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Role in Qaeda operatives’ release returns to haunt Qatar Attorney General

2018-10-10

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... ’s Attorney General Ali bin Mohsen bin Fetais al-Marri continues to make headlines. After reports of his financial corruption and accounts at the National Bank of Kuwait were exposed, his close relationship with two al-Qaeda leaders has returned to haunt him. General Ali al-Marri managed to get them released from US prisons and ensured freedom of movement for them going against what was recommended in treaties. The recent attention prompted by his financial scandals made the media leading to curiosity, which has brought to the fore many neglected stories such as this Washington Post article published in 2007. This document revealed the Attorney General’s ties with his relative, Ali Saleh Kahla al-Marri, also known as Abdul Rahman al-Qatari. Saleh al-Marri is not any ordinary mortal. He was locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in December 2001 in the United States following the terrorist hunt after 9/11. He admitted to being a very important member of al-Qaeda and that he had planned new attacks, including using chemical weapons. In his personal computer, federal agents found records called "Jihad Arena or Jihad Stadium" containing information on hydrogen cyanide. During his arrest, more than 1,000 fake credit card numbers and forged identity documents were seized. Before coming to the United States, Saleh al-Marri worked for more than 10 years as a senior officer at Qatar Islamic Bank and as a senior accountant for the Qatari government. In addition, an investigation by the US authorities proved that Saleh had been in contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the criminal mastermind of the September 11 attacks. He was finally released in 2015 after 13 years in detention. RELATIVE CONNECTION Here comes the role of Qatar’s Attorney General Ali bin Mohsen bin Fetais al-Marri. In fact, the decision to release a relative was not an American decision, but it took place after behind the scenes diplomatic action and after lengthy negotiations conducted by a "close friend" of the Attorney General. According to reports in the American media, Bin Fetais used all his contacts so that his relative can be released. As a last resort, thanks to this assistance, a prominent al-Qaeda member was exchanged against US citizens (a couple) who were arbitrarily detained in Doha. What justified such an exchange isn’t yet known? Equally surprising is the fact that when he arrived in Doha, in January 2015, Saleh al-Marri received a "hero’s welcome" by the Qatari authorities. He even received a phone call from the Qatari prime minister. Former Qatari anchor and current board member of al-Jazeera, Elham Badr, congratulated Saleh al-Marri on Twitter on the return of al-Qaeda member. The Attorney-General also played an active role in the release of Jarallah Saleh Mohammed Kahla al-Marri in 2008. He is the younger brother of Saleh al-Yazid, who was arrested at Guantanamo after being caught at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. The Attorney-General succeeded in deporting him to Qatar on the condition that Jarallah does not leave Qatar forever. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... in violation of this agreement with the United States, Jarallah traveled and the Qataris did not inform their American counterparts. According to a confidential memo from the US ambassador in Doha, unveiled by WikiLeaks, there was US resentment over Qatari non-compliance with the agreements reached regarding the conditions related to the release of Jarallah. In the confidential memo, one official was identified as Qatar’s Attorney-General Ali bin Fattis al-Marri.

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Home Front: WoT

That Idiot Qatari PNG'd, Has Days To Leave U.S. Forever

2010-04-10

The Qatari diplomat who allegedly sneaked a smoke in an airliner bathroom, setting off a terrorism scare that forced F-16 fighter jets to scramble and delayed tired passengers for hours Wednesday night, will pay for his stunt with a one-way ticket home. U.S. officials said Mr. Madadi was expected to leave the U.S. in the next few days. Qatari officials were told by the State Department that the U.S. viewed the matter very seriously. Qatar's ambassador to the U.S. called the incident "a mistake," and said Mr. Madadi was traveling to Denver on official embassy business. There was confusion Thursday about just what that business was. Mr. Madadi initially told investigators he was going skiing with a friend. But later a State Department official said he was making a consular visit to Ali al Marri, a Qatari citizen imprisoned in Colorado as an alleged al Qaeda agent in the U.S. When he was free to leave Denver on Thursday, Mr. Madadi attempted to board another United flight to return to Washington, but United declined to let him fly and he booked with another carrier to Baltimore. A United spokeswoman said it declined service because "he violated FAA's rules and United's policy." It cost the U.S. government $15,000 to scramble the F-16 fighters after the North American Aerospace Defense Command responded to what it thought might be a terrorist incident. The 157 passengers and six crew on United Flight 663 endured up to five hours of frustration and exhaustion as federal authorities conducted their probe and screened luggage. Matt Erickson, a middle-school counselor who was returning from a week in Washington chaperoning 50 eighth graders on a spring-break trip, sent an instant message at 11:28 p.m. to his wife, Debbie Adams, who had been waiting for him in the airport for nearly five hours as authorities questioned passengers and Mr. Madadi. Mr. Erickson wrote: "Only in America--a Qatari diplomat decides to light up a cigarette in the bathroom and use his shoe bottom to put it out. He then jokes about it to the guy sitting next to him--who happens to be a freakin' air marshal. Now hundreds of people are inconvenienced, to say the least." Mr. Madadi is described by other diplomats as a man in his mid-20s who went to college in Washington, and as a fixture on the party scene in the city's affluent Georgetown section. On his profile on the LinkedIn social-networking site, Mr. Madadi listed his title as a database administrator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the embassy. He studied at George Washington University, where he earned his master's degree of science in information systems technology in 2008. Reasonably intelligent, then, but not very smart. Or, he was engaging in jihad by provocation rather than jihad by violence. With his background, no doubt he'll do something to get himself PNG'd in Europe soon enough.

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Pakistan-trained Al Qaeda operative sentenced in US

2009-10-31

[Dawn] A US judge sentenced Al Qaeda sleeper agent Ali al-Marri to more than eight years in prison on Thursday, rejecting pleas from prosecutors for a much longer jail term. Judge Michael Mihm expressed fears Marri could reoffend but said a 'just sentence' must reflect the fact he was designated an 'enemy combatant' and forced to spend more than six years in a US navy brig without charge. Judge Michael Mihm expressed fears Marri could reoffend but said a 'just sentence' must reflect the fact he was designated an 'enemy combatant' and forced to spend more than six years in a US navy brig without charge. Marri, a 44-year-old dual Saudi-Qatari national, confessed in April to having trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan before being sent to the US on a mission by September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. 'We are defined as a people by how we deal with difficult and unpopular legal issues,' Mihm said, before handing down a sentence of eight years and four months at the court in Peoria in the US state of Illinois. With credit for about two years already served in civilian jails, and given the 54 days he could earn each year for good behaviour, Marri might be released as early as 2015 after serving less than six years. Initially arrested on credit card fraud charges, Marri was declared an enemy combatant in 2003 and spent nearly six years in solitary confinement in a military brig in South Carolina without charge. His case was transferred to civil court on February 26 when he was formally indicted on charges of providing support to Al-Qaeda and conspiring with others to do the same. In a tearful and emotional statement Marri, who admitted in April to conspiring with Al-Qaeda to carry out a terrorist attack within the United States, vowed he would never again wish harm upon the American people. During Thursday's sentencing the judge was clear about the fact that Marri was likely to reoffend. 'I believe that you have not totally rejected what you did and that you would do it again after you go home, whether here or somewhere else,' Mihm said. Marri's case has reignited debate over whether an American president should have the authority to detain terror suspects -- including legal US residents -- indefinitely without charge. Unlike detainees held at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Marri was a legal US resident when he was arrested in Illinois in December 2001 in connection with the 9/11 attacks. President Barack Obama has eliminated the 'enemy combatant' designation and vowed to shut down Guantanamo by January. He met Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks, at one of the camps and agreed to go to the United States for an Al-Qaeda operation. Marri admitted in April that he attended several terrorist training camps in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001, according to his plea agreement. He met Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks, at one of the camps and agreed to go to the United States for an Al-Qaeda operation. Marri entered the US on September 10, 2001 with his wife and children, ostensibly to study at an Illinois university. The next day Al-Qaeda launched its attacks, and Marri has said he continued to work for the extremist organization by researching poisons such as cyanide and the location of dams, waterways and tunnels.

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Home Front: WoT

Obama's Detention Plans Face Scrutiny

2009-05-23

Of course it does: it now looks like the Bush administration detention plan. The Obama administration's efforts to craft what it calls a "preventive detention" plan for suspected terrorists will face constitutional challenges similar to those raised against the Bush administration's policies. Some detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are deemed too dangerous to release and may not be able to put on trial, creating a quandary that President Barack Obama said Thursday poses "the toughest issue we will face." There are still many unknowns in the administration's plans. How many prisoners will fall into the thorniest category requiring indefinite detention is still unclear while detainee cases are being reviewed by government lawyers. A White House task force reviewing detention policy is set to make recommendations in late July. The administration has floated with Congress a possible plan that would seek legislation allowing the government to hold suspected terrorists without trial indefinitely on U.S. soil. A National Security Court would oversee the cases. Administration lawyers view the congressional and court oversight of the plans as key to their argument that their approach differs significantly from the Bush administration, which tried to claim broad presidential powers to strip terror suspects of legal rights. There's a tradition of indefinite detentions by the military in war time. However, the government's argument that the campaign against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups may be a war without end creates complications. The government's past attempts at such detentions have a checkered legal history. According to some. The Bush administration and the Congress worked hard to create a system of checks and balances, with military tribunals and periodic reviews. They did that not one but twice, and both times the USSC threw out the hard-won plans, even though the USSC admitted that they, and judges in general, did not have the knowledge base or temperament to deal with the thorny issues of detaining combatants and terrorists. Had the Dhimmicrats just settled down these things could have been settled law by now and Bambi could be dealing with other issues. The Bush administration tested the government's indefinite detention powers in the case of Yaser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen captured in Afghanistan and detained as an "illegal enemy combatant." In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court agreed in part with the government. But its ruling that Mr. Hamdi had the right to challenge his detention led the Bush administration to create Pentagon-run tribunals to review cases of detainees. Which the Court then threw out. Administration officials acknowledge that the Hamdi case doesn't directly answer the legal questions posed by the White House's emerging indefinite detention policy. In a subsequent 2008 case, the Supreme Court backed the legal rights of foreigners held at Guantanamo, ruling in the case of Lakhdar Boumediene that he had a right to access the U.S. courts. That was where the USSC went off the rails. The Constitution specifically allows the executive branch to conduct war, which includes the handling of prisoners, and the legislative branch to fund and advise on war. There is nothing in the Constitution for the USSC to do with regard to war. Civil liberties and human rights groups who criticized the Bush administration's detention policies are definitive in their opposition to Mr. Obama's plans. "It's really crossing a constitutional Rubicon," said Jonathan Hafetz, American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented Ali al Marri. Mr. al Marri recently pleaded guilty to being an al Qaeda sleeper agent after years being held without charge as an "enemy combatant." Mr. Hafetz says that President Obama is "taking steps that are inconsistent with our legal traditions and values. At the same, he's closing Guantanamo but he's creating a new Guantanamo in another form." What is consistent with our legal tradition is not affording enemy combatants access to our legal system. That was decided just after WWII, and had we stuck to that we wouldn't have the mess we have today. In recent weeks, the Obama administration has won court backing for important elements of the policy. District court rulings have agreed with the administration that the congressional authorization for military force following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, as well as the laws of war, give the government the right to detain indefinitely members of al Qaeda and affiliated groups at war with the U.S. Those cases will likely continue to be in litigation for months to come. The government has tried indefinite detentions for cases unrelated to terrorism, particularly immigration and mental illness. A 2001 Supreme Court decision ruled it was illegal for the U.S. to indefinitely detain hundreds of Cuban refugees who arrived in the Mariel boatlift and who were deemed dangerous to release but whom the Cuban government refused to take back. Because those detainees weren't enemy combatants. No one would seriously argue that we're at war with Cuba. So of course we couldn't detain the Marielitos, no matter how odious they were. But the courts, including the high court in one case, have allowed state laws that require the indefinite detention of criminal sex offenders deemed to have mental issues that make them a danger to society even after they have served a prison sentence. The administration is studying detention proposals, including one from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who suggests a hybrid approach: applying military law to declare detainees a danger to the U.S., followed by reviews of the National Security Court to verify detainees' status. On Wednesday, the president discussed outlines of such a plan with representatives of civil liberties and human rights groups at a meeting in the White House. These groups, including the ACLU, led the legal assault that won important court-ordered curbs on the legal underpinnings of the Bush administration's national security policy. They promise to the same to Mr. Obama's.

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Ali al-Marri pleads guilty in U.S. court

2009-05-01

PEORIA, Illinois (Reuters) - An accused sleeper agent for al Qaeda labeled an "enemy combatant" and held in isolation in a U.S. Navy brig for six years pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to a terrorist conspiracy charge. Ali al-Marri, a 43-year-old with dual citizenship in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, could face up to 15 years in prison depending on whether U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mihm gives him credit for time served at sentencing on July 30. Marri pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda. A second charge of providing material support for terrorism will be dropped based on a plea agreement that was finalized only minutes before Thursday's hearing, Marri's attorney said. So he could be out in about nine years, minus time for 'good behavior'. It's positively European. "The government would liked to have taken this to trial but I believe it was the right move for all," Marri's attorney Andrew Savage told reporters. "Without a doubt, this case is a grim reminder of the seriousness of the threat we as a nation still face," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "But it also reflects what we can achieve when we have faith in our criminal justice system." U.S. authorities said Marri had his first contacts with al Qaeda in 1998 and learned terror "tradecraft" through 2001 at the group's military training camps in Pakistan. There he met Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks, who directed him to meet with Mustafa al-Hawsawi, the suspected paymaster for the September 11 attackers. Hawsawi gave Marri $10,000, they said. The Justice Department said Marri communicated by email in code with Mohammed, whom he referred to as "Muk" while calling himself "Abdo," and provided progress reports on his efforts to enter the United States. Marri arrived with his family on a student visa on September 10, 2001, and went to Peoria, where he had previously been a student at Bradley University. Prosecutors said he did not attend classes and instead used his new laptop computer to do research on cyanide compounds and sulfuric acid with the goal of creating a lethal gas. Marri collected information about how to hack into protected computer systems, and obtained stolen credit card numbers and driver's licenses, prosecutors said. They said he also collected information about U.S. dams and tunnels, using a computer program that permits the user to anonymously search websites. Savage said Marri would "state unequivocally that he would never engage in any violent actions that would harm an innocent person." Except that infidels aren't innocent ... Authorities said Marri plotted to follow up the September 11 attacks with chemical or biological assaults and cyber-attacks on the U.S. financial system. "Ali al-Marri was an al Qaeda 'sleeper' operative working on U.S. soil and directed by the chief planner of the 9/11 attacks," said Arthur Cummings of the FBI's National Security Branch. "Al-Marri researched the use of chemical weapons, potential targets and maximum casualties." He was originally arrested in Peoria in December 2001 as a material witness in a New York investigation of the September 11 attacks. Marri was then returned to Peoria and charged with credit card fraud and lying to the FBI. But the charges were dropped in 2003 and then-President George W. Bush declared him an "enemy combatant" and sent him to the Consolidated Naval Brig in South Carolina. He was held in the military prison without charge and in extreme isolation for nearly six years. Following a review ordered by President Barack Obama, Marri's case was transferred to the U.S. court system, and he was indicted in Illinois in February on terrorism charges. Some legal experts have said Marri's case offered a preview of how the administration plans to deal with more than 200 inmates of the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, if it is closed as planned. Holder was in Europe earlier this week, seeking help in relocating Guantanamo detainees.

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US wall around terror suspect easing, brother says

2009-04-23

The U.S. government's wall of isolation around a man held for more than seven years as an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent has parted in recent weeks with telephone calls to his family and the chance to read newspapers and magazines, according to one of his brothers. Ali al-Marri, 43, sounds surprisingly strong during the calls from a federal prison in central Illinois, his brother, Naji al-Marri, told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview from his home in Saudi Arabia. Naji al-Marri also insisted his younger brother has no ties to al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden, as federal prosecutors have claimed. "I know some of that stuff is not true," said Naji al-Marri, 47. "Because some of the stuff that they're saying (is) something that I know Ali would not do." Ali al-Marri was arrested in 2001 while attending college in Illinois and accused of plotting terrorist attacks inside the U.S. He had been the last enemy combatant held without charges on U.S. soil until his March move from the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., to the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, just south of Peoria. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. His next hearing is April 30 in Peoria. Since being moved to Pekin, al-Marri has been allowed to call his family once a week, his brother said. Occasional letters had accounted for the only previous contact other than a handful of calls after the Red Cross won him permission following his father's death last year. Naji al-Marri said he never responded to the letters because, at the time, he doubted their authenticity. Ali al-Marri's telephone calls are monitored by federal authorities and Naji al-Marri said his brother is only allowed to call a Red Cross office in Saudi Arabia about 150 miles from the family's home. Most discussions dwell on what al-Marri has missed since his arrest, his brother said. "His son now, when he was (arrested) he's 8; now he's 16 years old. Can you imagine?" Naji al-Marri said. Ali al-Marri is kept isolated in a special housing unit in Pekin, according to Andy Savage, one of his attorneys. But the conditions are better, Savage said, than those al-Marri experienced during most of the years he spent alone in South Carolina. Savage has said he faced interrogations and conditions that amounted to torture while in the brig. TV is forbidden, but al-Marri now gets magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics and fitness and computer magazines, Savage said. "In the case of The New York Times, it has to be reviewed before he gets it," Savage said, adding that he doesn't know why. Federal prosecutors routinely refuse to comment on al-Marri's case, which a federal judge in Peoria has said he hopes to try by the end of the year. In court documents filed prior to the five years al-Marri was held as an enemy combatant, the government said the Bradley University graduate met with bin Laden in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 and was sent to the U.S. to help al-Qaida operatives carry out attacks following Sept. 11, 2001. Al-Marri had faced credit card fraud charges after his 2001 arrest in Peoria, but those were dropped when he was placed to military custody in June 2003. In some of the early court documents, FBI agents who searched a computer from al-Marri's Peoria apartment said they found an Arabic-language prayer asking God to protect bin Laden, audio files of lectures delivered by the al-Qaida leader and lists of Web sites such as "Jihad arena." Naji al-Marri said he doesn't believe his brother, a devout Muslim, traveled to Afghanistan, only to neighboring Pakistan, where he worked to help orphans and other poor people. Ali al-Marri followed his brother to Bradley in Peoria in 1987, graduating four years later with a bachelor's degree in business management administration before returning to his native Qatar to work for a bank. He came back to Peoria for graduate school, arriving Sept. 10, 2001, with his wife and five kids. He was arrested that December. Naji al-Marri has applied for a U.S. visa to attend his brother's trial. But he said he's nervous about coming back to the United States because he no longer trusts the government. He said he wonders why federal officials would have held his brother without trial for so long if they had legitimate evidence to convict him. "The (military) came and took him, and they put him there, and they forget about him," Naji al-Marri said as the evening call to prayer wailed from a nearby mosque. "It's like luggage — they put him some place and forget about him; nobody allowed to talk to him, nobody allowed to speak to him. He's a human being."

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Accused Al Qaeda agent in court

2009-03-12

The attorney for alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent Ali al-Marri said Tuesday he hopes that what his client endured for five years will never be repeated in the United States. "Hopefully, I think you have seen the end of it," Andy Savage told reporters after his client appeared in federal court for an initial hearing on terrorism charges. Marri was turned over to civilian authorities earlier in the day after being held in a nearby Navy brig as an enemy combatant without charges since 2003. President Barack Obama last month ordered Marri surrendered to civil authorities after he was indicted in Peoria on charges of providing material support to terror and conspiracy. Marri, a 43-year-old native of Qatar, is expected to enter a formal plea in Illinois. However, Savage will argue in court next week that Marri should be released on bond. The government has said Marri met with Osama bin Laden and volunteered for a suicide mission or whatever help Al Qaeda wanted. A Bradley University graduate, Marri arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 10, 2001.

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Indictment key in combatant policy

2009-02-28

The criminal indictment against the final "enemy combatant" held on American soil marks a stunning departure from the Bush administration's handling of terrorism cases, but it may also help preserve one of the Bush era's most contentious policies. A federal indictment unsealed Friday in Illinois charges Ali al-Marri with providing material support to al Qaeda. The charges come as the Supreme Court prepares to hear his challenge to Bush administration detention policies; Mr. al-Marri has been held for nearly six years in isolation in a Navy brig in South Carolina. The Obama administration hopes that the criminal charges will end the Supreme Court case, which would allow Bush administration policies to continue. On Friday afternoon, the Justice Department's solicitor general filed a motion to dismiss Mr. al-Marri's pending litigation before the Supreme Court. President Obama has ordered that Mr. al-Marri be transferred from the brig to a federal prison. The Justice Department said it will make the transfer after the Supreme Court rules on the Justice's motion to dismiss the al-Marri case as moot. Mr. al-Marri's Supreme Court case challenges the legal and constitutional authority of the president to designate any person in the U.S. as an "enemy combatant" and order him held without charges by the military in the U.S. Mr. Obama said in his order that his decision reverses Mr. Bush's designation of Mr. al-Marri as an enemy combatant. Mr. al-Marri's lawyers say they will fight the Obama administration's motion to dismiss and will demand a hearing on the case's merits before the justices. "Despite this indictment, the Obama administration has yet to renounce the government's asserted authority to imprison legal residents and U.S. citizens without charge or trial," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project. "It is important that the court hears Mr. al-Marri's case and rejects, once and for all, the notion that any president has the sweeping authority to deprive individuals living in the United States of their most basic constitutional rights by designating them 'enemy combatants,' " he said in a statement. The court, which had been scheduled to hear arguments in the case April 27, told Mr. al-Marri's lawyers to file legal responses by Tuesday.

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Home Front: Politix

Obama signs order to close Guantanamo in a year

2009-01-22

President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, shut down secret overseas CIA prisons, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods. With his action, Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans -- and overhauling America's image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba. And battered repeatedly by the Dhimmicrats and the MSM ... "The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals," the president said. No, it means that we'll be as squeamish as progressive Europeans in the future. In the past we didn't have a problem dealing with terrorists and thugs when our security was threatened. We were Jacksonian: we'd respect an enemy that followed the rules of war but would show no quarter to an enemy that didn't. Bambi doesn't understand that and that's why he's following the advise of 'progressives', who are equally squeamish. The Bambi administration can't or won't make the distinction between lawful versus unlawful enemy combatants. That's the first principle and all their actions will flow from that distinction. The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned Guantanamo facility within a year, a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama's. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals. With the questions about who we'll release, who we'll keep and where we'll keep them, who we'll try and who we'll make disappear, it should be an interesting year. The Dhimmicrats and MSM like to pretend that George Bush never considered these issues, that Gitmo just sprang forth from Cheney's brain. They're going to recognize what a few adult Democrats (e.g., Jane Harmon) knew all along: it's a damned difficult issue. In the other actions, Obama: _Created a task force to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at where those detainees should be housed since Guantanamo is closing. Good luck with that. Some we've released to the field have come back to fight and kill Americans. Some we'd otherwise like to release are wanted men in their own countries, countries that don't follow the same gentle European rules for handling terrorists. And some are people no one wants. _Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual -- which would create a significant loophole to Obama's action Thursday. Bet that the military will fight that. They want the Field Manual left alone, I gather, precisely because they're not the CIA. "We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military, that we can abide by a rule that says we don't torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence that we need," Obama said. He said his action reflects an understanding that "we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard." A task force will study whether other interrogation guidelines -- beyond what's spelled out in the Army manual -- are necessary for intelligence professionals in dealing with terror suspects. But an Obama administration official said that provision should not be considered a loophole that will allow controversial "enhanced interrogation techniques" to be re-introduced. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the administration's thinking. So Bambi's administration is already infested with leakers and apple-polishers ... The order also orders the CIA to close all its existing detention facilities abroad for terror suspects -- and prohibits those prisons from being used in the future. The agency has used those secret "black site" prisons around the world to question terror suspects. So we'll hand over Bagram to the Afghan government, the camps in Iraq to the Iraqi government, etc. How is that an improvement unless the goal is to leave one's own hands squeaky clean? _Directed the Justice Department to review the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri, who is the only enemy combatant currently being held on U.S. soil. The directive will ask the high court for a stay in al-Marri's appeals case while the review is ongoing. The government says al-Marri is an al-Qaida sleeper agent. No, the Bush administration said he was a sleeper agent. What does the Obama administration think he is? The answer will be enlightening. An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, most of whom have been detained for years without being charged with a crime. Because they're not criminals, they're terrorists. We're not obligated to extend to terrorists the rights that criminals have within the United States. Among the sticky issues the Obama administration has to resolve are where to put those detainees -- whether back in their home countries or at other federal detention centers -- and how to prosecute some of them for war crimes. "We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said as he signed three executive orders and a presidential directive. The administration official said Obama's government will not transfer detainees to countries that will mistreat them, including their own home country. So you're back to the question, "and now what do you do with them?" And voting 'present' is not an option. In his first Oval Office signing ceremony, Obama was surrounded by retired senior military leaders. He described them as outstanding Americans who have defended the country -- and its ideals. I think we're going to see a lot more cheap stunts like this. I recall a time when retired military didn't let themselves be used by the politicians ...

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Court: Bush can order indefinite detentions

2008-07-17

President Bush has the legal power to order the indefinite military detentions of civilians captured in the United States, the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled on Tuesday in a fractured 5-4 decision. But a second, overlapping 5-4 majority of the court, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar now in military custody in Charleston, S.C., must be given an additional opportunity to challenge his detention in federal court there. An earlier court proceeding, in which the government had presented only a sworn statement from a defense intelligence official, was inadequate, the second majority ruled. The decision was a victory for the Bush administration, which had maintained that a 2001 congressional authorization to use military force after the Sept. 11 attacks granted the president the power to detain people living in the United States. The court effectively reversed a divided three-judge panel of its own members, which ruled last year that the government lacked the power to detain civilians legally in the United States as enemy combatants.

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Court overrules Bush 'enemy combatant' policy

2007-06-11

Via Drudge. RICHMOND, Va. - The Bush administration cannot legally detain a legal U.S. resident it believes is an al-Qaida sleeper agent without charging him, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. The case involves a Qatari national and suspected al-Qaida operative who is the only person being held in the United States as an "enemy combatant." In the 2-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that the federal Military Commissions Act does not strip Ali al-Marri of his constitutional rights to challenge his accusers in court. It ruled the government must allow him to be released from military detention. In a major setback for the administration, the appellate panel ruled that the government's evidence afforded no basis to treat al-Marri as an "enemy combatant." "The government cannot subject al-Marri to indefinite military detention. For in the United States, the military cannot seize and imprison civilians — let alone imprison them indefinitely," Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote. Al-Marri has been held in a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for about four years without any charges. The ruling sent the case back to a federal judge in South Carolina with instructions to direct Defense Secretary Robert Gates to release al-Marri from military custody within a reasonable period of time. The government can transfer al-Marri to civilian authorities to face criminal charges, initiate deportation proceedings, hold him as a witness in a grand jury proceeding or detain him for a limited period of time under the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law. Sounds like he'll need to be charged. This is a good thing. American citizens and legal residents are entitled to the protection of the Constitution, for good and bad: good in that they have constitutional protections, and bad because the Constitution does contain a specific treason clause.

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