Yemen: Gitmo alumni and AQ's Number 2 arrested - after auto accident.

Hah! We may have missed him with the predator drones but Yemeni authorities have nabbed him in a car crash. I'm loving it...

<---Said Ali al-Shihri

From Xinhua.net:

Yemeni security forces on Monday captured al-Qaida No. 2-in-command in the Arabian Peninsula, Said Ali al-Shihri, in southern Yemen, the Interior Ministry said.

The senior al-Qaida leader in Yemen was arrested along with another militant identified as S. Lamankib in the southern province of Shabwa, the ministry in a statement posted on its website.

The arrests came after the car of the two al-Qaida militants had been involved in an automobile accident on a highway in the Asailan district in Shabwa, said the statement. "They were rushed to the hospital and put under guard," it said.

In other al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula news - fresh threats against the US are issued. (I wonder if the Obama administration will pay attention to these?)

"The duty of our Muslim nation is to declare jihad against the infidels and their agent helpers, not only on the ground, but in the sea and air as well as their Crusader warships in the Gulf of Aden," according to the statement. "As they declared it to be an open war on the people of Islam, we must declare an open war against [them]."

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Gitmo in the Heartland: Public hearing held.

<--- I don't know you man, but I love your sign.

Unfortunately, it appears that very few members of the public got to be heard.

It was mostly window dressing public officials trying to talk their way into a new federal slush fund funding source and attempting to calm the sheeple with their magical thinking.

An example: Closing Guantanamo will stifle terrorist recruitment and keep US soldiers from dying because the leftists terrorists will now love us forever for moving the detainees to Illinois in a move to create/save jobs. Really!

From St. Louis Today:

Federal and state authorities faced harsh questioning from Republican lawmakers and a chilly reception from an audience in Sterling on Tuesday afternoon over a plan to bring terrorism suspects to western Illinois. State lawmakers organized a public hearing here over a plan to sell the state prison in Thomson to the federal government.

Alan Liotta, principal director for detainee policy at the Defense Department, said the goal is to remove Guantanamo as a recruiting tool for terrorists.

"I appreciate your optimism. I can't say that I share it," said state Sen. Matt Murphy, a Republican.

Jack Lavin, a top aide to Gov. Pat Quinn, invoked a sequence of leading Republicans such as John McCain who also support closing the facility at Guantanamo.

Lavin noted that about 200 Illinois citizens have died in combat since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Utilizing Thomson would be another way Illinois can help keep the U.S. safe.
"We all have the duty to sacrifice for each other," he said.

State officials were frequently interrupted by boos and jeers, causing panel co-chairman Jeffrey Schoenberg to call for "decorum" and even threaten to remove audience members.

Murphy, who is running for lieutenant governor, pressed state officials on whether they think the risk for the state will increase by moving a symbol of the U.S. war on terrorism to Illinois.

Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois State Police, said the only way state authorities can mitigate the risk is if federal authorities enter into a long-term financial arrangement.

Monken estimated that the state police will need at least $1 million up front to manage the risk.

State Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican who is running for governor, expressed skepticism.

"We are in a time of war. Our enemy is the terrorists. We are detaining their troops," he said.

Hundreds attended the public hearing at Sterling High School, east of Thomson. The panel, the state Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, can merely offer an advisory opinion.

Before the hearing opened, several dozen opponents were holding signs and ringing "liberty bells." One opponent held a sign criticizing the governor: "Quinn to Jihad: Come on inn!"

Governor Quinn was unable to attend the hearing as he was en route to Germany...

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Released Gitmo alumni returning to terror at increasing rate

but the Obama administration doesn't want you to know that. Musn't alarm the sheeple when we're getting ready to move the 'worst of the worst' to America's heartland.

From the dishy Steve Hayes at the Weekly Standard:

A total of 31 Guantánamo detainees have been transferred or released since Obama took office.

Among them are several men who acknowledged -receiving training in al Qaeda's notorious "al Farouq" camp. One, Binyam Mohamed, was slated to participate in the next wave of al Qaeda attacks on American soil in 2002. Another, Ahmed Zuhair, was convicted in absentia of participating in terrorist attacks in Bosnia in the late 1990s and almost certainly participated in the assassination of William Jefferson, an American working for the United Nations. Several -others that have been released have admitted to training at a camp at Tora Bora under Abdul Haq, a member of al Qaeda's shura council and a senior al Qaeda leader the Treasury Department has designated as a terrorist. And dozens more are coming.

And it's all according to the Obama administration plan - there's one problem. These detainees are returning to terror in alarming numbers.

The Defense Department has now produced an updated version of Return to the Battlefield. According to four separate sources familiar with the study, the rate of recidivism is increasing. One source said there has been a "spike" in the number of former detainees involved in jihad against the United States and its allies. Another called the increase "significant" and "deeply troubling."

But the Obama administration--despite its -self-congratulatory claims of transparency--is refusing to release it. A Pentagon spokesman tells us the latest report is classified and there are no plans to release it.

Republicans in Congress want it out. On December 18, Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair asking for release of the report:

"As the administration moves forward with plans to release or transfer detainees from the secure facility at Guantánamo Bay to third countries, it is important for the American people to understand fully the dangers previously-released detainees continue to pose to our national security. Moreover, because the administration has decided to import terrorist detainees into the U.S.--including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and future residents of Thomson prison--their ultimate fate will be determined by U.S. judges and juries. The American people should be aware of the likely threat these terrorists would pose if a court decided to release any one of them into our nation's communities."

And Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has also asked, according to his spokesman, that "the recidivism rate be made available to the American people." It has been in the past.

The Bush administration released the first recidivism study in June 2008. President Obama has promised to run "the most transparent administration in history." But when it comes to the DIA recidivist study, it is not even as transparent as its predecessor. Many of the recidivists, moreover, are already known--there is no reason that the government should classify those details that can be sourced to newspaper accounts.

Like so many of the plans the Obama administration have in store for the American people (health care, cap and trade, immigration, etc.), they're hoping we just won't notice.

Perhaps Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee should be informed that we have noticed. It won't take long - you can cut and paste the letter found here (modify as desired) and use Dinah's old California zip code 94104 to make sure the Senator's constituent services pay attention. Email her here.

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Our long, national nightmare begins. Gitmo terrorist asks judge to dismiss his case.

What right does this terrorist have to our constitutional protections? ---->

From the NYT:

Lawyers for a terrorism suspect once held at Guantánamo Bay who is now facing prosecution in Manhattan asked a judge on Tuesday to dismiss his case on the ground that his nearly five years in detention denied him his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

The terrorism suspect, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was captured in Pakistan in 2004, held for two years in secret prisons run by the C.I.A., and then moved in 2006 to the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. During his detention, he says, he was subjected to cruel interrogation techniques and denied a lawyer.

Although Mr. Ghailani faces charges stemming from a terrorist act that predated the Sept. 11 attacks, his speedy trial motion could foreshadow issues that could arise in the prosecution of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the professed organizer of the 9/11 plot, and four other Guantánamo detainees who were recently ordered sent to New York for trial.

“We respectfully submit that this case presents possibly the most unique and egregious example of a speedy trial violation in American jurisprudence to date,” Mr. Ghailani’s lawyers said in a motion that was heavily censored because of its reliance on classified information.

The motion was originally filed several weeks ago with Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, but it was kept almost entirely under seal pending a review by the government. The new version, with many pages blacked out, was made public on Tuesday.

“This motion asks one primary question,” the lawyers, Peter E. Quijano, Michael K. Bachrach and Gregory Cooper, wrote. “Can national security trump an indicted defendant’s constitutional Right to a Speedy Trial? (sic) We respectfully submit that the answer is emphatically and without qualification, ‘No.’ ”

And this is reason #3987 why these scumbags should not be tried in civilian court.

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White House Study Looks at Job Creation in IL if Gitmo Prisoners Transferred There

Didn't I tell you the ix-fay was in?

From ABC News:

President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers has prepared an economic analysis of job creation if the federal government takes over the underutilized Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois for the purposes of housing detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay, as the Obama administration is strongly considering doing.

Over the first four years, the CEA assesment states, the facility would create 840 - 910 temporary jobs and 3,180 - 3,880 ongoing jobs, increasing local earnings by a cumulative $793 to $1,015 million.

"Approximately 80% of all of the jobs created by the facility will be held by people residing in Illinois, while people in Iowa will fill the remaining jobs," the study states. "These jobs could reduce the unemployment rate in Carroll County, Illinois, where Thomson is located, by 2 to 4 percentage points."

You can find the report here. (I'm printing it out to fisk later.)

Related: Gitmo in the News.

Must see! Steven does Gitmo.

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Could KSM seek asylum if 'that trial thing' doesn't work out for some reason?

(You mean like a single moonbat juror holdout or maybe an anti-death penalty nut or something like that?)

That's what several US Senators want to know. Dinah would too.

From the NY Daily News

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee today are demanding to know the immigration status of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other 9/11 plotters, should they be brought to the United States to stand trial.

Their fear is that KSM and his henchmen might seek asylum under immigration laws, setting all kinds of worrisome precedents.

“As you can imagine, even if they are not ultimately eligible for relief, terrorist detainees may seek legal rights under our immigration laws or assert such rights in federal court, thereby setting a precedent that could have grave consequences for the American public,” they write in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “These consequences should weigh heavily in any decision President Obama and the administration make about transfer of these detainees to the United States.”

So, in this scenario, these characters who would be brought here to face a death penalty trial, also would ask the United States for asylum here. Uh oh. What if they can buy insurance under the Senate health reform bill? Hmmm…

The letter can be found here.

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Democrats slam Obama plan to close Guantanamo

Now the Democrats are going to pay for this one ! Or at least they should ! Deciding not to fund the closing of Gitmo , coupled with Queen Bee Pelosi's Flat out lie about what she knows or doesn't Know about CIA torture techniques ! The agenda of the Democrats should be clear , They are unsure of what they are doing ,they have lied To America about important issues , and have been trying to railroad anyone from the Bush Administration right to Jail (At Times for warcrimes) All the while the country is being flushed down the drain ! The kicker of the whole Gitmo deal is that NOBODY Wants these guys , Not The U.S. , Not even their own countries ! Short of handing them over to the Taliban or Al Qaida !

Gulfnews.com
Washington: US President Barack Obama’s Democrat allies have denied $80 million needed to support his plan to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison.

Democrats joined Republicans in saying that the plan to close the prison lacked planning for dealing with the 240 detainees in the facility.

Obama had asked for $80 million to shutter the facility as part of a massive supplemental spending plan to pay for fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The House of Representatives did not include the money in its $96.7 billion bill and the Senate was poised to remove it from its $91.3 billion version through an amendment expected to pass on Wednesday.

“The money was sought prematurely," because the president has yet to present a clear strategy for deciding the prisoners' fate, said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Although about 80 of the detainees have been singled out for prosecution, the fate of those who have been convicted and sentenced to prison remains unclear.

The White House promised that Obama would unveil "a hefty part" of his plan for closing the facility in a speech Thursday.

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Guantanamo Detainees Say They Planned September 11

Report states inmates expressed pride in their accomplishment, see it as a 'badge of honor' Well I'm Convinced ! Seeing as these Jackass's Have admitted their guilt , Then I say we give them another badge of Honor ! Martyrdom ! Not a problem ! We give them the choice of A Bullet Or A Rope ! Money is not an Issue ! I have both right in My Garage , I will Donate !

epochtimes
WASHINGTON—The five detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison camp charged with plotting the September 11 attacks have filed a document expressing pride at their accomplishment and accepting responsibility for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The document, which the newspaper said may be released publicly on Tuesday, describes the five men as the "9/11 Shura Council," and says their actions were an offering to God, according to excerpts of the document read to a reporter by an unidentified government official, the report said.

"'To us,' the official read, 'they are not accusations. To us they are a badge of honor, which we carry with honor,'" the paper said.

The document is titled "The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations," the military judge at the U.S. Naval base said in a separate filing, obtained by the Times, that described the detainees' document.

The document was filed on behalf of the five men, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who has called himself the mastermind of the attacks.

Some of the men had said earlier that they planned the 2001 attacks and that they wanted to be martyrs. The reason for the new filing, which the report said reached the military court on March 5, was not clear. The brief court order describing the filing said the men sought no legal action.

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Don't send Guantanamo inmates here: U.S. politicians

If the detainees are relocated onto U.S. soil, "they'll be clamoring for their rights," said Randy Brogdon, an Oklahoma Republican state senator who is behind a resolution seeking to bar the detainees from Fort Sill in his state.

"Let's send them to the country they came from. The problem is, they won't take them back," he added.

That pretty much sums it up . What to do with 245 idiots that want to see the destruction of the United states !
Do we release them once they get here , because Many liberals And the new administration thinks it's a good gesture ?
Do we let them in our courts so they can clog up the system and eventually be released ? Costing taxpayers millions of dollars !!!!
Maybe we should just put them on a plane On a non stop flight , and drop them off in their respective countries !

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A cry of "not in my backyard" is growing louder over where to relocate terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay once the military-run prison is closed.

"We're the new Guantanamo Bay if they move to Indiana and what does that mean for us?" said Republican state Senator Marlin Stutzman, who wants detainees kept away from the prison in Terre Haute, site of the federal execution chamber.

"Does it make us a target? I don't know how their (terrorism) networks work but I'm sure they keep track of where their buddies are at," he said.

Resolutions in a few states that are home to federal or military prisons call for the detainees to be sent anywhere but there, fearing those states will become magnets for terrorism.

....

Sixty of some 500 Guantanamo detainees previously released have been unable to leave because their home countries refuse to accept them, said Navy Commander J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

The military has tried to resettle them in third-party countries, but so far has had limited success, with a total of five Uighurs from restive western China sent to Albania in 2006.
"Congress has the authority to establish federal prisons and situate them. It's hard to see how a state can veto a particular prison," said Northwestern University law professor Robert Bennett. "There are plenty of dangerous people in these prisons without these prisoners from Guantanamo."

Out of 201,000 federal inmates, just 94 are jailed for violations of national security. Most of the rest were convicted of drug, weapons and immigration offenses, with some 12,000 serving sentences for murder, kidnapping or sex crimes.

Maybe we should put them in general population with our own worst of the worst , and see how they fair ?

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Defense chief asks for plans to close Guantanamo camp

Close gitmo ! That is what everyone wants ! FINE !
But these "Bad guy's" need to be dealt with , I don't believe that anyone wants Khalid sheik mohammed , Or any others like him , running the streets !(Except maybe some code pinko dumbass's) So what to do with them ? Trying them in a federal court only gives them more Rights ! We don't want that !
How about A good old fashioned "Execution" Seeing as how that is what these douchebags do so well ,Maybe a stoning? ( Sounds good ) Firing squad ( to Quick ),Lethal injection (too easy )Electrocution ( Getting close ) Whatever it may be ,It should be Done Soon ! (To save taxpayers some money !)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked Pentagon staff to draw up plans for shutting the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Pentagon spokesman said.
A detainee is seen through a fence in July at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The camp holds about 250 suspected terrorists, down from a peak of roughly 750 men from 40 countries.

It houses several top al Qaeda figures, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the confessed architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Gates "has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down, what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people [from] some very dangerous characters," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday.

....

Morrell described it as a contingency plan in case the new administration wants to take it up early in the new year.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the camp at Guantanamo but hasn't set a specific timetable. Gates will continue as defense secretary when Obama takes office.

"I would like to see it closed," Gates told Charlie Rose in a PBS interview. "And I think it will be a high priority for the new administration."
Officials close to the Obama team said in November that the incoming administration is pondering options, including trying some of the Guantanamo Bay inmates in federal courts, setting up a special national security court to deal with cases involving the most sensitive intelligence information, and releasing some inmates.

In an October 31 interview with CNN, Obama said only that he would close the facility "as quickly as we can do prudently."
"I am not going to give a time certain because I think what we have to do is evaluate all those who are still being held in Gitmo," he said. "We have to put in place appropriate plans to make sure they are tried, convicted and punished to the full extent of the law, and that's going to require, I think, a review of the existing cases, which I have not had the opportunity to do."

In May, Gates told a Senate committee that efforts to shut down the facility were "stuck" over what to do with the inmates.

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Guantanamo trial views graphic 9/11 video!

Well it's about Damn Time! It would be absolutely wonderful to sit in this court room and watch this punk and his attorneys Squirm ! I hope they get the same results as they did for most of the SS ,during the Nuremburg trials from WWll!

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver unveiled a graphic video on Monday of the September 11 attacks and other al Qaeda operations that is likely to play a repeated role in pending war crimes cases.
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The video is entitled "The Al Qaeda Plan," an echo of "The Nazi Plan" made by Oscar-winning director George Stevens as evidence in the Nuremberg war crimes trials of German leaders after World War II.

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"Oh my God" was heard repeatedly as crowds watched the twin towers of the World Trade center collapse on September 11, 2001, in a vivid highlight of the movie shown over defense objections at the terrorism conspiracy trial of Salim Hamdan.

The six-member panel that will decide Hamdan's fate also saw footage of charred bodies stripped of flesh in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa and the body of a U.S. soldier dragged through the streets in Somalia in 2003.

Control tower conversations with one of the doomed September 11 planes were also included.

"The Al Qaeda Plan" was made for $25,000 by terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann for the Office of Military Commissions, which is conducting the trials of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo. Its 90 minutes of video clips depict the history of al Qaeda from its formation in 1988 through the September 11 attacks.

The commission's lead prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, said the tape would be used in other trials but no decision had been made whether to use it in the trial of accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Hamdan's attorneys objected that the footage would prejudice the jury. "They're trying to terrorize the members," defense attorney Charles Swift told the court.

But prosecutors said the video helped illustrate the goals of al Qaeda training and ideology. "It is a very important part of the prosecution's case," said prosecutor Clayton Trivett.

Commission Judge Keith Allred approved the video, after first saying it would serve more to prejudice the case than to prove a point. "The planes crashing into the towers and the people screaming doesn't prove anything," he said.

A pivotal point of contention is the significance of Hamdan's role in al Qaeda. The Yemeni native was caught in November 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in his car.

Defense attorneys say he was a lowly driver, but the prosecution has sought to portray him as a trusted bodyguard who helped bin Laden evade capture and stay alive.

The two sides have also skirmished over an expert's testimony on the laws of war. With Hamdan being tried as a war criminal under a 2006 U.S. law, the prosecution is seeking to show the United States was in a continuing armed conflict with al Qaeda well before the September 11 attacks.

Hamdan's attorneys have sought to demonstrate that the battle with al Qaeda did not reach the state of armed conflict until the September 11 attacks, which could make it harder for the prosecution to prove Hamdan's actions count as a war crime.

Separately on Monday, the Pentagon announced it had filed charges against another detainee at Guantanamo and released three from the detention center.

The Pentagon said Abdul Ghani was accused of attempted murder, material support for terrorism and conspiracy over accusations he fired rockets and planted bombs aimed at U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, and tried to kill an Afghani soldier in 2002.

The Pentagon said it had released three detainees -- one to Afghanistan, one to the United Arab Emirates and one to Qatar. It said more than 65 Guantanamo detainees are eligible for transfer or release subject to talks on where they will go.

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