http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26078373-7583,00.html
“Detentions come back to bite”
Leah Farrall | September 16, 2009
Article from: The Australian
#
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26080219-2702,00.html
“Afghan foreigner kidnap order by al-Qa’ida leader Mustafa Hamid”
EXCLUSIVE: Sally Neighbour | September 16, 2009
Article from: The Australian
SNIPPET: “A LEADING al-Qa’ida strategist once married to a Sydney mother has sanctioned an orchestrated campaign to kidnap foreign civilians, including Australians in Afghanistan, in retaliation for the capture, detention and torture of al-Qa’ida and Taliban prisoners by the US and its allies.
The directive has been issued by veteran al-Qa’ida adviser Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri, who was married to Australian Rabiah Hutchinson in Afghanistan in 2001.
Hamid has been detained in Iran since 2003 but remains an influential figure in the militant movement and has maintained contact with his followers through jihadist websites, despite his imprisonment.”
I'm not sure what you mean by Guantanamo blowback. If the prisoners were held in an Afghan jail or an American supermax in Colorado they could still do this. They are already kidnapping civilians and holding them for ransom, using them to negotiate the release of prisoners, and sometimes just killing them for sport.
Just watched a special the other day about journalists being traded for prisoners in Afghan jails.
Its a great strategy, if we refuse to deal, then they lay the blame at our feet for the beheading. Wouldn't work on a determined foe but could work on one that wasn't all that determined, and looking for an excuse to exit the theater.
Unless we don't reveal at all who we have, which was our policy at one time. They didn't know who we had in the early days, and it made it impossible to do what they are now threatening to do.
There is another issue.
Obama has already begun to release prisoners form Guantanamo.
So its a good idea from their point of view to start a terror campaign designed to focus attention on these prisoners. This steals the credit from Obama; instead of looking like the good guy they make him look like he’s releasing them under duress. Its a ploy, a PR game.
Something similar is happening in Iraq where Obama has ordered the troops to pull back from the cities, and the terrorists have launched a bloody terror campaign. Its important to them to make it look as if they forced us out, to steal any PR value there might be. We’re pulling back according to our plan, but they make it look as if we left in a rout. If they can. Its his job to make sure their little PR gambit doesn’t work.