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| Terror Networks |
| Gitmo a symbol of disgrace? "It never was and isn't now." |
| 2009-05-23 |
| While his own Democrats are overwhelmingly balking at closing Guantanamo Bay for fear that any of the 240 detainees would end up in their states, the President held firm on shutting the camp. So he had promised over and again during the presidential campaign, helping to elevate Gitmo into a symbol of disgrace. It never was and isn't now. By all accounts, the accommodations are well above average for a penal institution. The U.S. should keep the place open - not because a SuperMax facility wouldn't safely hold Al Qaeda types, but because they don't belong on American soil with whatever rights attach to that privileged status. Similarly wrong is Obama's resolution to try some Guantanamo detainees in civilian criminal courts. He has already done so, with troubling results in the case of a now-confessed Osama Bin Laden henchman who had plotted to stage a "second wave" attack on the U.S. after 9/11. Ali Saleh Keahlah Al-Marri was arrested in Illinois in December 2001 and held as an enemy combatant in a Navy brig. He plea-bargained with the Justice Department this month for a term of no more than 15 years - the same stretch former New York assemblyman and labor leader Brian McLaughlin faced for stealing from a Little League, unions and taxpayers. Next up for trial, right here in New York, is Ahmed Ghailani, accused in the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Captured in Pakistan in 2004, Ghailani was brought to Guantanamo in 2006. There is at least an argument that Ghailani should be tried in Manhattan Federal Court because he was indicted here in 1998. There is also some comfort in believing Ghailani would not walk free, should he be acquitted. In 2004, Justice described him as one of seven Al Qaeda members who were planning a terrorist action that year. For which he could be tried before a military tribunal, where he belongs, or hit with indefinite detention, which would likely be even more apt. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #1 Obama is leading boldly where no one else wants to go, except for Gitmo inmates. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-05-23 17:26 |