Freed Gitmo Detainee Rejoins Al-Qaeda, Attacks US

Puppycow

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Dang!

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief

January 23, 2009
Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief
By ROBERT F. WORTH

BEIRUT, Lebanon — 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 Thursday 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.

“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

Almost half the camp’s remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.
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So now what?
 
Puppycow said:
Dang!

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief



So now what?
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It's far from the first time:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/14/61_freed_detainees_said_back_in_terror/UPI-39891231947075/

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. military officials say dozens of detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison camp have likely returned to terrorism activities.

U.S. Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters Tuesday that since 2002, 61 former detainees have committed or are suspected to have committed attacks after being released from Guantanamo, CNN reported.
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You can have a justice system that never releases someone it shouldn't, if you are prepared to never let anyone go.

You can have a justice system that never imprisons someone it shouldn't, if you're prepared to let everyone go.

What sane societies do in practise is codify and follow rules that are, at least in theory, the best possible tradeoff between the risk of false positives and the risk of false negatives.

The Bush administration threw the rulebook out the window, because they were both incompetent and immoral, and now the USA is reaping what the Bush administration sowed. People who supported Bush in the lawless detention of alleged enemy combatants in the first place have no standing to complain now if the lack of any proper evidence forces the release of those prisoners.
 
The Fool said:
so what? I don't think anyone for a moment believes they are all squeaky clean and not one would return to old ways....if the criteria is that one may reoffend then nobody ever gets released from anywhere...
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True, but it makes the political price a lot higher. Ask Mike Dukakis.
 
Kevin_Lowe said:
You can have a justice system that never releases someone it shouldn't, if you are prepared to never let anyone go.

You can have a justice system that never imprisons someone it shouldn't, if you're prepared to let everyone go.

What sane societies do in practise is codify and follow rules that are, at least in theory, the best possible tradeoff between the risk of false positives and the risk of false negatives.

The Bush administration threw the rulebook out the window, because they were both incompetent and immoral, and now the USA is reaping what the Bush administration sowed. People who supported Bush in the lawless detention of alleged enemy combatants in the first place have no standing to complain now if the lack of any proper evidence forces the release of those prisoners.
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But the Bush Admin did release this guy, so weren't "never letting anyone go." They even let some people go that, in hindsight, were dangerous.
 
Puppycow said:
Dang!

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief



So now what?
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The problem has always been, some of them are guilty, and some of them are innocent. That's always been the problem with all people suspected of criminal behaviour. To date, the legal system has favoured letting people go if you can't prove them guilty. It's a cornerstone of western law. Do you want to change it?
 
a_unique_person said:
The problem has always been, some of them are guilty, and some of them are innocent. That's always been the problem with all people suspected of criminal behaviour. To date, the legal system has favoured letting people go if you can't prove them guilty. It's a cornerstone of western law. Do you want to change it?
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Baloney GITMO detainees were captured on the battlefield or in the case of KSM in Pakistan. there have been a grand total of only 700 that have ever been in GITMO and to make the absurd claim that any significant portion of them were "innocent" is risible nonsense.
 
Kevin_Lowe said:
People who supported Bush in the lawless detention of alleged enemy combatants in the first place have no standing to complain now if the lack of any proper evidence forces the release of those prisoners.
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I'm curious whether you think KSM should be released? I don't think he will be, but OTOH, the evidence against him is supposedly "tainted" because he was waterboarded.
 
I think I heard several times that they would have to convict him on his role in the 93' WTC bombings if he was released so in effect he would never be tried for 9/11 because of the aforementioned tainting.
 
Kthulhut Fhtagn said:
Well I already know what the right-wingers are gonna say. I suppose I should ask that if we release a suspected murderer due to a lack of evidence and he goes out to murder someone else should we then hold all people suspected or accused indefinitely just to be sure?
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No, and clearly even Bush didn't think so because he released this guy and others.
 
Puppycow said:
No, and clearly even Bush didn't think so because he released this guy and others.
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I'm not accusing Bush of it. Merely asking those who seem to be in favor of detaining many of these individuals indefinitely if they are in favor of locking accused murderers up indefinitely without evidence.
 
Puppycow said:
But the Bush Admin did release this guy, so weren't "never letting anyone go." They even let some people go that, in hindsight, were dangerous.
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That's what happens when you throw innocent and guilty alike into Gitmo without proper evidence, it's going to be hard to sort them out later.
 
Texas said:
Baloney GITMO detainees were captured on the battlefield or in the case of KSM in Pakistan. there have been a grand total of only 700 that have ever been in GITMO and to make the absurd claim that any significant portion of them were "innocent" is risible nonsense.
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All 700 were captured on the battlefield engaged in military action against U.S. forces? My understanding was that only some of those there were captured in the manner you describe.
 
Texas said:
Baloney GITMO detainees were captured on the battlefield or in the case of KSM in Pakistan. there have been a grand total of only 700 that have ever been in GITMO and to make the absurd claim that any significant portion of them were "innocent" is risible nonsense.
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Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen released from Gitmo....not captured in a battlefield.
Are you lying or are you uninformed?
 
Corsair 115 said:
All 700 were captured on the battlefield engaged in military action against U.S. forces? My understanding was that only some of those there were captured in the manner you describe.
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From 2005
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200507/ai_n14824376

Those held at Gitmo are 518 of the worst al Qaeda and TaIiban in captivity, culled from more than 70,000 prisoners captured on Afghanistan battlefields. Some are highly experienced bomb makers, trainers, recruiters and financiers. Others have been identified, by the detainees themselves, as Osama bin Laden lieutenants and body guards. Then, there are the garden variety al Qaeda terrorists-hijackers, kidnappers and suicide bombers-inwaiting-who fill out the ranks. A few have been educated in the United States. One received a , graduate degree in avionics management at the prestigious Embry Riddle Aviation School in Arizona. Another earned a masters degree in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M. Among the detainees are medical doctors, lawyers, airplane pilots and aviation specialists, engineers, divers and linguists. Dozens have traveled and lived in the U.S., maintaining ties with those who still live here.
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