Obama: 50 Gitmo Detainees Cleared for Transfer

Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:12 PM

WASHINGTON – Forty-eight terror suspects currently held at Guantanamo Bay are waiting to be released to other nations, the Obama administration said Thursday. The detainees are among 50 detainees whose cases President Barack Obama said Thursday have already been reviewed. The detainees would be the first to be released to other nations under the Obama administration's effort to empty the Cuba-based prison without bringing all its inmates to the United States.


Two other detainees have been released since January, to Britain and France, officials said.


In a speech defending his plans to close the detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba by early next year, Obama described the 50 detainees as prisoners who "can be transferred safely to another country."


"My administration is in ongoing discussions with a number of other countries about the transfer of detainees to their soil for detention and rehabilitation," Obama said in his speech at the National Archives.


Military officials described those detainees Thursday as either low-level threats who no longer have valuable intelligence to give, or have been cleared for transfer because of a court order or otherwise lacking evidence against them.


Whether they will be transferred anytime soon is anyone's guess.


The government has been negotiating with nations like Yemen and Saudi Arabia for months to deal with some of the detainees. Obama is seeking to place up to an estimated 100 Yemeni detainees in Saudi rehabilitation programs.


Since 2002, more than 500 detainees have been transferred to at least 30 nations to be prosecuted, rehabilitated or released. Many nations, however, are reluctant to take detainees who remain at Guantanamo because they are seen as higher security risks than those who were cleared earlier.


And the U.S. is leery about transferring many detainees to other nations, like Yemen, where they may be released despite the threat they may pose. Pentagon data from January suggests at least 61 detainees have either rejoined or are suspected of returning to the fight against the United States after being released from Guantanamo.


The two detainees who have been transferred to other nations since January are:

Ethiopian national Binyam Mohammed, a former resident of Great Britain, who claims he was tortured while at Guantanamo. He was sent back to Britain in February and is seeking to have evidence in his case be released.

Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian, was sent to France earlier this month after a U.S. appeals court ordered his release last year. Boumediene's whose landmark 2008 Supreme Court case gave the Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment.

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Guys .... I mean I have to honestly say "Who in Hell do we think we are" in doing this ???

We have captured truly dangerous murderers that will most likely go right back and reengage into their old lives as Top Leaders within either Al Qaeda or the Taliban and continue on with their Terrorist Ways.

WE CAPTURED THEM and WE DETAINED THEM ..... and now that this Dude in Da Howze no longer wants them, we Shamelessly Try to Pawn them off of OTHER COUNTRIES ??????

I MEAN WTF ??????

These are not just some run of the mill Border Jumpers that need deporting, these are some of the most Dangerous People on the Face of this Earth and we are trying to Push Them Off on Others ....

I don't and can't grasp this concept at all.

We know where they are going as soon as their feet touch ground outside GITMO, so why not just take them directly back to Yemen or Saudi Arabia and let them go.

But by damn, next time we run across them in the Field, SCREW Capture .... eat them down to a pulp with a Squad of SAW Gunners and let that be that.

This is Vietnam all over again ....

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If they were not a threat when they were rounded up...They are now. I'm sure they appreciate being "detained" for this period of their lives without ever being charged with a crime. If I put myself in their sandals...I'd be seeking revenge against the country that did this to me.

The mistakes made over the last 6 years may well haunt us for a long time. Of course its pretty much par for the "war" course. The real shame is that it is costing so many brave men and women their lives and ruined families.

Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

(05-22-2009 08:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

So now they are prisoners of war?....I thought they were detainees.

(05-22-2009 09:15 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(05-22-2009 08:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

So now they are prisoners of war?....I thought they were detainees.

Enemy combatants I believe the term to be. What ever the term, why are we releasing them if the war is still going on?

(05-22-2009 09:19 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  

(05-22-2009 09:15 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(05-22-2009 08:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

So now they are prisoners of war?....I thought they were detainees.

Enemy combatants I believe the term to be. What ever the term, why are we releasing them if the war is still going on?

Man...We sure do redefine things based upon the situation.....I don't know if they should be released or not...but...this has been another embarrassment for America. I hope we learn from this disaster.

(05-22-2009 08:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

Prisoner of war exchanges have been present in history. Civil war exchanges were used until late in the war, and the end of exchanges helped create Andersonville, etc.

(05-22-2009 10:30 PM)steer Wrote:  

(05-22-2009 08:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Since when do we release prisoners before the war is over?

Prisoner of war exchanges have been present in history. Civil war exchanges were used until late in the war, and the end of exchanges helped create Andersonville, etc.

I agree, but who did we get back? For most released POW's the war would be over and they'd go home. For these goons the war will never end.