No means no: Keep Gitmo jihadists out of America!

No means no: Keep Gitmo jihadists out of America!

by Michelle Malkin

Creators Syndicate

Copyright 2-15

Get off that late-summer snooze button, America. The Obama administration is plotting to break a major promise made under oath — and jeopardize our nation in the name of social justice.

This week, top White House officials floated renewed plans to close down Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Pentagon and Justice Department bureaucrats have been powwowing over how to shutter the facility and import up to hundreds of detained jihad suspects into the U.S. It’s a longtime legacy promise President Obama wants to fulfill to progressives before he rides off permanently to Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii’s lushest golf courses.

There’s one teeny-tiny problem: the promise former Attorney General Eric Holder swore to Congress after the last time his stubborn boss tried to dump the detainees on American soil. Somehow, as they busied themselves with the nitty-gritty details of transferring Islamic enemy combatants to Gitmo North, key members of Team Obama suffered a disturbing bout of national security amnesia.

Promise? What promise?

Let’s refresh their leaky memories. In 2009, the White House first floated the idea of using the Thomson Correctional Center, a high-security prison in Illinois, to house Gitmo denizens. Family members of 9/11 victims, God bless them, raised anational uproar. Debra Burlingame, sister of American Airlines Flight 77 pilot Chic Burlingame, blasted the feckless president’s assertion that no one would be put in danger by his Gitmo relocation program.

Citing convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid’s successful push (backed by liberal ACLU lawyers) to proselytize about Islam at the supermax facility here in Colorado, where I live, Burlingame cut through the bullcrap. “Mr. Obama has repeatedly suggested that the security challenge of bringing more than 100 trained and dangerous terrorists onto U.S. soil can be solved by simply installing them in an impenetrable fortress. This view is either disingenuous or naive,” she wrote.

“The militant Islamists at Guantanamo too dangerous to release believe that their resistance behind the wire is a continuation of holy war. There is every reason to believe they will continue their jihad once they have been transported to U.S. soil where certain federal judges have signaled a willingness to confer upon them even more rights.”

And don’t forget the legions of jihadi-lovin’ lawyers out there ready, willing and able to abet them. Remember Lynne Stewart, who was convicted in 2005 of helping World Trade Center bombing mastermind terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman — the murderous Blind Sheik — smuggle coded messages of Islamic violence while behind bars to outside followers in violation of an explicit pledge to abide by her client’s court-ordered isolation? The Obama administration released her from prison in January 2014, citing “compassion” for her health.

The breast cancer-surviving terrorist helper, who remains defiantly unapologetic about her service to jihad, is alive — and more than a year and half later has beenhappily kicking our country in the gut on the far-left America-bashing speech trail.

But I digress.

After citizens and public officials in Illinois, Michigan and Kansas (where another Gitmo North alternative, Fort Leavenworth, is located) staged vocal protests against Obama’s sneaky plans three years ago, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department’s budget, moved to block the administration from using unspent Justice Department funds for the Thomson deal. With bipartisan support, Congress passed a law barring the transfer of Gitmo detainees to Thomson or any other civilian prison.

As I reported at the time, the message was clear: Taxpayers don’t want manipulative Gitmo detainees or their three-ring circuses of transnationalist sympathizers and left-wing lawyers on American soil. Period.

Insolent as ever, the White House went ahead and acquired Thomson for $165 million as part of its Gitmo gambit. The backlash forced Holder to vow to Capitol Hill in 2012: “We will not move people from Guantanamo, regardless of the state of the law, to Thomson. That is my pledge as attorney general.”

And if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. This will be the most transparent administration in history. We will do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from producing an atomic bomb. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

For those who are awake now, I ask:

Do you want Gitmo jihadists in your backyard? Or your front yard?

Do you know what, if anything, your representatives in Washington are doing to ensure America’s safety?

Do you trust the administration that brought you the bloody Fast and Furious mess, Benghazi, the healthcare.gov debacle, the deadly Veterans Administration scandal, last year’s reckless illegal alien border surge and last week’s massive EPA pollution of Colorado’s Animas River to prevent Gitmo’s bottom-of-the-barrel goons from wreaking havoc behind bars here?

Anyone? Anyone?

Via: Michelle Malkin

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Obama transfers six more Gitmo detainees, including alleged bin Laden bodyguards

Six detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, including two alleged Osama bin Laden bodyguards, have been transferred to Oman, the Pentagon said Saturday.

The terror-related detainees are all from neighboring and embattled Yemen. They departed Friday from the U.S. detention center, at a Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to get terror-suspects off battlefields.

This is the first time in roughly the past five months that Guantanamo suspects have been transferred, as Congress considers new restrictions on such moves.

President Obama campaigned in 2008 to close the facility. The new transfers mark the departure of more than half of the 242 detainees who were at the facility when Obama was sworn into office in 2009. The number is now 116.

National Security Council spokesman Ned Price on Saturday repeated the Obama administration’s argument that keeping open the facility weakens national security by draining resources, damages U.S. relations with key allies and partners and emboldens violent extremists.

“As the president has repeatedly made clear, the administration is determined to close the” facility, he said. “We are taking all possible steps to reduce the detainee population at Guantanamo and to close the detention facility in a responsible manner.”

Congressional Republicans and other critics of releasing detainees argue they have the strong potential to return to the battlefield or commit other acts of terror.

Each of six the new transferees was unanimously approved through the 2009 Executive Order Task Force. And they were approved by six federal departments or agencies -- the departments of Defense, State, Justice and Homeland Security; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.   

Still, Obama remains far from achieving his closure goal, with just a year and a half left in office and as Capitol Hill lawmakers threaten to make the movement of prisoners even harder.

Chairs, Debates, Hurricanes and The Man Who Never Was

After many months of campaigning, Mitt Romney has finally taken the lead in polling for the election.  But why has it taken so long for the American people to catch onto the Mittmentum?  It begins with two key events:  the Republican National Convention and the Presidential debates.  And interestingly, Hurricane Sandy also shows us some interesting insights about how the mainstream media has dealt with Barack Obama – The Man Who Never Was.

One of the seminal events of the election season was Clint Eastwood’s appearance at the RNC.  Granted, the Eastwood “speech” was a bit odd.  But something happened in those moments that had previously not been seen by most Americans:  the mocking of Barack Obama.  Prior to that moment, the American media had a slobbering lovefest with the President and has consistently and steadfastly refused to expose his weaknesses.  But the appearance of Eastwood at the biggest political event to date was something they could not ignore.  And Eastwood delivered a stunning blow to the media’s narrative.  He depicted Obama as “the empty chair“.

So I — so I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s – I just was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know about, I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I wasn’t a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles. And they were saying, you know, I just thought, this is great. Everybody’s crying. Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally – I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously – this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

So, so, Mr. President, how do you, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you’ve made when you were running for election and how do you handle, how do you handle it?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just — you know — I know — people were wondering. You don’t? You don’t handle it.

Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo — why close that, we spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

Oh, What do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it.

Prior to Eastwood’s Obama “interview”, had we seen that kind of public ridicule of Barack Obama?  Of course the MSM did their sworn duty and tried to write it off as Eastwood being crazy and senile.  But people heard it.  They were watching the convention to see the mystery guest.  And he delivered. The press couldn’t bury this one on page C6. It was front and center, in front of millions of voters.

Via: Red State

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Obama Moving Gitmo Terrorists into Illinois?

AP File

Lawmakers claim administration opening door to Gitmo transfer with Illinois prison buy

The Obama administration plans to buy an Illinois prison that at one point was considered for housing Guantanamo prisoners, in a move Republican lawmakers claimed would open the door for ultimately carrying out that plan.

Administration officials, though, denied that they were looking for a new home for Guantanamo inmates. They insisted the decision to buy Thomson Correctional Center, an under-used state prison 150 miles west of Chicago, was a move to alleviate overcrowding and create jobs in the process.

"This is about public safety and 50 percent overcrowding in high-security prisons," one Justice Department official said.
Officials insisted Guantanamo detainees would not be coming to Illinois.

But Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, among the lawmakers who opposed the federal purchase of the prison, claimed Tuesday that the Obama administration could still carry out its plan -- perhaps by moving prisoners from another federal prison to Thomson, and then using that prison to house Guantanamo detainees.

"The president says his goal is to shut down Guantanamo Bay and move the prisoners here," Wolf told Fox News, accusing the administration of circumventing Congress. "This gives him a great opportunity to do it, particularly right after the election."

Wolf chairs a key House subcommittee overseeing the sale. He was referring to Obama's pledge immediately after taking office that he would shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp -- a pledge that stands as one of the president's most glaring unfulfilled promises to his base.

The move to transfer prisoners stateside, though, was met with a fierce backlash among some lawmakers who worried it would pose a security risk.

The Obama administration and Federal Bureau of Prisons is now going ahead with the $165 million purchase of the Illinois prison, though strictly as a move to ease overcrowding, they say. The move was first announced by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn.

Via: Fox News

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Report: Obama To Release 55 Prisoners From Gitmo

President Barack Obama is about to release or transfer 55 Gitmo prisoners, despite reports that the Libyan believed to be behind the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens was a former Guantanamo inmate transferred to Libyan custody.

The large percentage of those scheduled to be released are Yemeni, according to a list made public by the Obama administration.

Obama stopped the release or transfer of Yemeni inmates in 2010, because the conditions in the country were viewed as too "unsettled" at the time. 

A release or transfer of 55 inmates means Obama is moving out one third of the prisoners at Guantanamo. And while it doesn't represent a shutdown of the facility, it's certainly indicative of a move toward that end. 

Could it be that Obama is trying to set himself up to campaign as the man who is taking steps to finally close Gitmo, just as he recently reversed the Afghanistan surge in order to campaign as the man who's winding down the war in the Afghanistan? 

The ACLU has praised the releases as "a partial victory for transparency."

Via: Breitbart

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