 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The ruler of Kuwait made a personal appeal to US President George W. Bush that helped secure the release this month of two of that country’s citizens from the Guantanamo Bay prison, their attorney said. Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the emir of the oil-rich US ally, sought the transfer of six Kuwaiti detainees to their homeland during a visit to Washington on Sept. 5, attorney David Cynamon said on Thursday in a conference call with reporters. “The emir was pressing and indeed the government of Kuwait has been pressing for the release of all the (Kuwaiti) detainees, not just the two” who were sent home nine days later, Cynamon said.
Cynamon said diplomatic efforts were continuing to secure the release of the other four Kuwaitis — whom he represents — still among the roughly 465 alleged al-Qaida and Taliban supporters detained at the US Naval base in southeastern Cuba. “It is distressing that the administration has been dragging its feet so long in repatriating these men to Kuwait,” he said.
| Distressing to you and their mothers, perhaps, but I don't feel the slightest twinge of distress. Even the chili went down fine tonight. |
| “The military said they had ties to charities with links to terror groups and that their names had been found on the hard drive of a computer seized from a suspected Al Qaeda member.” |
The two men released on Sept. 14 - Omar Rajab Amin, 41, and Abdullah Kamel al-Kundari, 32 - had been held at Guantanamo for four years. The military said they had ties to charities with links to terror groups and that their names had been found on the hard drive of a computer seized from a suspected Al Qaeda member.
| Collecting for the Widows Ammunition Fund. |
Cynamon denied they had such links, and said he expected they would be cleared by Kuwaiti courts. | The last part I fully believe. Of COURSE they will be cleared. |
Al-Kundari was a former member of KuwaitÂ’s national volleyball team who before his arrest worked as an engineer for the Ministry of Water and Electricity.
Amin, who attended college in Nebraska, was also accused by the military of being a terrorist financier who had provided “large amounts” of money to Osama bin Laden - accusations he denied. |