al Qaeda

al Qaeda, Barack Obama, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Eric Holder, ETIM, Gitmo, Guantanamo, immigration, New York Times, Osama bin Laden, Uighurs

Senator Reid’s Gitmo truth: ‘You can’t put them in prison unless you release them’ (see updates)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) finally told the truth about President Barack Obama’s plan to bring Guantanamo detainees into the United States. The New York Times (and others) has Senator Reid on the record:

Mr. Reid in his comments, however, was unequivocal in insisting that the terror suspects never reach American shores.

“You can’t put them in prison unless you release them,” he said. “We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.”

Setting aside the 17 Uighurs at Gitmo, think about what Senator Reid just said.

Attorney General Holder has stated many of the 240 remaining Gitmo detainees are too dangerous to release yet cannot be prosecuted. Some number of those who are prosecuted will likely receive less than a life sentence. If they are here, federal judges will someday order them released and no other nation will take the worst of the worst; they would be released free someday onto America’s streets.

Now remember the 17 Uighurs at Gitmo. They have admitted to being trained and committed terrorists. Incredibly, a military review board said they are no threat to America when they are all associates of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. The ETIM has a long relationship with al Qaeda and its founder swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden. On April 9, 2009, the Obama administration added the ETIM’s current leader, Abdul Haq, to the Treasury Department’s terrorist list. As they pose a direct threat to Chinese businessmen and diplomats here, who wants to risk becoming collateral damage?

A federal judge ordered them released here last October:

The ruling set the stage for a confrontation between the courts and the [Bush] administration. John C. O’Quinn, a deputy assistant attorney general, suggested that immigration or Department of Homeland Security officials might detain the men when they were taken to the Washington area. Mr. O’Quinn argued that only the executive branch of the government, not the courts, could decide about immigration. Mr. O’Quinn said such detainees would have no legal status in the United States. “Normally,” he added, “the law would potentially require them to be taken into some sort of protective custody.”

Judge Urbina said such arrests would not be appropriate. But he did not specify what he might do if the men were seized after being released by the Pentagon. “I do not expect these Uighurs will be molested by any member of the United States government,” Judge Urbina said sharply. “I’m a federal judge, and I’ve issued an order.”

Fortunately, the House and Senate will deny, for the moment, President Obama the funding needed to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo. Even Senator Reid knows that it would be reckless to bring terrorists into America.

abuse photos, ACLU, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, detainees

Obama reverses ‘abuse’ photos release; ACLU: ‘administration … complicit in the Bush administration’s torture policies’

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President Barack Obama today reversed the decision to unilaterally release photographs that allegedly show detainee abuse. We applaud him for that decision.

Andy McCarthy wrote yesterday that Obama has the authority to end the litigation:

Thus, if President Obama wanted to keep these photos from being exploited by America’s enemies, all he would need to do is issue an executive order sealing them, based on a finding (which could be drawn from public statements he has already made) that their release would imperil the national defense — as well as frustrate ongoing American foreign-policy efforts in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere in the Muslim Middle East.

Some will say that the president won’t do that because he does not want to anger the anti-war Left, a significant part of his base. In truth, the president is the anti-war Left. He won’t issue an executive order of this kind because he wants the photos revealed. It is important to understand that disclosure here is not an inevitable outcome. It is a choice. It doesn’t have to happen unless Obama wants it to happen.

President Obama will see a vicious backlash from the anti-war left:

Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU, said the president’s decision “makes a mockery” of his promise of transparency and accountability.

“Essentially, by withholding these photographs from public view, the Obama administration is making itself complicit in the Bush administration’s torture policies,” Singh said. “The release of these photos is absolutely essential for ensuring that justice was done … for ensuring that the public could hold its government accountable, and for ensuring that torture is not conducted in the future in the name of the American people.”

Singh said his organization is prepared to “do whatever it takes” in order to have the photos released.

We agree with Andy McCarthy:

“Unless something is done, the photos … will cause American soldiers, American civilians, and other innocent people to die … Time is running out — the danger is not.”

President Obama’s first duty is to America’s defense; photos alleging detainee abuse would be used by al Qaeda as recruiting tools, make us less safe at home, and further endanger our brave troops.

We could live with an Executive Order ending this litigation. The ACLU would not like that decision yet their obligation is to their clients, not national security.