U.S. Sends 12 Gitmo Detainees Home

(AP)  The U.S. has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region as the Obama administration continues to move captives out of the Cuban facility in preparation for its closure.

The Justice Department said Sunday that a government task force had reviewed each case. Officials considered the potential threat and the government's likelihood of success in court challenges to the detentions.

Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.

The Justice Department said that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.

The Justice Department identified those sent home as:

• Afghans Abdul Hafiz, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim and Mohammed Hashim.

• Somali detainees Mohammed Soliman Barre and Ismael Arale.

• Yemenis Jamal Muhammad Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami and Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf.

The administration has announced that five detainees will be tried in a New York federal court and more are likely to be tried in this country.

Up to 100 detainees will be sent to a nearly empty prison in Thomson, Ill.

In Rome, state-run and private television stations said a third Tunisian detainee from Guantanamo Bay is being moved to Italy to face international terrorism charges for having allegedly recruited fighters for Afghanistan.

Private TG5 identified the man as 40-year-old Moez Ben Abdelkader Fezzani, also known as Abou Nassim, and said he was expected to land Sunday night at Milan's Malpensa airport. A prosecutor confirmed Fezzani's name on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

President Barack Obama says he won't set a new deadline for closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison, but does expect the facility to shut down sometime next year.

[6591Hou]

Newsflash to the troops in the field - if they're packing, put them down. If they drop their weapons and run, put them down. Don't disarm and apprehend, that way nobody has to be detained or tried in the states. After all, the majority of the posters here seem to think that everyone in Gitmo was a peaceful goat herder that was just snatched off the street because the CIA was driving by and was bored that afternoon.

[finkfurst]

by 6591Hou December 21, 2009 1:06 PM EST
Newsflash to the troops in the field - if they're packing, put them down. If they drop their weapons and run, put them down. Don't disarm and apprehend, that way nobody has to be detained or tried in the states.
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"...nobody has to be detained or tried in the states" - Actually you're wrong. Anyone who follows your advice would be guilty of a war crime and could be tried in the US or in the country where they committed the crime.

Is that what you think America stands for?

[Kufr_Akbar]

Fezzani, the Tunisian, was captured in Pakistan after he ran away from Afghanistan at the approach of NATO in late 2001. It's ironic, therefore, if he had spent his time in Italy trying to recruit others to fight there.

[wdh3007]

The Obama Administration has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland to become better terrorists.

[CBSisCommunist2]

and they promise to never attack us again...they promised

[violist47]

Under Bush, hundreds of Guantanamo prisoners were ultimately released, some of whom did go back to become terrorists. Some of those now released may do the same - isn't prison supposed to be where even the innocent become criminals? Especially the innocent, I would think, after years of being held incommunicado and sometimes tortured.

So yes, we should release these illegally held prisoners from their unjustifiable imprisonment. If we can't manage to bring them to trial, then we also cannot rightfully incarcerate them!

[cattiej]

So now there are 12 fewer out of 100 of the Gimo detainees. Then that means that there will only be perhaps 88 sent to Thomson Prison in Illinois. The Gov of Illinois said that there will be 3000 jobs created when the detainees arrive at the prison. So how much is it going to cost per detainee? If these people are just detainee's, why have they not been taken to court? Bush and his gas house gang have created more terrorists by keeping these people. The longer we keep them in this country the more chance we have of something bad happen. Send them back to their homeland. We don't want them here. We have enough crime by our own countryman, we don't need them to add to our prison population, we are doing just fine by ourself's. What a mess George Bush and Chaney have created. There were no weapons of mass destruction. The only weapons of mass destrction are the corrupt, greedy politicans in Washington. We can hardly wait to vote these people out of office. Take notice, if you are going to run for a political office in our country, you had better be honest and of a moral attitude. Our country is going into a depression in 2010 and we don't need anymore greedy,corrupt and selfish politicans in our states and in Washington. By the way, what is George doing now? Where is Chaney and more importantly is where is Karl Rove?

[50BMS13]

US releases terrorists and enemy combatants? What the heck is going on??? Bush caught those guys and they were supposed to stand military tribunal. Why are they free to go? They will now be back in the form of suicide pilots or mass murderers of another sort. Someone fumbled the ball here....

[finkfurst]

by 50BMS13 December 20, 2009 10:59 PM EST
US releases terrorists and enemy combatants? What the heck is going on??? Bush caught those guys and they were supposed to stand military tribunal. Why are they free to go?
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...... because there is NO EVIDENCE that they did anything wrong!!!!!

[sunday42]

Don't worry they will be back it may be in the form of a human bomb, an AK47 or your peaceful neighbor whom you never suspected of being a terrorist. They will be back with vengance. Some may say, and I always get a kick out of this one, that it's unfair, without due process. How much due process did those that died on 9/11 get?

[Libs-R-Insane]

"U.S. Sends 12 Gitmo Detainees Home"


Good job Obama.Now they will join back the jihad.

[fedup12]

I agree.... Lets spend 10 trillion more dollars to keep gitmo open. Makes sense to me.

Now Ima go spend all my life savings at the doctor. And be happy doing it.

[ramos1129]

The Justice Department said that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.

----------------------------------------------------

This cannot be true. Ever since 2002,Bush/Cheney/Fox News/the RNC/ Other right wing nutjobs have swore on a stack of bibles that only the worst of the worst were being detained at GITMO. Since they are right, why release these hundreds of detainees?

[ffoulkes-2009]

The detainees were released after scrutiny. They were deemed to be of no or little threat. Some, however proved us wrong and went right back to attacking troops and civilians, however overall, Bush released far more than half of the Gitmo detainees before Obama ever took office.