The 44th President of The United States of America Barack Hussein Obama has started his tour of duty. Deeply immersed in economic woes and a war on two fronts Iraq and Afghanistan. This man may be the saviour of the world to many, however his executive order to close the Guantanamo Detention Centre.
I feel is his first mistake. These men captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan etc are Terrorists. They must be tried rather than returned to a neutral or their home country.This story from the CBC and all the global wire services is a warning that the majority of these so called fighters will inevitably return to terrorism. The case for the Canadian passport holder Omar Khadr is a case in point. His family openly support Jihad and this young man was captured in the middle of a war zone and firefight in Afghanistan where currently Canadians and other NATO soldiers are putting their lives on the line daily. For what so that enemies captured may be released to try again.
Please remember that these repatriation ceremonies are caused by Canada's enemies, indeed enemies of the free world.
Ex-Guantanamo detainee becomes No. 2 for al-Qaeda in Yemen Last Updated: Friday, January 23, 2009 | 12:08 PM ET CBC News
A Saudi man who was detained at the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for six years has now become the second-in-command for al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, according to an online statement allegedly by the group.
The statement, which appeared on a website commonly used by militants purportedly from al-Qaeda, says Said al-Shihri has joined the branch known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and is now the group's No. 2.
Al-Shihri, 35, ended up in U.S. custody after he was hospitalized for more than a month for injuries suffered during an air strike in December 2001. He was one of the first detainees sent to the controversial detention centre set up by the George W. Bush administration in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The detainee was released from the detention centre in November 2007 and transferred to Saudi Arabia, according to U.S. Department of Defence documents. After that, he apparently travelled to Yemen.
He managed to leave the land of the two shrines (Saudi Arabia) and join his brothers in al-Qaeda, the statement said.
The Associated Press said Saudi authorities didn't immediately comment on the website statement.
An unnamed Yemeni counterterrorism official was cited by the Associated Press as saying Saudi Arabia had asked Yemen to return a number of wanted Saudi suspects who fled the kingdom last year for Yemen. A man with the same name was among those wanted, the official said.
Guantanamo military tribunal documents allege al-Shihri was an al-Qaeda travel facilitator and trained in urban warfare at Libyan Camp, located north of Afghanistan's capital of Kabul.
He allegedly guided extremists on how to enter Afghanistan and provided money to other fighters, the documents say. In the past, Al-Shihri has denied any links to terrorism. With files from the Associated Press
In an article a week prior to the swearing in of President Obama this report was filed on the net by all news agencies.
Pentagon: Gitmo detainees returning to battlefield Last Updated: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 | 4:20 PM ET The Associated Press
Suspects who have been held but released from Guantanamo Bay are increasingly returning to the fight against the United States and its allies, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Sixty-one detainees who have been released from the U.S. Navy base prison in Cuba are believed to have rejoined the fight, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. That's up from 37 previously, Morrell said.
The new figures come as U.S. president-elect Barack Obama prepares to issue an executive order during his first week in office to close the controversial prison.
It's unlikely, however, that the Guantanamo detention facility will be closed anytime soon as Obama weighs what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaeda, Taliban or other foreign fighter suspects who remain there.
Omar Khadr, 22, is the sole Canadian held at the facility. Charged with killing a U.S. medic, his military trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 26.
About 520 Guantanamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world.
There clearly are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America, Americans, and our allies, Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon.
So there will have to be some solution for the likes of them, and that is among the thorny issues that the president-elect and his new team are carefully considering.
Morrell said the new numbers showed a pretty substantial increase of detainees returning to terror missions from seven per cent to 11 per cent.
He said fingerprints and other forensic evidence, as well as intelligence, were used to tie the detainees to terror efforts. He did not know where those detainees had been released, or what missions they are now believed to have rejoined.
Human rights activists and defence lawyers for the detainees argue that many men at Guantanamo pose no security risk and should be released.
In a recent report, the Brookings Institution examined hundreds of pages of declassified military documents, and ultimately said it couldn't tell whether many of the prisoners held for years without charge are terrorists or innocent.
The Washington think-tank concluded that only 87 of the current 250 detainees described having any relationship with al-Qaeda, the Taliban or other armed groups considered hostile to the United States.
I hope that PM Harper leaves Khadr where he belongs until a trial is held and he is found guilty or innocent.
Please show support for our troops and the Invisible Army that is behind them.
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
