one has forgotten what Terrorists did to our country on 9-11. Better yet no one wants to forget.

The prisoners/ detainees currently housed at Gitmo are there NOT for chewing gum as Speaker Pelosi so eloquently put it, they are there for committing horrible acts against American people, on our soil.

Releasing those detainees as a means of protecting their Human Rights may seem like a good idea, but considering the circumstances it isn't prudent nor in the best interest of our national security.

What about the Human Rights of 3,000 innocent American citizens who met an untimely demise at the hands of cold-blooded, homicidal murderers eight years ago?

No offense to President Obama but we're talking hardcore Terrorists and Killers here, NOT regular criminals or regular gangsters.

Many of those detainees were trained almost from birth to hate and destroy Americans.

They are not without the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, able to be rehabilitated.

With this knowledge why should our government release these trained combatants into our communities around our families, schools, hospitals, churches, jobs, etc.,

I still believe that Torture is wrong.

On the other hand unless we are going to prosecute and execute the Gitmo detainees for their heinous crimes, they should remain imprisoned there, indefinitely.

Do I hate the detainees? No.

Am I preaching hate towards them. I hope not because that isn't my intention.

However I'm still not foolish enough to open my door to a Terrorist or Terrorist wannabe without thinking they could so easily chop my head off.

Thank you Congress for voting to keep Gitmo closed. Wise Choice!

(MSNBC reports on why Congress refused to close Gitmo.)




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Sources: Huffington Post, MSNBC, US News & World Report, Day Life, Google Maps, Youtube

President Obama Enforces Habeas Corpus With Tribunal Courts

On the heels of choosing not to release Gitmo Torture photos, today President Obama announced his decision to re-open Military Commissions/ Tribunal Courts.

With the closing of Guantanamo Bay which currently houses more than 240 Detainees, his administration must now work to create precise plans ensuring the world none of the freed inmates will pose any further security threat.

Releasing the detainees won't be an easy task, however continuing to detain them on U.S. soil without Habeas Corpus will no longer be tolerated.

Here are the factors which will determine how Detainees will be released:

1) Detainees who pose no Security risk at all will be discharged to other countries.

2) Detainees who are no doubt extremely dangerous but whose files lack the necessary evidence to receive a Fair trial, will be jailed indefinitely via the International Law of Warfare Doctrine or by asking Congress to pass a new law for the creation of a new National Security Court.

3) Detainees of whom Prosecutors have collected an overwhelming abundance of Prime Facie evidence, will of course be tried in Civilian courts.

4) At least 20 Detainees will be tried in Tribunal Courts. Unlike those managed under former President George W. Bush's administration, the revised Tribunal courts will afford each of the those dangerous detainees a legal, humane trial.

Here are the new plans for the use of Tribunal Courts under President Obama's administration:

1) Hearsay will be limited so that the burden will no longer be on the party who objects to hearsay to disprove its reliability.

2) Evidence obtained via the use of cruel and unusual punishment will not be permissible during trials.

3) The accused will have greater latitude in selecting their counsel.

4) Basic protections will be provided for those who refuse to testify.

5) Military commission judges may establish the jurisdiction of their own courts.

Such a legal process is likely to produce a lesser risk of any convictions being overturned by a Federal Appeals court.

In addition by allowing the inmates to have a Fair Trial, Prosecutors will be able to use information previously gathered by Intelligence sources without having to reveal their sources.

Use of Tribunal Courts under the Bush administration drew public outrage and complaints from Civil Liberty Unions which exposed Inhumane Treatment of Prisoners.

Those allegations caused President Obama to halt the use of Tribunal Courts until a thorough investigation was conducted regarding their effectiveness in the prosecution of Detainees.

Jonathan Hafetz, of the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed his disappointment with this statement, "It’s disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment. Even with the proposed modifications, this will not cure the commissions or provide them with legitimacy. This is perpetuating the Bush administration’s misguided policy."

During his campaign President Obama denounced Military Commissions/ Tribunal Courts.

He has pledged to close Guantanamo Bay for good by January of 2010.

President Obama: "This the best way to protect our country, while upholding our deeply held values."

(White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs addresses President Obama's plans to revive Tribunal Courts at Gitmo.)



Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Politico, CBS News, Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Day Life, AM, Youtube

President Obama Explains His Decision Not To Release Gitmo Detainee Photos

This afternoon during a Press Conference President Obama explained his decision not to release the Gitmo Detainee photos. He also addressed the current Sri Lanka civilian hostage situation.

Whether or not we agree on why he suddenly chose not to release the photos shouldn't be a big deal.

For the time being let's focus on far more important issues like Health Care Reform.

President Obama: "Now, let me also say a few words about an issue that I know you asked Robert Gibbs about quite a bit today, and that's my decision to argue against the release of additional detainee photos. Understand, these photos are associated with closed investigations of the alleged abuse of detainees in our ongoing war effort."

"And I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib, but they do represent conduct that did not conform with the Army Manual. That's precisely why they were investigated -- and, I might add, investigated long before I took office -- and, where appropriate, sanctions have been applied."

"In other words, this is not a situation in which the Pentagon has concealed or sought to justify inappropriate action. Rather, it has gone through the appropriate and regular processes. And the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken."

"It's therefore my belief that the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals. In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger."

"Moreover, I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse. And obviously the thing that is most important in my mind is making sure that we are abiding by the Army Manual and that we are swiftly investigating any instances in which individuals have not acted appropriately, and that they are appropriately sanctioned. That's my aim and I do not believe that the release of these photos at this time would further that goal."

"Now, let me be clear: I am concerned about how the release of these photos would be -- would impact on the safety of our troops. I have made it very clear to all who are within the chain of command, however, of the United States Armed Forces that the abuse of detainees in our custody is prohibited and will not be tolerated. I have repeated that since I've been in office, Secretary Gates understands that, Admiral Mullen understands that, and that has been communicated across the chain of command."

"Any abuse of detainees is unacceptable. It is against our values. It endangers our security. It will not be tolerated."



Sources: Whitehouse.gov, A Soldier's Perspective, Daylife, Youtube