There are currently 132 political prisoners (the administrations politically correct term for terrorists) that are at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba (remember the movie a Few Good Men). This number is down from a maximum of 800 since the war on terror began after 9/11 in ernst. Over the next six months, the Obama administration as many as 10 terrorists by January of 2015 and the administration has deemed that as many as 64 are eligible to be released. These prisoners are generally released to their country of origin. Why are these terrorists being released? According to the Administration, they are no longer deemed a risk. However 54 of the 64 prisoners are from Yemen and even tho the administration has deemed them not a risk, they are reluctant to release them back to Yemen out of fear that they may join Al Queda again (doesn't that sound like they are a risk). Simply, Yemen (USS Cole bombing October 12, 2000) is Indian country and not even people in other mid eastern countries wanted to visit. It is a hostile environment where we have a minimum presence (ask Custer how that worked out for him, but I digress). The administration for the last several months has been trying to find a country that will take the Yemenis and provide security and human rights assurances for them. Why would a country want to take in terrorists (unless they sponsor terrorism) and it's not really a problem to fly back to Yemen. Administration officials are hoping South American Countries will follow Uruguay's lead that had previously taken in 6 released terrorists (anyone know their current whereabouts).
My feeling has always been the best judge of future behavior is past behavior, and if you're a terrorists dedicated to the fall of the great Satan (that's us), you will continue and if I had to change my behavior to get out of prison, rest assured, I would. But if Al Queda was their past support group, they will return to that group.
The Obama administration's efforts to close Guantanamo is at the center of a larger effort to wind down a war-time detainee system that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, fortunately, this has been thwarted by Congress.
According to a NY Times article, "The New York Times and several other news organizations, reveal that most of the remaining prisoners have been rated as a “high risk” of posing a threat to the United States and its allies if released without adequate rehabilitation and supervision." However this was also the case with about 1/3 of the other prisoners released, including those released in the Bush Administration.
Also according to the times "Obama administration officials condemned the publication of the classified documents, which were obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks last year but provided to The Times by another source. The officials pointed out that an administration task force set up in January 2009 reviewed the information in the prisoner assessments, and in some cases came to different conclusions. Thus, they said, the documents published by The Times may not represent the government’s current view of detainees at Guantánamo."
No new prisoners have been transferred to Guantánamo since 2007. Some Republicans are urging the Obama administration to send newly captured terrorism suspects to the prison, but so far officials have refused to increase the inmate population. I suspect the stalemate will continue for the next two years with a Republican dominated Congress.
The Obama administration's efforts to close Guantanamo is at the center of a larger effort to wind down a war-time detainee system that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, fortunately, this has been thwarted by Congress.
According to a NY Times article, "The New York Times and several other news organizations, reveal that most of the remaining prisoners have been rated as a “high risk” of posing a threat to the United States and its allies if released without adequate rehabilitation and supervision." However this was also the case with about 1/3 of the other prisoners released, including those released in the Bush Administration.
Also according to the times "Obama administration officials condemned the publication of the classified documents, which were obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks last year but provided to The Times by another source. The officials pointed out that an administration task force set up in January 2009 reviewed the information in the prisoner assessments, and in some cases came to different conclusions. Thus, they said, the documents published by The Times may not represent the government’s current view of detainees at Guantánamo."
No new prisoners have been transferred to Guantánamo since 2007. Some Republicans are urging the Obama administration to send newly captured terrorism suspects to the prison, but so far officials have refused to increase the inmate population. I suspect the stalemate will continue for the next two years with a Republican dominated Congress.
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