9/11, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Debra Burlingame, Guantanamo, jihadists, John Murtha, Military Commissions, New York Times, September 11, terrorists

Prez Obama closing Gitmo: 9/11 families object; terrorist attacks in and near prisons likely

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Updated 12:05 PM, EST

Over the objections of a large majority of 9/11 family members, President Barack Obama is expected to sign an Executive Order today directing that the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base be closed:

Relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks, who were at the base this week to observe pretrial hearings, told reporters they oppose any halt to the trials. “The safest place to have these trials is Guantanamo Bay. If they were to move to the homeland it would endanger all of us,” said Lorraine Arias Believeau of Barnegat, New Jersey, whose brother, Adam, was killed in the attacks.

In addition, President Obama has directed a 120-day suspension of detainee trials so that, “…his administration [can] review the military commissions process…” and will order the closure of all overseas “C.I.A. prisons.” On January 14, 2009, the Washington Times reported, “The Pentagon is looking at several military bases in the U.S. as possible sites to hold terrorist suspects now at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including Camp Pendleton in San Diego and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.”

Debra Burlingame is skeptical about President Obama’s stated intent and whether he believes Guantanamo can be safely closed within one year. She offers that the detainees are far more dangerous than Obama imagined prior to being read-in on their classified files. Yesterday, she discussed this with Neil Cavuto:

But how dangerous is the average detainee at Guantanamo? Listen to Gordon Cucullu. Beginning in 2005, he made five trips to Guantanamo, spent 3 1/2 years researching the facility, and embedded with our troops there. He starts out by describing the frequent attacks made by the Islamic jihadist detainees there upon our troops:

The Wall Street Journal weighed in this morning:

One suggestion is moving the remaining prisoners to Kansas’s Fort Leavenworth, but state politicians are already sounding a red alert. The military base is integrated into the community and, lacking Guantanamo’s isolation and defense capacities, would instantly become a potential terror target. Expect similar protests from other states that are involuntarily entered in this sweepstakes.

Clinton, Debra Burlingame, Eric Holder, Marc Rich

Evidence that Eric Holder twiced perjured himself before Senate Judiciary Committee

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On February 14, 2001, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding President Clinton’s last day in office pardon of Marc Rich. In part, Mr. Holder stated:

I would like to briefly go through a chronology of the relevant events so as to explain the Department’s involvement in this matter. I think my first contact with the Rich case came in late 1999 when Jack Quinn, the former White House counsel, called me and asked me to facilitate a meeting with the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York concerning a client of his named Marc Rich. This was not an unusual request. Over the years other prominent members of the bar and former colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, had asked me to arrange similar meetings with other offices around the country — Mr. Rich’s name was unfamiliar to me.[emphasis added mine] …
I gained only a passing familiarity with the underlying facts of the Rich case. … [the link is to a copy of Eric Holder’s testimony as filed with the Federal Clearing House]

Yet, as Andrew McCarthy reported today on the National Review Online, Eric Holder filed a complaint against Clarendon Ltd in 1995:

On April 13, 1995, the Wall Street Journal reported Holder’s announcement that his office had obtained a settlement from a Swiss trading company called Clarendon Ltd. Rich had maintained a significant ownership interest in Clarendon, but the company had falsely represented to the government that none of its principals was disqualified from federal contracts. By concealing its link to Rich, Clarendon had induced the government to purchase its wares — coinage metal for the U.S. mint. When Holder’s office found out about Rich’s chicanery, it filed civil charges. The settlement of those charges, Holder told the Journal, ended a broader investigation his office had been conducting into Rich’s business interests.

On-air today, WOR talk-radio host Steve Malzberg discussed this with Debra Burlingame. During his nomination hearings last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Eric Holder again cited a lack of familarity with Marc Rich and the underlying facts of the case as what caused his “mistakes”:

Here is the complaint against Clarendon, beginning with the top of the first page:

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On page 2 of the complaint, Marc Rich was specifically named:

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Then U.S. Attorney Eric Holder signed the complaint:

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Click here to download a pdf (2.7MB) of the full complaint.