Bush to Close Gitmo?
By Duane Lester • Jul 3rd, 2008Rumors are flying that President Bush may be closing down the prison at Guantanamo Bay:
High-level discussions among top advisers have escalated in the past week, with the most senior administration officials in continuous talks about the future of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay–and how it will be dramatically changed and/or closed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling that gave detainees there access to federal courts.
Sources have confirmed that President Bush is expected to be briefed on these pressing GTMO issues–and may reach a decision on the future of the naval base as a prison for al Qaeda suspects–before he leaves for the G8 on Saturday. An announcement, however, is not expected before he leaves the country.
High-level administration officials say the Court’s decision dramatically changes the legal landscape–and raises questions about whether the government has solid evidence to present to federal judges to justify ongoing detentions.
That evidence, much of it classified and obtained by military and CIA personnel on the battlefield, is not the standard kind of proof judges are accustomed to seeing in regular criminal cases here, administration officials say.
I personally hope they keep it open, take all these folks through the legal system, and show the American people who exactly is being held down there. These folks are not there for singing too loud in church. Some have already been released, only to return to the battlefield to try to kill more American military members.
For example:
- Fahd al-Utaibi a/k/a Naif Fahd Al Aseemi Al Utaibi arrived in Saudi Arabia May 18, 2006 from Guantanamo, along with 14 others released by the US. He is currently on trial in Yemen for forging travel documents in order to join the jihad in Iraq.
Yemenis comprise one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters in Iraq, and it is said that they are aided by some in the military and intelligence services. President Saleh is a great fan of the resistance.
- Ajmi was released from Guantanamo Bay and was searching for “a way to reconnect with the jihad.” He claimed he was tortured while at Guantanamo Bay.
Ajmi “is seemingly responsible for an earlier truck bombing at the Iraqi Army HQ in the Harmat neighborhood of Mosul on March 23, 2008,” said Kazimi. The attack occurred at Combat Outpost Inman, an Iraqi Army base that served as the headquarters for the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division.
Thirteen Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 were wounded after Ajmi drove an armored truck packed an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of explosives through the gate of the outpost and detonated in a spot between the three main buildings of the compound. The blast destroyed the facades of the three buildings, including the building housing the battalion headquarters.
- The Afghan, who was about 15 when he was swept up along with hundreds of others and taken to Guantanamo Bay, is among a small number of former prisoners who have been killed or recaptured following their release by U.S. authorities, said Paul Rester, director of the Joint Intelligence Group at the detention center.
Make a spectacle of the whole thing. Let the trials be televised. Show the people who is being held down there and what they are there for.
