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ORIGINAL: amenableboy

To kick of said debate, how exactly *were* people rounded up and sent to Gitmo? Were they detained on a battlefield in Iraq or the Ghanny? Or, were they detained in Detroit, crossing the street? That might be an important distinction to make before we begin our debate.

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ORIGINAL: Owner59


Driver gets 5 and a 1/2 years.

That is one hell of a traffic ticket.

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This was supposed to be a big show with fireworks and evil~doers get`n justice.

What happened?

The government had every advantage and had dirty tricks made legal.All the time money and resources and people to try the guy and they got zilch.

This is a direct result of how the bushies mis-handled the trails,evidence and prisoners.

This is one more example of the utter failure of the neo-cons to prosecute the war on terror.They`re fuck-ups, on every level.

They can`t even win a shame trail.

Note to neo-patriots:they have to be more than brown people from and "over there",......to qualify as a bad guy.

Letting OBL get away, was their greatest failure.(however one member here, actually thinks letting him go is a good idea,so there you have it)

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ORIGINAL: Owner59


I heard a figure (on BBC News) that nine out of ten guys sent to Cuba where "sold" to the US and terrorists.

That`s a big percentage.You look at ten guys,and only one`s a bad guy.The rest,un-lucky slobs who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When they were actually nobodies who were just swept up in the war,and were "sold" to the US by someone settling a score or wanting easy money.Imagine that,get rid of your personal enemies and get a pay day to boot.

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Being that all brown people look alike and terroristy look`n and all,a lot of farmers,herders,laborers,and just regular folks got sent to hell in Cuba.Many guys who had no inclinations to,would be turned into terrorists in Cuba.

Again,another example of how inept and un-qualified the bushies have been in the war on terror.

And  another.

We need a change.

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Sadly we had to take their word for it that the people they were delivering weren't just disliked neighbours.

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ORIGINAL: amenableboy

And, sadly, we just must take your word that these people were detained on the word of a neighbor. One would hope it would take more justification than that. But, of course, we do not know.

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 If it is the case that the flimsiest pretext is used as justification for imprisoning people, perhaps, for the rest of their natural lives, I would have a problem with this. Then again, if a non-state actor decided to take up arms and kill an American soldier, I have no problem with locking them away for the rest of their natural lives.

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One gets the feeling in these forums that it is more about the president than about the mission. Meaning, of course, if Obama were president, and enacting these same policies (as the next president will do, regardless of party), many here wouldn't be quite so dismissive or derogatory. Personally, I am undecided about which candidate to vote for in November, but the fact that we are in a death struggle with Islamic fundamentalists seems fairly clear to me.

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I find the attitudes here particularly strange. Everyone here is involved in an alternative sexuality lifestyle. Well, those who aren't, *wish* to be involved in said lifestyle. The people with whom you appear to be identifying with would happily kill you for your involvement. And the death would not be pleasant.

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This is not to say that we should regard all muslims as the enemy. Nor is it to say that we should allow our government license to lock up anyone they choose. It is only to say that, perhaps, we should move past the hyperbole and start discussing this issue rationally. It is not about one man, it is not about one president. This is now a fact of life, and it will be a fact that we have to live with for, I think, the rest of our natural lives, whether a Democrat or Republican is in office. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to get serious about this, more serious than the level of discourse one finds here.

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...not everything can be reduced to mere partisan politics. If, as you appear to suggest, you decry that tendency it would behoove you not to blithely continue said tendency.

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...excuse me? Where, precisely, did i say that i identified with Islamic terrorists?

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....nice to know you don't regard all Muslims as an enemy. Now, moving on, how about rationally answering my question as to whether or not the driver ought to continue to be locked up after his sentence ends. Try to avoid the partisanship you have decried. When i see you criticise McCain in the same terms you criticise Obama then i'll know you aren't a hypocrite.

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ORIGINAL: Rule

The prosecutors attempted to put away for an extremely long time a lowly driver of a CIA operative. What are the important beans about that CIA operative that he might spill to the public that they tried to keep from the public for that extremely long time?
 
He is likely to be murdered in prison or shortly after he is released, to prevent him from making public some odd little facts that he may know.

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http://www.newsweek.com/id/141513

The largest block of Gitmo prisoners—nearly 100 of the remaining 270—hail from Yemen, a country that so far has resisted taking back detainees because of U.S. demands that they be put on trial back home (or, at least, that the Yemenis pledge to keep a close eye on them). "Of course, we want our citizens back," says Abdulwahab al-Hajjri, Yemen's ambassador to the United States. "But [the United States] has these conditions, so this is taking time." Other prisoners come from countries that allegedly engage in torture, such as Syria, Libya and China. Attempts to find countries in Europe willing to take them have hit a brick wall.

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

Yep... years of holding detainees in legal limbo. Years of imprisonning people without charge, without trial, without evidence provided to a court of law. Years of torture, abductions and locking up a few minors, just for good measure. Years of making up its own rules, attempting to rewrite the law, ignoring the treaties of which it is a signatory, and of being judge and jury at the same time, and the U.S. Government comes up with... the conviction of bin Laden's DRIVER. For driving people around and for being a member of Al Quaida. Well, is it completely embarrassing, or what?!

It's a really poor show. We should demand our money back: this farce has got to stop. Charge those people, or release them.

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ORIGINAL: Vendaval

The court's sentence should be respected.  According to the link, there are another 80 or so awaiting trail.  This process may take a year or longer.

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ORIGINAL: DomDolf

Do you actually believe that the military has no filter on who is apprehended and what is done with them to assure that we are not imprisoning innocent people?

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 Mistakes happen, but you are very naive if you feel that we can just grab anyone and have them sent to Gitmo.

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 Do you also believe that the military will release ALL known facts about a person they have in custody? We do have a filtering process and we do hold back information for many and varied reasons. Therefore you cannot and will not know every person and all factors in their imprisonment.

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There are separate rules for foreigners and for times of war. Our nicey nice situation for crime here in the US does not hold water well in a time of war against combatants. No, we cannot hold them forever, just until the war is over or some country agrees to take responsibility for them so we don't have to. We have a responsibility to hold known terrorists for as long as this war goes on. Releasing them puts them back on the battlefield if they are not watched closely. By the way, the battlefield goes beyond the area where troops and weapons are evident. There is strong proof that when a member of the Opposing Forces is released they will go right back to the battle. If we prevent deaths to our service members by holding the known and highly suspect personnel of the OF then that's fine with me.