Freed Gitmo Detainee Now Yemeni No.2 al-Qaida Leader
CAIRO, Egypt – A Saudi man released from Guantanamo after spending nearly six years inside the U.S. prison camp is now the No. 2 of Yemen’s al-Qaida branch, according to a purported Internet statement from the terror network.
The announcement, made this week on a Web site commonly used by militants, came as President Barack Obama ordered the detention facility closed within a year. Many of the remaining detainees are from Yemen, which has long posed a vexing terrorism problem for the U.S.
The terror group’s Yemen branch — known as “al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula” — said the man, identified as Said Ali al-Shihri, returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from Guantanamo about a year ago and from there went to Yemen, which is Osama bin Laden’s ancestral home…. – AP Wire
Yemen’s government struggles to maintain order. Many areas of this California-size country are beyond government control and Islamic extremism is strong. Nearly 100 Yemeni detainees remain at Guantanamo, making up the biggest group of prisoners.
Al-Shihri’s case highlights the complexity of Obama’s decision to shut down the detention center within a year despite the absence of rehabilitation programs for ex-prisoners in some countries, including Yemen. The Pentagon also has said more former ex-detainees appear to be returning to the fight against the U.S. after their release.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who heads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence, said the reports about al-Shihri should not slow the Obama administration’s determination to quickly close the prison.
Obama has been irresponsible in hastily signing orders to release detainees WITHOUT a plan for what to do with them other than sending them back to the front lines and increase the risk to Americans (Civilian and Military) abroad. If not our own soil. What is the plan for any new combatant jihadists captured on the battlefield ?? These now un answered questions should have been made clear to the American people at the same time he signed to papers to close Gitmo. Will the Washington Press core “press” him in this? What do you think??
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on Monday - Jan 26th, 2009 at 9:56 pm Cynical Synapse wrote:
It’s not a perfect system, and some excesses may have turned some of the detainees. But that doesn’t mean Gitmo was such a bad place. But it did become a symbol of the Bush administration’s extremely loose definitions of concepts like human rights, protections of the Geneva Conventions, and even what is acceptable for interrogation methods.
That said, Obama’s order to close Gitmo within a year doesn’t translate to automatically releasing the some 250 still being held there (roughly a third of the total population at it’s height). Before his inauguration, Obama agreed the Gitmo question is more difficult that most people realize.
Am I excited? No. Did I like the detention centers at Gitmo to begin with? No. Do I want to see former detainees back on the battlefield? No. Do I think some returning to the battlefield has to do with how we treated them? Yes. Am I willing to give President Obama a chance to stand on the principles of our Constitution? Yes. Did I vote for Obama? No, but that’s not the point.
on Tuesday - Jan 27th, 2009 at 4:07 pm ZZ Bachman wrote:
Thanks Cynical Synapse for the insightful comment. The thing that is most upsetting about Obama’s quick signing of executive orders to appease the left is that he has not proposed what will be done in Gitmo’s place. It is a knee jerk reaction and in fact I agree that it will not be closed down in the sense that the radical left would like to see it. I am also willing to give Obama a chance as he is now our President out of respect of the office. His actions will however have to speak louder than his idealistic words.
The fact that his first press conference was with the Middle East Arab outlet seems a bit on the dhminitude side to me but we shall see if he has the guts to back up his idealistic vision and threats against terrorists with more than words.