Posted on 04/18/2016 9:15:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Obama is desperate to empty the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before the end of his presidency. In fact, he’s so desperate he’s decided to hand over 9 prisoners to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia even in the midst of several media reports suggesting the Saudis were either complicit or possibly even involved in the 9/11 terror attacks.
More on the 9/11 angle in a moment. First, the details on the nine detainees.
According to the Washington Post, they’re all Yemeni and include one Tariq Ba Odah, a detainee since 2002 who has gained media attention recently for a hunger strike in protest of his detention:
Military officials had been force-feeding Ba Odah daily, strapping him down and pumping a liquefied supplement through his nose to his stomach. He began his hunger strike in 2007 and had lost roughly half his body weight. At one point last year, the 37-year-old weighed as little as 74 pounds.
While the military has said that Ba Odah was clinically stable, his attorneys had submitted testimony from doctors warning that his hunger strike could have ended in his death.
USA Today points out that the detainees have been in line for transfer for some time, but political turmoil in Yemen precluded them from being released. This is the first instance of Saudi Arabia accepting non-citizens in a detainee transfer.
Any transfer of Gitmo prisoners raises grave concerns over the potential threat to the US and our allies around the world. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is no fan of Gitmo yet even he has raised a red flag by reporting an alarming 30% recidivism rate. “We know for a fact that roughly 30 percent of those who have been released have re-entered the fight, and usually at a very high level, because it’s a badge of honor to have been an inmate at Guantanamo Bay,” McCain told Fox News back in January.
The transfer brings the Gitmo prison population down to 80.
The timing of this latest release is curious considering the recent uproar over the so-called “secret 9/11 papers” which, according to a 60 Minutes report on redacted pages from the 9/11 commission, implicate Saudi officials in the 9/11 terror attacks:
Bob Graham won’t discuss the classified information in the 28 pages, he will say only that they outline a network of people that he believes supported the hijackers while they were in the U.S.
Steve Kroft: You believe that support came from Saudi Arabia?
Bob Graham: Substantially.
Steve Kroft: And when we say, “The Saudis,” you mean the government, the–
Bob Graham: I mean–
Steve Kroft: –rich people in the country? Charities–
Bob Graham: All of the above.
Graham and others believe the Saudi role has been soft-pedaled to protect a delicate relationship with a complicated kingdom where the rulers, royalty, riches and religion are all deeply intertwined in its institutions.
The revelations of the alleged Saudi link reportedly found in the 28 redacted pages has put pressure on Obama to declassify the pages on the eve of the president’s diplomatic visit to the desert kingdom. Given the bi-partisan outrage over the suggestion that DC politicians “put the happiness of the Saudi royal family above the survivors of 9/11,” as Fox News analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said, it’s surprising the president would go ahead and deliver the terror detainees over to a government that is facing such scrutiny.
Clearly, the president’s priorities are clear: Empty Gitmo at all costs, even if it means handing terrorists over to a government that may have been complicit in the most devastating terror attacks in American history.
The Saudis have been funding madrassas and mosques all over the world, including here, to spread the hateful ideology of Wahabbi Islam.
They are not the friend of anyone unwilling to submit to Islam.
why not just execute these if they were found guilty?
Gitmo seems to be an American-run Madrassa.
The Koran is handled by infidels only if they wear gloves. Halal meals are served and the prisoners are called to prayer 5 times daily by their US government-provided Imam. The most fundamental and radical inmates control the population and enforce their requirements for social interaction and religious observance.
They’ve been out of circulation for years.
Need to ‘bone up’ on the latest terrorism techniques in Saudi Arabia.
You have that exactly right.
The Saudi Wahabbis should welcome these soldiers of Allah.
And not deny them another opportunity to die while killing us Kafirs, in order to get a promised immediate reward from Allah. -Tom
Weird timing. Saudi Arabia is threatening economic sanctions against the U.S. if the missing 28-pages of the 9/11 Report are made public. Those pages show a U.S. administration well aware of the terrorist plans beforehand, and the Saudi’s backing of the attack.
“Friends” My aching ass.
Obama sent them back there for a “Terrorist Refresher Course” and to pick up new weapons, explosives and other gear necessary to get back to killing Americans.
Backing such attacks would sound like an asinine thing for the government of S.A. to do, but why would they want to be shy about it now? If they hate us that much, why can’t they be honest enough to say so?
Basically, Bush, Cheney and probably a dozen others within the administration all had connections or campaign contributions that led back to the Saudis. They were in too deep. Obama? I think campaign contributions to him were too much to pass up. Same for McCain, Hillary, etc. Toss in James Baker as well....being connected back to them. Go look at the listing of who showed up for the King’s funeral from last year.
Three things need to happen.
1. The Senate and House must pass this bill.
2. The 28 pages of classified material who did what in 9-11 must be released to the public.
3. Someone needs to look at the names on the 28 pages and ask what they’ve been doing since 9-11. If they funded ISIS or helped various attacks in Europe....then Cheney, Bush and Obama need to be brought in to face federal charges (my humble opinion).
Presently, I’m reaching a point where I think the whole Iraq War was simply a Saudi gimmick that the US took and ran with. The fact that we never cared to go into Pakistan and hunt down Ossama...begs questions at this point. Did the Saudis pay the Pakistanis to hide Ossama? Why did the Pentagon have to keep President Obama out of the loop on the final hunt for Ossama, until the hour when they knew they were going to be in the compound?
Wow...
Connecting the two power centers of the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi Arabia and Washington DC.
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