The Gitmo You Haven't Seen Before

WNU Editor: Oliver North's Frontline series shows you the rest of this important base outside the detention facility. It is a 40 square mile fully self contained base that controls most of US activities in the Caribbean.

The link to the webpage is here.

Hat Tip: Prairie Pundit

Official: Guantanamo Detainee Was Tortured

From FOX News:

Susan J. Crawford says the techniques used on a man allegedly planning to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were "overly aggressive and too persistent."

A Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo Bay says the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Washington Post reported.

"We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani," Susan J. Crawford told the Post. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Read more ....

Pentagon: 61 Gitmo Grads Returned to Terror

From Gateway Pundit:

Former Gitmo detainee Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi recently exploded in Iraq.
Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi was released from Gitmo in November 2005.

The WaPo reported that Ajmi left a lengthy martyrdom audio recording before his death. Ajmi implored people to take part in suicide bombings and to attack Americans. He blew himself up in Mosul in the summer of 2008 and was able to take a few Iraqis with him.

And, don't forget Monhammed Nayim Farouq:

Read more ....

Update #1: Pentagon: Gitmo detainees returning to battlefield -- AP
Update #2: Pentagon: 61 ex-Guantanamo inmates return to terrorism -- Reuters

My Comment: These are the number that are publicized .... I can bet that the real number is probably higher. I am also curious to know how many innocents have been killed because of the men who have been released from Guantanamo. My gut tells me that the number is in the hundreds.

Closing Gitmo Requires Tough Judgments On Inmates

The outside of the "Camp Six" detention facility at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2008. Barack Obama plans to order the Guantanamo Bay "war on terror" detention camp closed on his first full day in office. (AFP/Pool/File/Mandel Ngan)

From AP:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – President-elect Barack Obama's planned review of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, a prelude to closing the detention center, must weigh the threats posed by an extraordinarily diverse group, from die-hard jihadists to innocent men swept up in war.

Two presidential transition team advisers said Monday that Obama is preparing to issue an executive order in his first day or week in office setting in motion the extensive survey needed to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba.

His team faces a daunting task.

Read more ....

My Comment: This article leaves out the sore point that a number of detainees who were released over the past few years did return to kill Americans and their allies in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Let's face it .... many of these inmates are very dangerous men, who would plot to kill again. The problem is how to convict and punish them. The evidence for a proper trial is not there .... and if it is there it is probably top secret. Regular rules do not apply. The U.S. constitution and its protection .... if applied to these murderers .... would guarantee their release because their accusers are either dead, would be too scared to put their face forward .... or are classified as top secret.

Obama the lawyer is approaching this as a judicial exercise that must accommodate U.S. law .... I am looking forward to what the good law professor turned President can put together.

I am sure that no one is going to be pleased with the result.

Closing Guantanamo Bay Is "More Difficult Than People Realize" -- President-Elect Obama

President-elect Barack Obama sits down for an exclusive "This Week" interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. (Lauren V. Burke/ABC)

Obama: Gitmo Likely Won't Close in First 100 Days
-- ABC News

Closing Guantanamo Bay More Difficult Than People Realize, President-Elect Tells George Stephanopoulos in Exclusive Interview on "This Week"

President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

"I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do," Obama said in an exclusive "This Week" interview with George Stephanopoulos, his first since arriving in Washington.

Read more .....

My Comment: Duh!!!!!