Recently in Guantanamo Category

What a torture chamber Guantanamo is, eh? It's so horrifically draconian that the terrorized, tortured prisoners lounge around reading the propaganda that their own side, the avowed enemies of the United States, puts out.

Meanwhile, a French judge is seeking access to Guantanamo in order to confirm allegations prisoners have made of Qur'ans being desecrated there. This dhimmi judge should ask himself this question: if Gitmo is so lax and politically correct and clueless that al-Qaeda literature can make its way there, is it really likely to be the kind of place where rogue "Islamophobic" American troops fiendishly desecrate Qur'ans in defiance of official U.S. policy?

"U.S.: Al Qaeda magazine got into Guantanamo cell," by Richard Lardner for the Associated Press, January 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A copy of a magazine published by an arm of al Qaeda made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday.

Navy Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart told a military judge during a pre-trial hearing that a copy of Inspire magazine got into a cell. She provided no details on who received the magazine or how. But she said the breach showed that prior rules at the base governing mail review were not adequate. Yemen’s al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula launched the online, English-language magazine in 2010. An early issue contained tips to would-be militants about how to kill U.S. citizens.

Lockhart is part of the U.S. team prosecuting the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national charged with orchestrating the attack in 2000 on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors. Al-Nashiri, 47, is considered one of the most senior al Qaeda leaders. He has been held at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006 after spending several years held by the CIA in a series of secret prisons.

How mail between Guantanamo prisoners and their attorneys should be handled consumed several hours of the al-Nashiri’s pre-trial session on Tuesday and Wednesday. At issue is whether even a cursory examination of the legal correspondence violates the attorney-client privilege.

The dispute reflects the untested nature of this latest attempt to resume the military tribunals at Guantanamo. The prosecution of al-Nashiri is already underway and the U.S. is preparing to prosecute five other prisoners accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, yet defense lawyers and government prosecutors are still fighting to establish basic legal ground rules....

Earlier reports suggested they would be transferred to Afghan custody. This report also speculates about a possible prisoner exchange for the abducted U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, but notes there is no clear indication that this arrangement is under discussion.

Instead, "the releases would be to reciprocate for Tuesday's announcement from the Taliban that they are prepared to open a political office in Qatar to conduct peace negotiations." So, once again, by all appearances, the U.S. is trading risky American actions for pledges from the Taliban.

"Taliban leaders held at Guantánamo Bay to be released in peace talks deal," by Julian Borger and Jon Boone for the Guardian, January 3:

The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents' agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar, the Guardian has learned.

The Taliban are set to be the beneficiaries of "negotiations" Homer Simpson described best: "You help me, and I, in turn, am helped by you."

According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan.

More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund. Washington is reported to be considering formally handing him over to the custody of another country, possibly Qatar.

The releases would be to reciprocate for Tuesday's announcement from the Taliban that they are prepared to open a political office in Qatar to conduct peace negotiations "with the international community" – the most significant political breakthrough in ten years of the Afghan conflict.

The Taliban are holding just one American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, a 25-year-old sergeant captured in June 2009, but it is not clear whether he would be freed as part of the deal.

"To take this step, the [Obama] administration have to have sufficient confidence that the Taliban are going to reciprocate," said Vali Nasr, who was an Obama administration adviser on the Afghan peace process until last year. "It is going to be really risky. Guantánamo is a very sensitive issue politically."

Nasr, now a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said the Taliban announcement on the opening of an office in Qatar was a dramatic breakthrough.

"If it had not happened then the idea of reconciliation would have been completely finished. The Qatar office is akin to the Taliban forming a Sinn Féin, a political wing to conduct negotiations," Nasr said, but added: "The next phase will need concessions on both sides. This doesn't mean we are now on autopilot to peace."....

No kidding!

He was released in 2007, even though "the U.S. determined he was a 'probable facilitator for Al-Qaida members' and was also thought to have links to Pakistan's intelligence service." One hopes his compound yielded some useful intelligence as well. "NATO kills ex-Gitmo detainee in Afghanistan," by Rahim Faiez for the Associated Press, September 3:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO and Afghan forces killed a former Guantanamo detainee who had become a key al-Qaida affiliate after returning to Afghanistan, officials said Saturday.

Sabar Lal Melma, who was released from Guantanamo in 2007 after five years of detention, had been organizing attacks in eastern Kunar province and funding insurgent operations, NATO spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said.

A NATO statement described Melma as a "key affiliate of the al-Qaida network" who was in contact with senior al-Qaida members in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Troops surrounded Melma's house in Jalalabad city on Friday night and shot him dead when he emerged from the building holding an AK-47 assault rifle. Several other people were detained.

A guard at the house, Mohammad Gul, said a group of American soldiers scaled the walls of the compound around 11 p.m. and stormed the house, shooting Melma in the assault. Three others were detained, Gul said.

Melma had been detained for about five days in August, Gul said.

Melma is not the first former detainee to rejoin the insurgency. In 2009, the Pentagon said 61 detainees, or approximately 11 percent, released from Guantanamo had rejoined the fight. Experts have questioned the validity of that number.

About 520 Guantanamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world.

After the fall of the Taliban, Melma, 49, was given the rank of brigadier general and placed in charge of approximately 600 border security troops in Konar province, according to his military file made public by WikiLeaks.

He was captured in August 2002 while attending a meeting with U.S. military officials in Asadabad and transferred to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in October that same year. He was suspected of helping carry out rocket attacks against U.S. troops.

While imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. determined he was a "probable facilitator for Al-Qaida members" and was also thought to have links to Pakistan's intelligence service.

He was sent back to Afghanistan in September 2007.

But they got no goat to sacrifice -- see how they suffer? "Former Army Prosecutor: Some Prisoners ‘Asked to Stay in Gitmo’ Rather than Go Home," by Katie Bell, Andrew Herzog and Pete Winn for CNS News, June 30 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

(CNSNews.com) - Former Army Gitmo prosecutor Kyndra Rotunda told CNSNews.com that some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have asked to stay there in U.S. custody rather than be released to return to their home countries.

“Interestingly, some detainees were offered release, and asked to stay in Gitmo. They prefer captivity in Gitmo to freedom in their own countries!” Rotunda told CNSNews.com by e-mail.

Far from being tortured, as some protestors outside the White House alleged last week, Rotunda said prisoners at Gitmo are allowed to take classes (with some even receiving “home-schooling”), can read Harry Potter books in Arabic and are given their choice of athletic shoes for playing sports.

What’s more, the Defense Department has even flown in special fruits and nuts for detainees to observe Ramadan, Rotunda said, although the detainees’ request for a goat to be sacrificed was declined--in deference to PETA.

“Most Gitmo detainees live in group housing with open bays and about 10 people to a bay,” she said.

“They are outside of their housing bays for up to 12 hours a day. During that time, they can take classes, visit the library--which has over 5,000 titles, including the Harry Potter series translated into Arabic, which are very popular--exercise, check out movies or games, play sports--detainees can chose from a selection of athletic shoes--or even visit the computer lab.”...

Torture!

The cocky murderer and war criminal, Omar Khadr, got off with a shockingly light sentence as it was. And the denial of clemency keeps him from going back to the rest of his family of jihad sympathizers and supporters -- in Toronto -- any sooner. "U.S. military tribunal rebuffs Khadr's bid for clemency," by Steven Edwards for PostMedia News, May 26 (thanks to Ima Freeman):

NEW YORK — The U.S. military tribunal that oversaw Omar Khadr's war crimes case has refused the Canadian's bid for clemency with a statement Thursday that simply confirms the eight-year sentence he received in a plea deal.

The Toronto native had, through his military lawyer, sought to have the sentence reduced, arguing in part that the prosecution had been guilty of "misconduct" in its calling of a key prosecution witness.

The confirmation of the eight-year sentence — in exchange for which Khadr admitted to five war crimes, including the murder of a U.S. serviceman — was issued by retired Vice-Admiral Bruce MacDonald, who serves as the tribunal "convening authority," or overseer.

Khadr killed a Special Forces medic with a grenade.

By not addressing the defence allegations of prosecutorial misconduct — which the prosecution had vigorously denied — MacDonald effectively ruled for neither side.

"While we are disappointed that Omar did not receive clemency, we are confident that the convening authority carefully considered all the defence submissions prior to final action," said army Lt.-Col. Jon Jackson, Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyer for the military commission at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The plea deal called for Khadr to serve one more year in Guantanamo, then seven in a Canadian prison.

Jackson said applications had already been made before U.S. and Canadian authorities for Khadr's transfer to Canada "on or before Nov. 1" — the date marking a year following the end of his sentencing hearing.

"Omar continues to be focused on the future, his education and repatriation to Canada," Jackson said.

The defence had claimed prosecutors had "strong-armed" them into dropping a bid to challenge the credibility of Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist appearing for the government. But insiders said the convening authority would have had difficulty ruling one way or the other since the issue appeared to be very much one of "he said, he said."

MacDonald's confirmation of the sentence means that Khadr, 15 when captured in a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan, has met all his obligations set out in the pre-trial agreement, Jackson said.

The wording of MacDonald's statement implicitly refers to the symbolic 40-year sentence military officers serving as the jury handed down after hearing sentencing witnesses. But MacDonald's confirmation of the plea agreement overrules the longer sentence....

But who cares? What could go wrong? "Detainees Transferred Or Freed Despite 'High Risk,'" by Tom Gjelten, Dina Temple-Raston and Margot Williams for NPR, April 25 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

An NPR investigation of secret military documents from the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay details the system used to assess how dangerous the detainees would be if released.

More than 160 of the prisoners released or transferred from the Guantanamo detention camp under Presidents Bush and Obama had previously been judged as "likely to pose a threat to the U.S." The decision to release or transfer these detainees, despite their former classification as "high risk," contradicted the Pentagon's own recommendation that prisoners in this category should remain in detention....

The large number of detainees who were transferred or released from Guantanamo despite their "high risk" assessment is nonetheless striking. Of 600 detainees known to have been transferred out of Guantanamo since 2002, at least 160 were previously in the high-risk category. The repatriation of more high-risk detainees appears likely.

The Obama administration has not yet named the 89 current Guantanamo detainees it says are due to be transferred, but only about 40 of those still in detention at the camp were assessed as "medium" or "low" security risks as of early 2009, according to the investigation by NPR and The New York Times. Some risk assessments have since been revised. The Obama administration carried out a new review of all Guantanamo detainees after it took office in January 2009, and those reports are not included in the documents reviewed by NPR.

Among the "high risk" detainees who have been transferred from Guantanamo since 2002, NPR and the Times have identified at least a dozen who have returned to terrorism or otherwise reassociated with al-Qaida, including two Saudis who became leaders of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula....

I was on Fox Business's "Follow the Money" last night discussing Obama's flipflop regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Democracy on the march, with air cover courtesy Barack Hussein Obama.

"Libya: Former Guantánamo detainee is training rebels," by Nick Allen in the Telegraph, April 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A former detainee at Guantánamo Bay has taken a leading role in the military opposition to Col Muammar Gaddafi, it has emerged, alongside at least one other former Afghan Mujahideen fighter.

Rebel recruits in the eastern port city of Derna are being trained by Sufyan Bin Qumu, a Libyan who was arrested following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and held at Guantánamo for six years.

Abdel Hakim al-Hasidi, a senior Libyan rebel commander in Derna, was also held following the invasion of Afghanistan and handed over to Libyan custody two months later.

Both men were said to have been released from prison in Libya in 2008 as part of a reconciliation process with Islamists in the country.

Mr Qumu, 51, a Libyan army veteran, was accused by the US government of working as a truck driver for a company owned by Osama bin Laden, and as an accountant for a charity accused of terrorist links.

The appearance of Islamists in the country's revolution, and supportive statements by Islamist groups, has led to fears that Western military action may be playing into the hands of its ideological enemies....

I tried to tell you.

Actually, the Zionist-Crusader conspiracy against Islam wins that prize. That recalls, incidentally, what Al-Qaeda's Adam Gadahn, the first American to be charged with treason since World War II, called me: a "Zionist Crusader, missionary of hate, counter-Islam consultant."

"Gitmo Is Not Al Qaeda's 'Number One Recruitment Tool,'" by Thomas Joscelyn in the Weekly Standard, December 27 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

During a press conference on December 22, President Obama was asked about the difficulties his administration has encountered in trying to close Guantanamo. The president explained (emphasis added):

Obviously, we haven't gotten it closed.  And let me just step back and explain that the reason for wanting to close Guantanamo was because my number one priority is keeping the American people safe.  One of the most powerful tools we have to keep the American people safe is not providing al Qaeda and jihadists recruiting tools for fledgling terrorists.
 
And Guantanamo is probably the number one recruitment tool that is used by these jihadist organizations.  And we see it in the websites that they put up.  We see it in the messages that they're delivering.

President Obama and his surrogates have made this argument before, but they have provided no real evidence that it is true. In fact, al Qaeda's top leaders rarely mention Guantanamo in their messages to the West, Muslims and the world at large.

No journalist in attendance had the opportunity to challenge President Obama's assertion. The president should have been asked: If Guantanamo is such a valuable recruiting tool, then why do al Qaeda's leaders rarely mention it?

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has reviewed translations of 34 messages and interviews delivered by top al Qaeda leaders operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan ("Al Qaeda Central"), including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, since January 2009. The translations were published online by the NEFA Foundation. Guantanamo is mentioned in only 3 of the 34 messages. The other 31 messages contain no reference to Guantanamo. And even in the three messages in which al Qaeda mentions the detention facility it is not a prominent theme.

Instead, al Qaeda's leaders repeatedly focus on a narrative that has dominated their propaganda for the better part of two decades. According to bin Laden, Zawahiri, and other al Qaeda chieftains, there is a Zionist-Crusader conspiracy against Muslims. Relying on this deeply paranoid and conspiratorial worldview, al Qaeda routinely calls upon Muslims to take up arms against Jews and Christians, as well as any Muslims rulers who refuse to fight this imaginary coalition.

This theme forms the backbone of al Qaeda's messaging - not Guantanamo....

What a shock, considering that the Qur'an commands Muslims to fight against and subjugate "the People of the Book," i.e., primarily Jews and Christians.

Those crafty Zionists! Will they stop at nothing? First came the Zionist squirrels, then Zionist pigeons, and Zionist rats, and Zionist sharks. And now: sexually predatory Zionist cats!

(Meanwhile, I myself, by means of my Zionist black arts, am able to cast verses into the Qur'an.)

Claiming Victim Status, Conspiracy Paranoia and Islamic Antisemitism Updates: "Former Inmate: Guantanamo Jews Used Witchcraft on Prisoners, Made Me Feel a Cat Was Trying to Penetrate Me," from MEMRITV, December 12 (thanks to Michael):

Following are excerpts from an interview with Walid Muhammad Hajj a Sudanese released from Guantanamo Prison, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on December 12, 2010: [...]

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes. The most common method to wear down the brothers was witchcraft.

Interviewer: How did they do this?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: There were, of course, Jews among the [staff of] the Guantanamo Base, and they would set traps for the guys.

Interviewer: Give me an example of witchcraft.

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Witchcraft was used on most of the guys.

Interviewer: They would cast a spell on them?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes, but by the grace of Allah, through frequent reading of the Koran and invocation of the names of Allah, they managed to withstand this.

Interviewer: How did you know that somebody was under a spell?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Someone like that would change.

Interviewer: In what way?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: For example, somebody would take his clothes off, all of a sudden, or would sit on his bed for three days straight without sleeping.

[...]

They would use all kinds of witchcraft against the guys.

Interviewer: Tell me more.

Walid Muhammad Hajj: I will tell you how the witchcraft affected the guys. A person would suddenly see his brothers and sisters naked before him.

Interviewer: And they weren't really there?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Absolutely not. It was as if he was in a different world.

Interviewer: You mean, his brothers and sisters from back home.

Walid Muhammad Hajj: That's right. I remembered an incident with a guy who sat next to me in the morning. When they brought the milk, he began to urinate into the milk.

Interviewer: In front of you?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes. I said to him: "Why are you urinating in the milk?" That's when we knew that he was under a spell. After he had recovered a little, after we read Koranic verses to him, he said to me: "The birds on the barbed wire would talk to me, and tell me to urinate in the milk. When the guards pass by my cell, the sound made by their pants talks to me."

Interviewer: They tell him to urinate in the milk?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes.

[...]

Interviewer: Did they ever use witchcraft on you?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: There was one attempt.

Interviewer: How did they do it?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Once, when I was sleeping - on the floor, not on a bed - I suddenly felt that a cat was trying to penetrate me. It tried to penetrate me again and again. I recited the kursi verse again and again until the cat left.

"The kursi verse," or ayat al-kursi, the Verse of the Throne, is Qur'an 2:255: "Allah! There is no deity save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous."

Interviewer: But there wasn't really any cat there?

Walid Muhammad Hajj: Absolutely not.

Of course not!

Good thing we're closing Guantanamo and giving these poor innocents a new chance at life, eh? Gitmo Recidivism Update: "Gitmo Recidivism Rate Soars," by Thomas Joscelyn in the Weekly Standard, December 7:

150 former Guantanamo detainees are either "confirmed or suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities," according to a new intelligence assessment released by the Director of National Intelligence's office on Tuesday. In total, 598 detainees have been transferred out of U.S. custody at Guantanamo. 1 out of every 4, or 25 percent, of these former detainees is now considered a confirmed or suspected recidivist by the U.S. government.

The DNI's latest assessment is a significant increase over previous estimates. In June 2008, the Department of Defense reported that 37 former detainees were "confirmed or suspected" of returning to terrorism. On January 13, 2009 -- seven months later -- Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that number had climbed to 61. As of April 2009, the DoD found that same metric had risen further to 74 -- exactly double the Pentagon's estimate just 11 months before.

In February 2010, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, confirmed that the estimated number of recidivists had increased to 20 percent. At that recidivism rate, and based on the total number of detainee transfers at that time, between 110 and 120 former Guantanamo detainees were on the U.S. government's recidivist list in early 2010.

Thus, the DNI's latest assessment of the Gitmo recidivism rate is higher than all previous estimates by an appreciable margin....

"What you saw puts a lie to the long-standing argument by some that Omar Khadr is a victim ... He's not. He is a murderer and he is convicted by the strength of his own words."

An update on this story. "Canadian at Gitmo pleads guilty to all charges," by Ben Fox for the Associated Press, October 25:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Eight years after he was taken to Guantanamo as a teenage prisoner, a Canadian pleaded guilty Monday to killing a U.S. Army sergeant during a battle in Afghanistan, in a deal that will send him home in a year to serve his sentence.

Defenders say Omar Khadr, who was 15 at the time of his capture, was a "child soldier" pushed into becoming an al-Qaida fighter by his father, an associate of Osama bin Laden.

The plea deal ends a widely criticized trial that made the United States the first Western nation since World War II to prosecute a child offender for alleged war crimes. The exact terms were not immediately disclosed, but Khadr's sentence was reportedly capped at eight years, in addition to time already spent at the Guantanamo detention camp.

The now 24-year-old prisoner, who was seriously wounded when he was seized in a gunbattle in 2002, admitted to throwing a grenade that killed a special forces medic during a fierce raid on an al-Qaida compound. He also pleaded guilty to building and planting roadside bombs and receiving weapons training from al-Qaida. He is the last Western detainee at Guantanamo.

The Toronto-born Khadr's trial had been scheduled to start Monday and he faced a possible life sentence.

The chief military prosecutor, Navy Capt. John F. Murphy, said the government welcomed the deal, which was initiated by the defense, because it removes any doubt about Khadr's guilt.

"What you saw puts a lie to the long-standing argument by some that Omar Khadr is a victim," Murphy told reporters in an aircraft hangar near the courthouse on the U.S. base in Cuba. "He's not. He is a murderer and he is convicted by the strength of his own words."

Khadr did not explain why he changed his plea, though Dennis Edney, one of his Canadian attorneys, said it was a "very, very difficult" decision made only because Canada agreed to repatriate him after a year.

It came down to a choice between a trial his lawyers called "illegal" trial and going home -- and he chose the latter, Edney said. [...]

Khadr was charged with murder in the death of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. says the Canadian is a war criminal because was not a legitimate soldier. He also faced charges of spying, material support for terrorism, conspiracy and attempted murder. [...]

Another soldier who was blinded in one eye during the firefight said he was pleased Khadr admitted guilt but is concerned the Canadian may not serve a sufficiently long sentence. Several Canadian media outlets, citing anonymous sources, have reported he would serve one year at Guantanamo and seven in his native country.

"It's way too short but I think you probably couldn't give him a sentence that I thought was too long," said Layne Morris, a retired Army sergeant who now lives in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. "We have put him on a track to freedom in the prime of his life."

Better hurry up and release the rest of them, eh, Barack? "Former terror inmate arrested," from AFP, July 8 (thanks to all who sent this in):

PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - PAKISTAN on Tuesday arrested a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, alleging that he had rejoined Taleban insurgents in the country's north-west, security officials said.

They said Issa Khan, a homeopathic doctor who previously spent around four years in the notorious US military jail in Cuba, was arrested in Bannu town, about 180 kilometres south of Peshawar.

'We have arrested doctor Issa Khan. He was wanted on different terrorism charges,' Bannu city police chief Sajjad Khan told AFP by telephone.

Pakistani security officials said Issa had been practising homeopathic medicine in northern Afghanistan in 2002 when he was arrested by American forces following the 2001 US-led invasion to bring down the Taleban regime.

They said they believed he rejoined the Taleban after his release from Guantanamo.

A local intelligence official said Issa was considered to be a commander in Tehreek-e-Taleban, the group responsible for some of the worst bombings in Pakistan in recent years. -- AFP

Try the suicide bomb souffle, Infidel!

Bon appetit! "Chef convicted of helping Osama escape GIs," from Reuters, July 8:

A Sudanese prisoner accused of guarding Osama bin Laden and helping him escape US forces in Afghanistan pleaded guilty at Guantanamo yesterday, giving the Obama administration its first conviction in the controversial war-crimes court.

Ibrahim al Qosi, whose job description also included cooking for the terrorist at the Star of Jihad compound in Afghanistan, has been held at Guantanamo for more than eight years.

His sentence could range from no additional time to life....

You mean it didn't work? Then, these 25 are just the latest to fail to grasp Islam's peaceful message in the compassionate care of the Saudis. "25 Saudi Guantanamo Prisoners Return to Militancy," from Reuters, June 19 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

RIYADH (Reuters) - Around 25 former detainees from Guantanamo Bay camp returned to militancy after going through a rehabilitation programme for al Qaeda members in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi security official said on Saturday.

The United States have sent back around 120 Saudis from the detention camp at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, set up after the U.S. launched a "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks by mostly Saudi suicide hijackers sent by al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, has put the returned prisoners along with other al Qaeda suspects through a rehabilitation programme which includes religious re-education by clerics and financial help to start a new life.

The scheme, which some 300 extremists have attended, is part of anti-terrorism efforts after al Qaeda staged attacks inside the kingdom from 2003-06. These were halted after scores of suspects were arrested with the help of foreign experts.

Around 11 Saudis from Guantanamo have gone to Yemen, an operating base for al Qaeda, while others have been jailed again or killed after attending the programme, said Abdulrahman al-Hadlaq, Director General of the General Administration for Intellectual Security overseeing the rehabilitation.

He pinpointed strong personal ties among former prisoners but also tough U.S. tactics as the reason why some 20 percent of the returned Saudis relapsed into militancy compared to 9.5 percent of other participants in the rehabilitation programme.

And now, to blame the Americans, and discount any possibility that the Gitmo detainees might actually have been dangerous jihadists:

"Those guys from other groups didn't suffer torture before, the non-Guantanamos (participants). Torturing is the most dangerous thing in radicalisation. You have more extremist people if you have more torture," Hadlaq told reporters in a rare briefing about Saudi anti-terrorism efforts.

Despite the setback with Guantanamo prisoners, Saudi Arabia regards the rehabilitation scheme, which kicks in after militants have served a prison term, as a success.

"There is no doubt that there is an effect," Hadlaq said...

Uh, yes there is.

More Gitmo Follies, courtesy a dhimmi federal judge. "So, You Still Want to Close Gitmo? Judge's order to release 9/11 jihadist is a sign of things to come," by Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review, March 25:

Mohamedou Slahi is responsible for the murder of thousands of Americans. He was a core member of the 9/11 conspiracy -- the recruiter of Mohamed Atta and the other ringleaders. If he'd had his druthers, even more Americans would have been killed: He is almost certainly the al-Qaeda middle manager who activated the Canadian cell that attempted to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. On the scale of war criminals, he edges toward the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed range, as bad as it gets.

A federal judge has ordered that he be released.

Cassandra did not like being Cassandra. It is not enjoyable to foresee avoidable catastrophes again and again (and again and again and again) only to watch as no remedial measures are taken and disaster strikes. To repeat: The courts are institutionally incompetent when it comes to matters of national security, particularly the prosecution of war.

The Framers intended it that way. National-security decisions are the most important ones a political community makes, so our system of government was designed to have them made by the political branches -- by those who answer to the voters, to the people whose lives are at stake. When the political branches abdicate this first responsibility of government, sitting by as it is usurped by politically insulated judges, they deny us the freedom to decide for ourselves what our security requires. We are then the subjects of judges rather than masters of our own destiny.

The courts, moreover, are the worst institution to which we could surrender this authority. Not only are we powerless to vote them out if they get national-defense matters wrong, they are guaranteed to get them wrong. This is not because judges are bad people; it is because they have no responsibility for protecting the country. They are generally good people whose job is to ensure that the parties before the court are given due process. When a judge does that job conscientiously, due-process rights are inevitably inflated. That judges do not run completely out of control in maximizing due-process rights owes not to judicial temperance but to the powers of the political branches.

This genius of separation of powers is on display in the civilian justice system. We know that judges are hardwired to maximize the rights of accused criminals. So we don't give them free reign. It is Congress that writes the statutes that courts must apply and prescribes the rules of procedure. It is Congress that tells the judges what the punishment for a crime must be and whether an offender may be released -- it doesn't matter whether the judge thinks the criminal is unlikely to threaten society....

Be sure to read it all.

Living large at Gitmo

"...raising concerns among security officials that the terrorism suspects could pass sensitive data to terrorists in the future, according to U.S. officials."

Uh, yeah.

Will the self-deception and dhimmi idiocy never end?

"Gitmo suspects allowed laptops while in custody," by Bill Gertz at the Washington Times, March 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The Pentagon allowed five captured al Qaeda members currently held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to use laptop computers in detention, raising concerns among security officials that the terrorism suspects could pass sensitive data to terrorists in the future, according to U.S. officials.

The computers, without Internet access, were provided to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspected 9/11 conspirators at the prison at the U.S. naval base in Cuba after approval by senior Pentagon officials in September 2008.

The battery-powered laptops were kept in the detainees' cell areas, and limitations on their use were imposed, defense officials said. The practice continued until January, when charges against the five were temporarily dropped after Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the men would be tried in civilian court, not by military commission.

Mr. Holder then backed off plans to hold trials in federal court in New York City and said this week that a decision on where to conduct the trials is expected in the coming weeks.

In addition to Mohammed, the other al Qaeda members who were given computers were Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi.

The computer access was granted by Guantanamo authorities before an Oct. 6, 2008, ruling by Marine Corps Col. Ralph H. Kohlmann, a military judge, that formally granted the five terrorism suspect the right to use computers, said Col. Les Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman....

Great idea! Why didn't anybody think of it before? "White House reconsiders holding terror trials in civilian court," by Julian E. Barnes and Christi Parsons for the Los Angeles Times, March 5 (thanks to Mackie):

The White House is considering an end to its effort to prosecute the suspected Sept. 11 plotters in a civilian court and may send them instead before military tribunals, in an apparent retreat from President Obama's pledge to overhaul the Bush administration's detention policies.

Last year, the Obama administration announced it would try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and others in federal court in New York. That step came after Obama overhauled interrogation policies and ordered the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But safety concerns about the trial have grown, and support for holding the trial in New York has eroded.

"It is politically untenable," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity because a decision had not been made. "No place wants to hold a trial."...

Uh, no kidding. And also, a civilian trial would simply serve as a propaganda platform for the jihadis.

The problem here is that the high command doesn't want to admit that we are in a war, and that these are combatants, and that it is no surprise when they return to the war when they have the opportunity. And after all, what was done to weaken the Gitmo detainees' allegiance to jihad while they were there? Absolutely nothing. That would have been "Islamophobic."

"Former Gitmo detainee said running Afghan battles," by Kathy Gannon for Associated Press, March 3 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- A man who was freed from Guantanamo more than two years ago after he claimed he only wanted to go home and help his family is now a senior commander running Taliban resistance to the U.S.-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, two senior Afghan intelligence officials say.

Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.

The story of Abdul Qayyum could add to the complications President Barack Obama is facing in fulfilling his pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo by sending some current prisoners back to their home countries or to other willing nations, while putting others on trial.

U.S. intelligence asserts that 20 percent of suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison have returned to the fight and that the number has been steadily increasing. Qayyum's key aide in plotting attacks on Afghan and international forces is another former Guantanamo prisoner, said the Afghan intelligence officials as well as a former Helmand governor, Sher Mohammed Akundzada. Abdul Rauf, who told his U.S. interrogators that he had only loose connections to the Taliban, spent time in an Afghan jail before being freed last year.

He rejoined the Taliban, they said. Akundzada said he warned the authorities against releasing both him and Qayyum....

In case the jihad in Switzerland needs a boost. After all, more and more inmates from Gitmo are returning to the jihad -- and what was done there in any case to prevent that eventuality? Nothing whatsoever. "U.S. sends Uzbek from Guantanamo prison to Switzerland," from Reuters, January 26 (thanks to Maxwell):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Uzbek detainee held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been sent to Switzerland for resettlement, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The prisoner was the latest transferred from the facility as the Obama administration seeks to close the controversial prison opened in 2002 to house foreign terrorism suspects....

Now 20 percent of former Gitmo inmates have returned to jihad, up from 14 percent last year. The only surprise is that the number isn't higher, since nothing is or was done at Gitmo to weaken the inmates' attachment to the jihad and Islamic supremacism -- in fact, their attachment to Islam was reinforced by the exaggerated respect non-Muslim guards had to give to the Qur'an, and by the unobstructed Islamic worship made available to the detainees there. Was jihad and hatred of America preached right at Gitmo? What would have prevented that?

"More ex-detainees wage jihad," by Jeff Bliss and Tony Capaccio for Bloomberg News, January 7 (thanks to James):

As many as one in five former Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees are suspected of or are confirmed to have engaged in terrorist activity after their release, U.S. officials said, citing the latest government statistics.

The 20 percent rate is an increase over the 14 percent of former inmates an April Pentagon report said were thought to have joined terrorist efforts, said the officials, who requested anonymity. The officials didn't provide the numbers on which the 20 percent figure is based....

And maybe they're practicing prestidigitation with explosive trucks. Yet Obama's plan seems to be only to send more back there. "Freed Guantánamo inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight," from The Times, January 5 (thanks to all who sent this in):

At least a dozen former Guantánamo Bay inmates have rejoined al-Qaeda to fight in Yemen, The Times has learnt, amid growing concern over the ability of the country's Government to accept almost 100 more former inmates from the detention centre.

The Obama Administration promised to close the Guantánamo facility by January 22, a deadline that it will be unable to meet. The 91 Yemeni prisoners in Guantánamo make up the largest national contingent among the 198 being held.

Six prisoners were returned to Yemen last month. After the Christmas Day bomb plot in Detroit, US officials are increasingly concerned that the country is becoming a hot-bed of terrorism. Eleven of the former inmates known to have rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen were born in Saudi Arabia. The organisation merged its Saudi and Yemeni offshoots last year....

A Yemeni, Hani Abdo Shaalan, who was released from Guantánamo in 2007, was killed in an airstrike on December 17, the Yemeni Government reported last week. The deputy head of al-Qaeda in the country is Said Ali al-Shihri, 36, who was released in 2007. Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish, who was released in 2006, is a prominent ideologue featured on Yemeni al-Qaeda websites.

Geoff Morrell, the spokesman for the Pentagon, said: "This is a large question that goes beyond the issue of transferring detainees. The bulk of the remaining detainees are from Yemen and that has been the case for a long time. We are trying to work with the Yemeni Government on this."

Yeah, that'll help.

The US Government issued figures in May showing that 74 of the 530 detainees in Guantánamo were suspected or known to have returned to terrorist activity since their release. They included the commander of the Taleban in Helmand province, Mullah Zakir, whom the British Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Jock Stirrup, called "a key and seemingly effective tactical leader". Among others who returned to terrorism was Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti who killed six Iraqis in Mosul in 2008.

The number believed to have "returned to the fight" in the May 2009 estimate was double that of a US estimate from June 2008. US officials acknowledged that more detainees were known to have reoffended since, but the number has been classified....

So they can return to jihad. "Six Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be repatriated," by Peter Finn, Sudarsan Raghavan and Julie Tate for the Washington Post, December 18 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The Obama administration is planning to repatriate six Yemenis held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a transfer that could be a prelude to the release of dozens more detainees to Yemen, according to sources with independent knowledge of the matter.

The release is a significant first step toward dealing with the largest group of detainees at the prison -- there are currently 97 Yemenis there -- and toward meeting President Obama's goal of closing the facility.

But Yemen's security problems and lack of resources have spawned fears about its ability to monitor and rehabilitate returnees. Critics of the administration charge that returning detainees to Yemen, a country where al-Qaeda is believed to be thriving, is tantamount to returning terrorists to the battlefield....

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), a critic of the administration policy on Guantanamo, said Yemeni detainees pose a particular risk because of the instability of their home country.

"Stop. These men are dangerous," Wolf said when asked about the transfer. "I believe they will be involved in terrorism that will cost American lives."...

Probably.

"He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project."

That's just worked wonders. Gitmo Recidivism Update. "Former GITMO detainee now al-Qaida brass," from United Press International, December 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A former Guantanamo Bay detainee released to Saudi Arabia in 2006 has become a top ideologue for al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, an intelligence review said.

Pakistani officials captured Ibrahim Suleiman al-Rubaish in 2001 and turned him over to U.S. officials who then sent him to the naval detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Rubaish while in U.S. custody at Guantanamo told his interrogators he received training at al-Farouq camp run by al-Qaida near Kandahar, Afghanistan, prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project.

At some point, he escaped across the southern border of Saudi Arabia into Yemen and has now emerged as a top theologian for al-Qaida, the online Long War Journal reports.

His rank as a top ideologue in al-Qaida puts him in charge of countering the theological arguments from the Saudi regime and his statements have been used as justification to target top officials in Riyadh, the report adds.

Riyadh placed him on its list of most-wanted terrorists in February. Two of his associates were reportedly killed by Yemeni forces during their simmering battle with al-Houthi rebels in the north of the country.

Their loyalties, if this is true, were with Islam, not with the United States. That should not be surprising: it is a staple of Islamic thought that loyalty to one's fellow Muslims trumps all other loyalties. "Another spying scandal at Gitmo," by Paul Sperry for the New York Post, December 1 (thanks to Pamela):

A number of Arabic and Pashtu interpreters at the terror-war detention center at Guantanamo Bay are under active investigation for omitting valuable intelligence from their translations of detainee interrogations, among other security breaches. This could taint some of the evidence at the "9/11 trial" in New York and proceedings against other detainees.

Remarkably, the Pentagon never cleaned up the "mole infestation" at its highest-security facility after the FBI busted a Muslim spy ring at Gitmo in 2003.

The 2003 probe involved at least two Arabic interpreters with high-level security clearance. Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, a Syrian native, and former Army linguist Ahmed Mehalba, an Egyptian native, were later convicted of stealing or mishandling classified documents.

Six years later comes a new problem with Muslim personnel who have virtually unfettered access to detainees and intelligence at Gitmo. Professional military security and intelligence officials at Gitmo did the preliminary probe, then prepared a classified summary and are now briefing top officials and members of Congress in Washington. An active FBI criminal probe is also under way.

The possible new spy ring involves several Arabic linguists, some also Egyptian and Syrian immigrants. They're suspected of, among other things:

* Omitting valuable intelligence from their translations of interrogations.

* Slipping notes to detainees inside copies of the Koran.

* Coaching detainees to make allegations of abuse against interrogators.

* Meeting with suspects on the terror watchlist while back in the United States.

Officials say some of the suspected "dirty" linguists -- who met privately in a locked mosque at Gitmo -- have had access to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other high-value al Qaeda detainees.

"Three years of investigations have revealed the presence of pro-jihad/anti-Western activities among the civilian-contractor and military-linguist population serving Joint Task Force Guantanamo," states a copy of a classified Gitmo briefing, prepared in May for the FBI, CIA and Congress' intelligence committees....

Plus another warning about the dangers of the face veil. "Saudi concern rises over Al Qaeda activity in Yemen," by Caryle Murphy for The Christian Science Monitor, October 19 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The discovery by Saudi police of two Al Qaeda extremists wearing explosive vests in preparation for an "imminent" suicide attack underscores yet again the rising threat to Saudi Arabia from the deteriorating security situation in neighboring Yemen.

The target of the foiled Oct. 13 attack is not yet known, Ministry of Interior spokesman Gen. Mansour Al Turki said Monday. But equipment found in the men's car last week, including explosives, machine guns, grenades, and two additional vests, suggests that the operation would have been significant - potentially resulting in the loss of many lives.

The men, one of whom spent several years in the US detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had been sent to Saudi Arabia by an Al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen, according to a Saudi Interior Ministry statement. Their foiled attack was the second close call for Saudi security forces in less than two months involving Saudi militants from the Yemen-based group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Made up largely of Saudis and Yemenis, AQAP is reportedly being reinforced by veteran jihadi fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to some analysts. It is able to work in relative freedom in Yemen because of the Yemeni government's preoccupation with its own more pressing issues, namely a full-blown rebellion in the north and a secessionist movement in the south. Another reason the Yemeni government tolerates the group's presence may be because the jihadi fighters sometimes assist Yemeni forces in military operations against the rebels, a Western diplomat said - all of which make the precarious state a potential haven for militants. [...]

The two fighters discovered last week, Rayed Abdullahi al-Harbi and Yousef Mohammed al-Shihri, were both on a Saudi government most-wanted list issued in February. Al Shihri is a former Guantanamo detainee, and the brother-in-law of Saeed al-Shihri, the Yemen-based deputy commander of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who also was at Guantánamo, spokesman Turki said.

Dressed like women, their faces hidden by veils, Harbi and Shihri were stopped at a highway checkpoint last week in the southern province of Jizan near the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border last week.

When police on duty asked a policewoman to check the identities of the "women," the militants began firing. In the shoot-out that ensued, the would-be suicide bombers and one policeman were killed, the government statement said....

Of course, those jihadists who have been rehabilitated from their errant ways will require cash money to live accordingly. From ADNKI:

A Saudi minister has promised to sponsor the weddings of five Saudi nationals who were released from the American detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The assistant minister of interior for security affairs, Prince Mohammad Bin Naif Bin Abdul Aziz also said that he would give the former US terror suspects a monthly salary bonus once they had completed their studies, according to a report on the Arabic language paper Al Riyadh.

The prince recently met all five men who were arrested by US agents in Afghanistan and detained at the base in Guantanamo Bay. The decision to provide these men with bonuses is part of the prince's plan to support and ensure a smooth re-entry into society for the former inmates and to try and deter them for any further involvement with radical groups.

The case of Guantanamo chaplain Captain James Yee was a uniquely disturbing one, as it involved an American military officer -- stationed at one of the nation’s most secretive installation -- who had allegedly betrayed his nation to forces aligned with Islamic terrorists. Yee was allowed to walk away from the case a free man, a development more indicative of the federal government’s botched prosecutorial effort than his actual innocence, as documented by Robert Spencer. In an article featured in today’s London Times provocatively titled “An American in Chains,” Yee protests his innocence, but ends up betraying his own disturbing mindset when he attempts to identify the “real” reason he was arrested: (thanks to Scaramouche)

I knew why I had been arrested: it was because I am a Muslim. I was just the latest victim of the hostility born the moment when the planes flew into the twin towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

My real “crime” had been that I had tried to ensure that the suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters detained in the Gitmo cages were given every opportunity to practice their religion freely, one of the most fundamental of American ideals.

Yee goes on to suggest that the conditions at Guantanamo were inhumane, especially for a population of prisoners who he calls “friendly.”

By the time I got to Guantanamo, Camp X-Ray was too small for the number of prisoners coming in. When I saw its remains I couldn’t believe that humans were once held here. It looked like a cattle yard. There were hundreds of cages in rows. The only protection from the blistering sun was a tin roof. Dozens of enormous rodents crawled throughout the camp. I was told that these were banana rats and would attack if provoked.

The new prison, Camp Delta, consisted of 19 blocks, each holding 48 detainees in individual open-air cells with steel mesh walls. Like other military personnel, I was briefed that the detainees were among the most dangerous terrorists in the world. We were told that many of the prisoners were responsible for the attacks of September 11 and would strike again if given the opportunity.

I expected to come face-to-face with hundreds of Osama Bin Ladens, but most prisoners were friendly. There were approximately 660 from dozens of countries, including Britain.

While fervently extolling his innocence and the aggressive hatred of American officials, Yee makes mention of past actions which would raise eyebrows even among the most lenient investigators:

On holiday after graduating from West Point, however, I met a young woman who was intrigued by Islam. I began to read about it and eventually converted. Then, after the US army sent me to Saudi Arabia and allowed me to visit Mecca, I wondered why there were no Muslim chaplains in the US military.

My father had taught me as a boy that America promises all people an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life. By becoming a Muslim chaplain in the summer of 2000, after four years’ study in Damascus, I saw myself fulfilling this opportunity. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.

Tha Canadian jihadi Abdurahman Kadr cashes in on movie deal. From WND, with thanks to Maharishi Hashish Ben Yogourt.

A Hollywood film in the works will depict a Canadian formerly detained at Guantanamo as a reformed young man who now rejects terrorism and his family's ties to al-Qaida.

But there's evidence 21-year-old Abdurahman Khadr's true story doesn't fit the feel-good script proposed by Paramount Pictures, according to Andrew Walden, writing in FrontPage magazine.

Khadr is the son of Ahmed Saeed Khadr, a Canadian citizen whom the U.S. has accused of having direct ties to Osama bin Laden. He also is the brother of Omar Khadr, who, as WorldNetDaily first reported exclusively, is accused of killing a U.S. Special Forces medic.

Another brother is Abdullah Khadr, who, according to a Taliban spokesman, was the suicide bomber who killed Canadian Forces Corporal Jamie Murphy in Kabul Jan. 27.

Omar Khadr was released from the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because the U.S. had no charges and believed he no longer was an intelligence asset.

Abdurahman Khadr returned to Canada in October after he was captured in Afghanistan and escaped the CIA, with whom he had made a deal to provide information undercover. That included a stint as a prisoner at Guantanamo and a mission to Bosnia, where he abandoned the CIA by entering the Canadian embassy in Bosnia.

After returning home, Abdurahman admitted he had been trained at an "al-Qaida-related camp" for three months in 1998, but played down his family's suspected ties to bin Laden...

Abdurahman could earn as much as $500,000 from the project, scheduled to debut next year. According to Variety, the film apparently will follow the storyline that makes Khadr "look best."

Vincent Newman, president of Vincent Newman Entertainment, which owns the rights, calls it a "classic black sheep story -- a story about the rebel of the family."

The producer is considering actor Johnny Depp as the lead, Variety says...

From the New Duranty Times, with thanks to all who sent this in.

The young Muslim men, with beards and bullhorns, work the streets of Jackson Heights on the weekends. They surface at parades and protests around the city, loudly declaring America the enemy and advocating for an Islamic state. Several weeks ago, they publicly tore up an American flag as payback for the reported desecration of the Koran at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Their own videos of violence against Muslims, one with the title "Muslim Massacres," have recently appeared on Queens Public Television.

In the annals of New York City's political outspokenness and fringe-group culture, the Islamic Thinkers Society may seem unremarkable at first glance. But after 9/11, in the city most damaged and unsettled by the terrorist attacks, the emergence of this young, however limited, Muslim-American voice is strikingly bold. In its fliers and on its Web site, the group describes itself as an "intellectual and political nonviolent organization," but it bears a strong resemblance to Islamist movements in England that try to unite Muslims by inciting anger...

The group's spokesman, Ariful Islam, said he was a 21-year-old student at La Guardia Community College who came to Queens from Bangladesh when he was 8. He said the group's purpose was promoting unity among Muslims and that the F.B.I. had been monitoring it for two years. The F.B.I. would not comment.

"What they're worried about is, are we recruiting for jihad," Mr. Islam said. "Through our past couple of years we have never recruited anyone to go to a foreign land. We have always made that clear through our activities. We have always stressed nonviolent means. However, that does not mean that we don't address American foreign policy, and we strongly disagree with their policies."

After years of quietly ignoring the group, the city's Muslim leaders began to speak out against it this week after reports of the flag desecration. Imams, activists and other leaders worry that the group is misrepresenting Islam, sending a negative message to Muslim youths and damaging a hard-earned, fragile trust between the Muslim community and those in law enforcement...

From AP:

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials say no guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects flushed a detainee's Quran down the toilet, but they disclosed that a Muslim holy book was splashed with urine. In other newly disclosed incidents, a detainee's Quran was deliberately kicked and another's was stepped on.

On March 25, a detainee complained to guards that "urine came through an air vent" and splashed on him and his Quran. A guard admitted he was at fault, but a report released Friday evening offering new details about Quran mishandling incidents did not make clear whether the guard intended the result.

In another confirmed incident, water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet, and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran...

Something tells me that all our efforts to be totally transparent and up front about all this won't do anything to help our standing in the Muslim world. New pretexts and new riots are already in the offing.

Straight talk and refreshing honesty from General Myers. "Myers Defends Treatment of Guantanamo Prisoners," from AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

WASHINGTON (May 29) - The Pentagon's top general on Sunday defended the treatment of prisoners at the U.S. Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and said the U.S. believes al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is wounded, though it's not known how badly.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. has done a good job of humanely treating detainees. Muslims in several countries have protested in recent weeks about allegations that a Quran was flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo as part of an interrogation of a prisoner.

The human rights group Amnesty International released a report last week calling the prison camp "the gulag of our time."

Myers said that report was "absolutely irresponsible." He said the U.S. was doing its best to detain fighters who, if released, "would turn right around and try to slit our throats, slit our children's throats."

In accord with Qur'an 47:4: "Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks..."

"This is a different kind of struggle, a different kind of war," Myers said on "Fox News Sunday."

"We struggle with how to handle them, but we've always handled them humanely and with the dignity that they should be accorded."

Still more on the story that never goes away, from Reuters.

ISLAMABAD - Thousands of Islamists rallied across Pakistan on Friday to protest against alleged desecration of the Koran by U.S. forces at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

The rallies, called by hardline Islamic groups opposed to Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism, came hours after a deadly bomb blast at a Muslim shrine in Islamabad that killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens of others.

"We condemn sacrilege of the Koran by the U.S. extremists," said a banner held by women protesters at a rally in Islamabad attended by about 5,000 people in front of the parliament building about a km (half a mile) from the scene of the blast.

Protesters in the city of Quetta burned effigies of U.S. President George W. Bush and his key allies in the war on terrorism -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"The desecration of Koran is a part of the conspiracies against Muslims," pro-Taliban leader and cleric Fazal-ur-Rehman told a rally in the northwestern city of Peshawar, close to the Afghan border.

Similar protests were staged in Karachi, Multan and other cities.

On Thursday, Brig. Gen Jay Hood, commander of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, told a Pentagon briefing that no credible evidence had been found that a Koran had been flushed down a toilet but said U.S. military had identified five incidents of "mishandling of a Koran" at the prison...

Another Update from the Jerusalem Post, "Jerusalem Mufti demands US apology"

The top Muslim cleric in the Holy Land on Friday demanded the US apologize for alleged mishandling of the Quran by American military personnel at a US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, also called on Muslims around the world to boycott American products during his weekly sermon at the Aksa mosque.

"The United States should apologize to the Muslims for the mishandling of the Quran by US employees in Guantanamo and bring them to court," he said.

After the prayers, dozens of people, many holding Qurans, chanted anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans, saying both countries are enemies of Islam. The protest ended peacefully.

Meanwhile in Nazareth, more than 5,000 people took part in a protest to condemn US policy. Demonstrators called on the Muslim world to unify against attacks against Islam...

"Muslim protests planned in advance?" From WND, with thanks to EPG:

JERUSALEM - Muslim protests throughout the Middle East regarding a now-retracted Newsweek report that claimed U.S. Army interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Quran down the toilet are being organized by anti-Western jihadists and were planned several months ago with the magazine article serving as a convenient trigger, a senior Israeli security source told WND.

He warned that if not quelled, the gatherings can turn into violent mass anti-American revolts.

"Jihadists have been planting the seeds for quite some time for mass anti-American protests in the Middle East, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where pro-Taliban elements have been looking for an excuse to revolt against what they see as Western imposed governments," the security official said. "The Newsweek article was just the excuse they needed."

From Pakistan's News International, with thanks to Nicolei:

ISLAMABAD: The government has been told that Station House Officers (SHOs) of different police stations all over Pakistan are not ready to monitor the activities of repatriated Pakistani prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in case they were freed from jails at home.

Despite being released by the Americans some eight months ago, these 35 prisoners continue to languish in jails without any charge.

The tug of war between the Interior Ministry and the provincial government over the issue of non-cooperation of SHOs in monitoring the activities has contributed a lot to the misery of families of these prisoners, who wait for their release with little hope....

The source said the interior minister had been telling the participants of the committee that government wanted to rehabilitate these prisoners as many of them belonged to very poor families and the government could not take the risk of releasing them only to make them available to the religious groups for a future 'jihad'.

More on the great Qur'an toilet flushing riots of 2005 from the Pakistan Tribune, "Qazi terms sacrilege of Holy Quran as desecration of Ummah," with thanks to ? (Folks, please bear with me. If I'm unsure about the name, I'm leaving it off - please include a note with the name you want used by the link if possible - thanks, Rebecca)

LAHORE - MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that desecration of the Holy Quran is desecration the whole Muslim Ummah. He said this while addressing Jumma congregation here in Jamia Masjid Mansoora. He held that MMA would voice observe protest day all over the world against the incident of sacrilege of the Holy Quran by US troops.

MMA has contacted Islamic movements in all the countries so that a forceful protest could be demonstrated across the world on one day, he told. A mammoth protest rally will be held in Islamabad on that day, he told.

He went on to say that love for the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and respect for the Holy Quran is deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the Muslims. Muslims are an Ummah and the conspiracy is on to dislodge this love from the hearts of the Muslims, he warned.

The incident of flushing the Holy Quran by the US troops before the Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo bay prison facility is evidence of utter degeneration of US mentality, he remarked.

Citing to publication of derogatory cartoon in Washington Times he said that the entire responsibility of this humiliating treatment rests with General Pervez Musharraf who captured our Muslim brethren and handed over them to US, he alleged.

Qazi held that US considered Muslims its potential rival and targeted them after USSR defeat in Afghanistan...

More attempts to rewrite history here. Qazi perpetuates the myth that the mujahideen in Afghanistan actually brought down the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Scott McClellan chimes in with more appeasing language in this update from ABCNews, "Muslims protest over Koran desecration reports," with thanks to ? (sorry guys.)

Angry protests have raged across the Muslim world from Indonesia to Gaza over a report that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.

In Afghanistan, at least nine people were killed on Friday in protests over the report, bringing the country's death toll to 16 this week in its worst anti-American demonstrations since the fall of the Taliban.

Washington sought to stem Muslim anger as allies demanded investigations and thousands took to the streets in outrage over the Newsweek magazine report that interrogators at the US military prison in Cuba had put the Muslim holy book on a toilet and flushed it down.

The unrest spread to Pakistan, which called for a US probe.

Hundreds of people held a peaceful protest in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

In Gaza, several thousand Palestinians marched through a refugee camp in a protest organised by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Several hundred Palestinians also marched in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The escalating violence prompted the Bush administration to express sympathy with the demonstrators and urge calm.

"We want Muslims around the world to know that we share and understand the concerns that they have," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

"We will not tolerate any disrespect for the holy Koran," he added.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also urged Muslims on Thursday to resist calls for violence, saying US military authorities were investigating the Koran allegations and calling disrespect to the holy book "abhorrent to us all".

Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God, treating each book with deep reverence, and the episode has embarrassed the United States, which has sought closer ties with Muslim allies as it wages its war on terrorism...

...for the unleashing of anti-American sentiments. Afghan riot update, from "Afghans killed in anti-U.S. riots" in CNN:

KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least four people have been killed and 70 injured in violent protests in Jalalabad over reports U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base desecrated copies of the Quran during questioning of prisoners held there.

The trouble started as thousands of demonstrators marched Wednesday through the streets of Jalalabad, in the eastern part of the country, officials and eyewitnesses said.

Afghan's interior ministry reported police fired at the crowds when they began to attack government buildings.

A witness told CNN that police as well as U.S. troops fired into the air to keep the crowds under control.

Thirteen people were arrested, the interior ministry said.

A group of protesters attacked the governor's house and the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry official, but no one was injured.

An Afghan official in Jalalabad said the crowd also attacked U.S. Army vehicles, and U.S. soldiers fired into the air before leaving the area.

Rallies were also held in several cities in neighboring Pakistan, where the religious party alliance MMA announced plans to mount a countrywide protest against the United States Friday...

An update of this story. "PM condemns Holy Quran desecration," from the Daily Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

LAHORE: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday condemned the incident involving the desecration of the Quran by US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay and said such incidents could not affect US-Pakistan relations.

Talking to BBC while in Thailand, he said the incident was deplorable, but such incidents would not affect bilateral relations. Reiterating Pakistan's stance that Abu Farraj Al Libbi was an important Al Qaeda operative involved in terrorism in Pakistan, he said, "We have been on Al Libbi's trail for a long time and have finally succeeded in catching a dangerous terrorists. We are very happy." Asked if radical Islam was a problem in Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz said Pakistanis were as normal as anyone else in the world, but in every society there were people with views different from the majority.

Nice footwork, Shaukat.

Protests in Afghanistan over the Qur'an in the toilet rumor. "Afghan students say 'Death to America,'" from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan students chanted "Death to America" and burned an effigy of President Bush on Tuesday, following a report that copies of the Quran were desecrated at the U.S. detention center for terror suspects Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials and witnesses said.

Hundreds of students marched from a university campus into the eastern city of Jalalabad and blocked the main road toward the capital, Kabul, intelligence chief Sardar Shah said. There were no reports of violence.

Television footage showed students chanting and calling for an apology for the alleged abuse of Islam's holy book. An object which witnesses said was an effigy of Bush could be seen burning.

In a recent edition, Newsweek magazine reported that in order to rattle suspects, U.S. interrogators placed Qurans on toilets and in at least one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."

In Washington, the State Department on Tuesday described the reported desecration of copies of the Quran as "reprehensible."

"Obviously, the destruction of any kind of holy book, whether it's a Bible or a Koran or any other document like that, is something that's
reprehensible and not in keeping with U.S. policies and practices," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Casey said the allegations are "certainly serious and it would be important to have them be looked into."...

Michael Radu at FrontPage looks at the case of the Guantanamo Four, and draws some important conclusions:

Their names: Mourad Benchellali, Nizar Sassi, Brahim Yadel and Imad Achab Kanouni.

Their current status: captured in Afghanistan by US forces, the four--all of whom are French citizens or residents-- were held at Camp Guantanamo for over two years. That is, until last month, when they were sent back to France and placed under arrest on charges of "criminal association with the intent of committing acts of terrorism" and, more specifically, of membership in the terrorist "Chechen connection."

The case of these four men is typical of the terrorists held at Guantanamo and thus, deserves some examination. While we are constantly being told by "human rights" activists that the prisoners at Guantanamo are " illegally" held, and that many, if not all are "innocent" and have been mistreated by the Americans, the reality is something far different....

He then details the personal histories of the Four, all of whom were deeply involved in Islamic terrorism. Read it all.

Let us start with the obvious: all four men were French citizens--born in France, trained in Afghanistan--and captured there as well. All four had extensive police records; and all four were part of an Islamist terrorist movement based in France and Germany, with close ties to London (in addition, the Benchellali clan and, by implication, Nizar Sassi, were directly linked to Algerian terrorism). All were implicated in international terrorism in the Balkans and/or Afghanistan, but also in Western Europe. The four men's backgrounds reaffirm that Islamist terror has no borders, and its best operatives are not the millions of largely illiterate sympathizers in Muslim majority countries but those born and bred in the West--something Al Qaeda itself admits.

Sociologically, the four are personal failures - unable and/or unwilling to hold jobs, poor or insufficiently educated, all with petty crime records, and, in the Benchellali case, a dysfunctional and already radicalized family environment.

Legally, the arguments already presented by the four terrorists' lawyers are telling, and should be seen as a preview of things to come in U.S. courts. First, "study" in Islamist "schools" is a perfectly legitimate way of hiding terrorist indoctrination and indeed terrorist training. Second, alleged "abuse" by the evil Americans at Guantanamo plays to an increasingly intense anti-American atmosphere in Europe (expect Abu Ghraib to become standard defense as well).

If all Guantanamo detainees are as "innocent" as the French four, the entire world should thank Washington for taking out of business some 600 professional terrorists, notwithstanding the "human rights" fundamentalists' baseless claim that Guantanamo is a torture center. Medically, the four had nothing to show as far as "torture" is concerned - unless, that is, denial of access to Coca Cola is indeed "torture" under "international standards" as defined by Amnesty International.

Ultimately, the "Guantanamo Four" are a symbol of the West's ability to deal with Islamist terror, and, unpleasant as the French may be for most Americans, it is clearly better that the standards be set in Paris than elsewhere in "old" Europe. On the other hand, those still claiming that the detainees in Guantanamo are "victims" rather than actual or potential terrorists, should face the reality that defending them is not defending law or Western moral and legal standards, but defending crime.