5
POPSDCCC: Obama 'more aggressive in fighting al Qaeda' than Bush Does this make anyone else just gag?!! What they call 'scoring points' I call sounding the alarm. And as far as putting "country before political party" concerning national security...that's just an outright lie and to suggest that we need to "learn from this episode" is the height of idiocy. Conservatives have looooong been aware of the ongoing and dangerous advancement of radical Muslim jihadists; we learned it already! How about the DCCC stop with the rhetoric and join the fight.
8
POPSObama Describes Nigerian As 'Isolate Extremist,'..... There is none so blind as he who will not see....or one who intentionally seeks to deceive and lull the American public. Despite what he says, I do not believe Americans are buying this idiocy anymore. These very words aid and encourage those who believe they can maim and kill our people. The man is useless and a danger. I hope he stays in Hawaii.
10
POPSTwo Of The Four Plotters Behind The Flight 253 Attack Were Released From Gitmo In 2007 both the Bush administration and the Obama administration. We can argue about the political pressures Bush was under, but the simple truth of the matter is that we should have created a process for dealing with these detainees long ago. The Military Commissions Act was this solution, establishing military commissions to establish the guilt or innocence of these detainees, but it came far too late in Bush’s administration to do any good (and was absurdly deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in yet another decision ignoring the constitution completely). And now our policy toward Guantanamo Bay is a mish-mash of conflicted and largely politically-motivated pap geared more, I think, toward pandering and backside-covering than any national security strategy. Some of the detainees are getting trials in civilian US courts. Some are being shipped off to Pacific islands for continued detention.
7
POPSSecurity Implications **** KATHLEEN SEBELIOUS**** Heard that name before????????????????? That reported plan came after the Obama administration tried first to move the suspected terrorists to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and then to a prison in Michigan. On Jan. 28, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, then the governor of Kansas, wrote Secretary of Defense Gates to protest the transport.
1
POPSChristmas bomb bid complicates Gitmo plan Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, reportedly spent time in Yemen after graduating from a London university in 2008. According to ABC News, Abdulmutallab has told authorities that, while in Yemen, Al Qaeda operatives crafted the explosive device that was sewn into Abdulmutallab’s underwear. “Yesterday just highlights the fact that sending this many people back — or any people back — to Yemen right now is a really bad idea,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s just dumb. ... If you made a list of what the three dumbest countries would be to send people back to, Yemen would be on all the lists.” “I think it’s a major mistake,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said about prisoner releases to Yemen.
4
POPSDripping Irony, Illinois Can't House Its Own Prisoners, Welcomes GITMO Terrorists state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo. Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will make an official announcement at the White House. So Illinois is so broke it has prisoners, it has an empty prison, it can't afford to pay to put the inmates in the prison so it releases them and sells out. Hey ya'll remember what state our President was from? Yeah that's right Illinois. Just think, now the nation can benefit from the same leadership that Illinois politicians give their state.
1
POPSRep. Dan Burton Leading Save the SEALs Mission I hope you will stand with Dan and sign the petition to send a message that you do stand with Dan and the 3 Navy SEALs for defending America. The petition will go to Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations. Here's Dan talking about this case.
6
POPSA Bill Of Rights--Now And Then "Research shows that students who have the opportunity to participate in simulations such as legislative hearings, mock trials and, yes, even constitutional conventions not only learn more but develop greater civic skills and interest in politics. Although we need to make sure our children are proficient in math and reading, it is vitally important to the future of our democracy that they also learn what it means to be a competent and involved citizen."
1
POPS Terrorists In The Heartland?
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting Tuesday's announcement. A Durbin aide said the facility would house federal inmates and no more than 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The facility in Thomson had emerged as a clear front-runner after Illinois officials, led by Durbin, enthusiastically embraced the idea of turning a near-dormant prison over to federal officials. The White House has been coy about its selection process, but on Friday a draft memo leaked to a conservative Web site that seemed to indicate officials were homing in on Thomson. The Thomson Correctional Center was one of several potential sites evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to potentially house detainees from the Navy-run prison at Guantanamo Bay. Officials with other prisons, including Marion, Ill., Hardin, Mont., and Florence, Colo., have said they would welcome the jobs that would be created by the new inmates. Closing Guantanamo is a top priority for Obama
4
POPSAmerica's regression Pew Poll, today: Public opinion about the use of torture remains divided, though the share saying it can at least sometimes be justified has edged upward over the past year. Currently just over half of Americans say that the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can either often (19%) or sometimes (35%) be justified. This is the first time in over five years of Pew Research polling on this question that a majority has expressed these views. Another 16% say torture can rarely be justified, while 25% say it can never be justified.
3
POPSDe-Fund Holder's Manhattan Transfer FTA: "No turbaned genie ever appeared out of Aladdin’s lamp to grant three greater wishes than these. KSM to Genie: One, I want to exploit my status as mass-murdering terrorist; Two, I want to inflict even greater pain and suffering on the families of those thousands whom I’ve murdered; Three, I want to make my trial a magnet for my brother jihadists throughout the world." This will make OJ's trial look like a Student Council meeting.
8
POPS Flunked Sun Tzu 101 Unfortunately it won’t alter the ambitions nor the operations of the Jihadists. Who, for the most part are undoubtedly intelligent enough to spot a sorely inept effort and stupefyingly vague result when they see one. Besides, the bottom line is that they don’t care what we call it. They are still calling it Death to America. The Obamodians unofficially renamed the Global War on Terror for themselves and their fawning surrogates in the media. Second, Commander in Chief Obama’s premature announcement to close the facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before solving the issues involved in the handling of inmates who will continue to be detained and eventually tried, reveals a lack of sound operational awareness. How will he manage the consequences of allowing enemy combatant inmates to be tried in federal courts, as if they were United States citizens, where the accused can choose to represent themselves? Self-representation that grants enemy combatants full access to
4
POPSThe Misfired Martyrs Motel at Guantanamo Bay Actually, Gitmo seems too nice for terrorists. Let’s send them some place worse.. like regular prison. And don't miss the video at the end. That's the best part of the clip. So Gitmo shuts down and the liberals move the murdering terrorists to a place like Illinois....or in their own backyards. I guess you need big brainzzzz to understand that logic.
3
POPSHolder's former law firm representing 17 detainees - Conflict of Interest? The Senate shrugged at the glaring conflict of interest Attorney General Holder presents in handling Gitmo legal issues. Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Cucullu, author of Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay, makes the ethical problem plain: As a senior partner, he undoubtedly had significant input on what kind of charity cases his firm picked up. Even now, his Covington colleagues continue to allege rampant torture at Gitmo. They’re fighting hard to have detainees tried through the US court system—essentially given the same rights as US citizens. And their arguments and plans hinge largely on having Holder issue a bad report card. Recent polls indicate that at least half of Americans disagree with affording the detainees legal rights on US soil. Will they have the same access to Holder’s ears as his former colleagues do?
1
POPSJustice and Guantanamo Bay
Two of the three detainees convicted of war crimes have served their sentences and today they are free men back in their home countries. But the more than 200 that remain inside the detention center have never been convicted, or in most cases even faced charges. The day after his inauguration, Mr. Obama ordered an evaluation of all the detainees to determine who should face criminal prosecution. Administration officials estimate that roughly a quarter of the remaining detainees will be recommended for trial in criminal courts. In a preliminary report submitted to Mr. Obama in July, the Detention Policy Task Force recommended the approval of evaluation criteria developed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice. The task force stated its preference for trials in the federal courts, but added the decision would be based in part on "evidentiary issues" and "the extent to which the forum would permit a full presentation of the accused's wrongful conduct."
1
POPSResignations from the Guantanamo military commission Wolf, Major Robert Preston, and Captain John Carr were among the military lawyers assigned to prosecute the suspected terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. These three later requested reassignments because they had concerns that the proceeding were rigged to ensure no acquittals. On August 1, 2005, the Australian newspaper, "The Age", published an article based on the leaked memos from Preston and Carr. On August 3, 2005 "The Age" published another article that said Wolf had shared the concerns of the other two officers, and had also requested a transfer. Although Brigadier General Thomas Hemingway, the Legal Advisor to the Office of Military Commissions, tried to dismiss the memos as based on simple misunderstandings, an official investigation was conducted. The Chief Prosecutor to whom the memos were addressed, Colonel Fred Borch, subsequently resigned from the military.
1
POPSCase Review: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Stevens addressed the issue of whether military commissions can try conspiracy charges. He argued that military commissions are not courts of general jurisdiction, which are able to try any crime; that the court has traditionally held that offenses against the law of war are triable by military commission only when they are clearly defined as war crimes by statute or strong common law precedent (cf. Quirin). Finally, he found that there was no support in statute or court precedent for law-of-war military commissions trying charges of "conspiracy," either in the Geneva Conventions, in the earlier Hague Conventions or at the Nuremberg Trials. On June 5, 2007, Hamdan and Canadian youth Omar Khadr, had all charges against them dismissed.
3
POPSBack to the Scene of the CRIME!!! "For over 200 years, our nation has relied upon a faithful adherence to the rule of law," he said. "Once again, we will ask our legal system in two venues to answer that call."............ WHY in a CIVIL COURT??????????????It was an act of war.....an act of terrorism against the United States............. and once again instead of trying it in a MILITARY court, we have to supply them with counsel, bring them back to the scene of the act, and stick it in the nose of all those who lost loved ones........Let us all hope that JUSTICE will prevail........He has already admitted to and taken CREDIT, if you will, for 9-11 !!!
8
POPSDetainees at Club Gitmo Getting H1N1 Vaccine Before You Well, why the hell not.....they already have personal chefs, cable TV and free movies. I'm sure that between prayer time on their new prayer rugs and beach volleyball tournaments they can manage to fit the vaccinations into their grueling schedules. How about we send the liberals down there to administer the H1N1 personally since they already have such high regard for those murdering terrorists.....
5
POPSYoung Afghan struggles to adapt after Guantanamo
He says he was grabbed by police who beat him and threatened to kill his family unless he put his thumbprint to paper and admitted he'd tried to kill two U.S. soldiers. The Pashto speaker, largely illiterate, didn't understand their Persian and had little idea what he'd agreed to, he says. A U.S. judge would later agree. That day, a grenade had been thrown at a U.S. Army vehicle, injuring the two soldiers and an interpreter. Jawad was charged with attempted murder based on the confession, held at Kabul's Bagram air base, then moved to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in early February 2003. But it spills out. He talks about having his hands bound behind his back and being forced to eat like a dog, being kicked, beaten and pepper-sprayed and subjected to excessive heat, loud noise, solitary confinement. After a year, Guantanamo records show, Jawad tried to commit suicide by banging his head against his cell wall repeatedly. "I was tortured and faced many problems