Another Gitmo Detainee Released…After 5 Years
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Law, The War On TerrorismThis time it’s a guy from Britain who lost 5 years of his life…
Bisher al-Rawi, a 37-year-old Iraqi national, had been held at the U.S. base in Cuba since it opened in 2002, but was reunited with his family in south London this weekend.British officials have long refused to represent resident foreigners held at Guantanamo, but took up al-Rawi’s case after it was disclosed he had provided assistance before his detention to MI5 â€â€? Britain’s domestic spy agency.
Al-Rawi’s U.S. lawyer, George Brent Mickum IV, said last year that al-Rawi had agreed, during one of at least six interviews with British agents at Guantanamo, to work for the British security service in exchange for his release. Nothing came of the offer, Mickum said.
Mickum declined to comment on the case Sunday, except to say that al-Rawi “is delighted to be back home with his family.”
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Thursday al-Rawi’s release had been agreed, but officials and lawyers have not disclosed precisely when the detainee was freed and flown to Britain.
No sentence. Just released.
Now remember…the reason we classified these people as “enemy combatants” is so we could detainee them indefinitely. Why do we want to detainee them indefinitely? Because they’re considered too dangerous to release. So why don’t we merely try and convict them? Because the evidence is usually classified in some way, shape or form. See the circular pattern here?
And given the farce we were witness to in the David Hicks case recently, one must pose the question: do we have ANY idea what we ‘re doing?
In Guantanamo, the United States has created a lightning rod for the muslim extremists. They can point to the kidnappings, the torture, any number of things that make us look like something much, much less than a beacon of freedom and reason.
Isn’t it time for Guantanamo and places like it to shutter their doors so we can move on and reestablish our credibility with the rest of the world?
Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2007 and is filed under Law, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Before we can appeal for the hearts & minds in the rest of the world, it might help if those in power had either a heart or a mind.
As far as shutting down Guantanamo, looks like the Supreme Court will be no help at all. (Why an I not surprised?) And I am not sure we can afford to wait for 22 more months
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Gitmo is a dark stain on the good name of justice. I can’t believe that it still exists; it’s simply a byproduct of American paranoia that should have died out long ago.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
… and along behind Gitmo is the trail of “hidden prisons” and the rendition process.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:14 am
Sadly, I think bob is wrong. Waiting another 22 months, however unfortunate, is not going to make that big a difference. Because it is going to take a generation to rebuild the reputation that has been pissed away in the last 6 years.
Unless you believe that a new administration will convict Bush, Yoo, Gonzales, etc. of war crimes. That might reduce the recovery time a bit.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Better those “detainees” (which is a polite word for illegal combatants, i.e., *enemy* soldiers) should lose a few years off their lives than that we should lose all of the rest of our years.
If you really feel sad for those enemy POWs, then you’re on the wrong side.
No, I’m not a troll. I’m just tired of the mindless appeasers who are doing their best to get us all killed. It really pisses me off.
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:12 pm
The problem, however, is that it is not at all clear that all those “detainees” actually are combatants of any kind. On the (admittedly limited) evidence currently available, any of us could just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, going about our lawful pursuits. Then get turned in for a bounty by someone who has no idea whether we actually did anything or not. Then find ourselves detained for years, with no chance to demonstrate our actual innocence. That could be me. That could be YOU, chicopanther — for all that you have probably done nothing to deserve it.
I don’t see a lot of sympathy for actual enemy soldiers. (Some unhappiness about the way they were treated, but far more because of it’s negative consequences elsewhere than because it actually hurt them.) But I see a fair amount of sympathy for those who never were enemy soldiers of any kind — and who are finally being released without any charges for precisely that reason.