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Gitmo Detainee Brought to NYC for Trial
June 09, 2009 10:44 AM
Early this morning a plane landed in New York containing US Marshals and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national held at Guantanamo Bay since September 2006.
Ghailani, currently being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, faces 286 separate criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the Aug. 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, including conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to kill Americans, and a separate charges of murder for each of the 224 people killed embassy bombings.
He is the first Guantanamo detainee transferred to the US to stand trial in federal court and will appear in a federal court in Manhattan later today.
“With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “The Justice Department has a long history of securely detaining and successfully prosecuting terror suspects through the criminal justice system, and we will bring that experience to bear in seeking justice in this case.”
Ghailani is an expert document forger and travel facilitator, the US government says. Known within al Qaeda circles as "Haytham al-Kini," Ghailani worked for al Qaeda's former chief of external operations, Hamza Rabi'a -- forging passports for al Qaeda members. Press accounts say he is also referred to as "Foopie" and "Ahmed the Tanzanian."
Placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2001, Ghailani was identified by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in May 2004 as one of seven terrorists planning an attack on the US, based on "credible intelligence from multiple sources." Ashcroft said Ghailani had "the wherewithal, the skill, the ability, to undertake attacks both against American interests overseas as well as in the United States….Each of these seven individuals is known to have a desire and the ability to undertake planning, facilitation and attack against the United States whether it be within the United States itself or overseas."
Two months later, in July 2004, Ghailani and more than a dozen others were arrested by Pakistani police after an eight-hour battle in the town of Gujrat in central Pakistan. He was taken to Gitmo.
The decision to bring Ghailani to the US, however, is meeting with criticism from Republicans and others.
"This is the first step in the Democrats’ plan to import terrorists into America," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Without a plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the Administration has made the decision to begin transferring these terrorists into the United States, in spite of the overwhelming opposition of the American people and serious questions from Members of Congress of both parties. There are more than 200 of the world’s most dangerous men held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Does the Administration plan to transfer all of them into our nation in this way? Do they plan to give them the same legal rights as the American people? Just what is the Administration’s plan for closing this prison?"
“Our priority must be to keep America safe, and it defies logic to put the rights of some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world before the safety of Americans by bringing them onto American soil," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., in a statement. "Terrorists spend years trying to sneak inside our borders, and bringing them here ourselves is utterly counter intuitive.”
The government says that there are 216 inmates in Bureau of Prisons custody with connections to international terrorism -- 67 of whom were extradited to the US for prosecution. The 216 include Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Ramzi Yousef, convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Ahmed Ressam, the Millennium Bomber; and shoe bomber Richard Reid. There are 139 individuals in BOP custody connected to domestic terrorism, the government says, including Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry Nichols.
The former commander of the USS Cole, Kirk S. Lippold, of Military Families United, "by bringing Ghailani’s case into the federal court system without a policy or plan on how to deal with the larger GITMO issue, the Obama Administration is again taking a piecemeal approach to a major national security issue."
The Obama administration argues that the Southern District of New York has a long record of successfully prosecuting terror cases, including Abdel-Rahman, Yousef, and Wadih el-Hage who was convicted in the 1998 embassy bombings.
"In order to close the Guantanamo Bay facility and to strengthen our security, we must break the logjam that has kept the detainees in legal limbo since its construction," says an Obama administration official. "For over seven years, we have detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo. During that time, the ad hoc legal system established by the previous administration succeeded in convicting only three people. Instead of bringing terrorists to justice, efforts at prosecution met setbacks, cases lingered on, and in 2006 the Supreme Court invalidated the entire system."
- jpt
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June 9, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (52)
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How much money do you think it cost the taxpayers (that's you and me)...to bring this enemy combatant here
Posted by: GinaR
I don't know...... do you?
I guess they stay for free at Gitmo... right?
Posted by: No Mas | Jun 10, 2009 12:19:55 AM
How much money do you think it cost the taxpayers (that's you and me)...to bring this enemy combatant here...pay for all the marshalls protecting (him?)...his attorneys' fees...etc., etc.? Oh wait...it doesn't matter, does it --- Obama spends our tax dollars like the money grows on trees. Not to mention this is like a slap in the face to US citizens since the majority do not want the Gitmo detainees in the U.S. --- but Obama does; and what Obama wants, Obama gets.
Posted by: GinaR | Jun 9, 2009 8:46:56 PM
Looks like you folks at ABC NEWS only allow people to speak their minds as long as it goes along with your politically correct and corporate media attention.
Posted by: Luis Rodriguez | Jun 9, 2009 8:15:09 PM
Maybe they dropped this guy out of air force two during a low level fly over.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | Jun 9, 2009 7:47:02 PM
"Anyhow, aside from the obvious problems of bringing terrorists to the mainland there is the likelihood of retribution, such as the downing of that flight TWA 800 off the new york coast."
Paranoia runs deep....
Posted by: Ryan C | Jun 9, 2009 7:16:16 PM
Ahmed Ressam, the Millennium Bomber, who plotted to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve, 1999, is one of the 216 international terrorists in the Bureau of Prisons system. While most of these prisoners will never see the light of day, Ressam was given a relatively light sentence. By cooperating with authorities by giving them information about terror camps in Afghanistan, Ressam was sentenced in 2005 to 22 years. The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, said he hoped to send a message that the U.S. court system works in terrorism cases. "We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely or deny the defendant the right to counsel," he said. "Our courts have not abandoned the commitment to the the ideals that set this nation apart." With credit for time served and reductions for good behavior, Ressam could be out of jail by 2016. He most likely will be deported, his attorney said at the time, but he didn't exactly specify where. This is the type of case that is problematic for the Obama Administration. Some of the prisoners will be getting out. Then what?
Posted by: Paul Solomon | Jun 9, 2009 6:46:36 PM
So we can look forward to more of this?Posted by: MNM
sounds like you want that to happen, so you can say I told you so......pretty sick
Posted by: No Mas | Jun 9, 2009 6:24:11 PM
- there is the likelihood of retribution, such as the downing of that flight TWA 800 off the new york coast. Posted by: MNM
yes, the terrorists have been waiting for this very moment, a change in residence from Gitmo to the U.S. for trial... to attack America, forget Iraq, Afghanistan, North Pakistan, torture,....
remember,.... that not only will the terrorists be set free, to buy homes and get welfare in America, but they will be given your address so they can come get your guns before you are taken to the FEMA re-education camps
Posted by: Oh Yeah | Jun 9, 2009 6:14:21 PM
My gut insticts tell me this a huge
MISTAKE. It would not surprise me if
some liberal activist judge decide
to release them based on their time
interred at Guantanamo.
Posted by: karl anglin | Jun 9, 2009 5:52:36 PM
Let me also add that the TWA 800 incident and the trial of the Blind Sheikh took place just before the 1996 pres election where Bill Clinton was struggling and could not afford to look like he allowed a terrorist attack in US airspace.
Posted by: MNM | Jun 9, 2009 5:46:20 PM
I am sure the rabid dems will call this conspiracy theory but hundreds of witnesses saw the same thing.
The FBI confiscated and refused to return witness video. And in an unprecedented move, before or since, the FBI and CIA took command of an air disaster.
For those that don't remember the trial of the "blind sheikh", indicted for the first twin towers bombing coincided with another tragedy.
Remember the plane that blew up and suddenly the FBI and the CIA, for the first time investigated the crash. Every other air disaster is investigated by the NTSB.
This is the one where hundreds of witnesses claimed they saw a missile like object rise up towards and strike at about the time the plane exploded.
Oddly enough, and not too publicized by the Clinton administration, there were threats of just such an incident if the Sheikh was brought to trial.
So we can look forward to more of this?
Why do you think the FBI and CIA suddenly and without precedent before or since took over this investigation?
I wonder if these are some of the documents democrat Secretary of State, Sandy Berger stole from the national archives??
Anyhow, aside from the obvious problems of bringing terrorists to the mainland there is the likelihood of retribution, such as the downing of that flight TWA 800 off the new york coast.
Funny how Obama had to sneak this guy in instead of being open about it. He must know that the majority of the public now favor keeping gitmo open, but Obama's radical base still wants it closed.
What is a corrupt self serving president Obama to do?
Posted by: MNM | Jun 9, 2009 5:42:57 PM
If released, he may be eligible for a job at the U.S. Mint's printing and proof plate department..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | Jun 9, 2009 5:20:48 PM
Republican lawmakers are leaving puddles on the floor because they're quivering at the ruthless brutality of... a forger? If he was forging documents for murderers, that makes him a murderer, without question, and he should be prosecuted as such... but dangerous? What's he going to do, forge his own release papers?
Posted by: Yukon Sam | Jun 9, 2009 4:29:07 PM
Wait a minute.. with my new world view.. why NYC.. we are all denizens of one green, holistic, unified world after all.. we could have the trial in Paris or even... Cairo..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | Jun 9, 2009 4:05:12 PM
oh wait that's Red Dawn
Posted by: Ryan C
Ryan, I'm sure you are aware that Red Dawn is the most revered movie in the right wing arsenal and will always be #1 even next to the upcoming documentary about Obama's birth certiicate.
Posted by: Vigilante | Jun 9, 2009 4:01:27 PM
"sorry my mistake, it wasn't Rambo #1 ...
it was the movie Commando.. that's the one with helicopters going to the remote ex special forces ranch begging 'Arnold' to come back to work..even had a 'secret' room for is special guns.."
Then their father demanded that they avenge his death at the hands of the Russian firing squad while bravely singing America the Beautiful...oh wait that's Red Dawn
Posted by: Ryan C | Jun 9, 2009 3:56:59 PM
. When helecopters land at our ranch, begging him to come back to service
Posted by: Horserider 4
sorry my mistake, it wasn't Rambo #1 ...
it was the movie Commando.. that's the one with helicopters going to the remote ex special forces ranch begging 'Arnold' to come back to work..even had a 'secret' room for is special guns..
yeah... lol
Posted by: Vigilante | Jun 9, 2009 3:54:05 PM
"I should have guessed that people have a problem with others posting opinions. Right Ryan C?"
Sorry if you expected your racism to get a free pass.
Right wingers are kind of stupid in that regard.
Posted by: Ryan C | Jun 9, 2009 3:50:10 PM
I should have guessed that people have a problem with others posting opinions. Right Ryan C?
Vigilante, since you drew First Blood, I'll respond. My husband served 16 years as one of the best special forces in this country. His missions are beyond classified, even to me, even now that he is retired. He has been given a certain set of skills that only a small handful have and is very useful in using them. When helecopters land at our ranch, begging him to come back to service, he was important and very good at what he does. He can take care of "Rambo". Give him all that equipment he has in his vault and he could probably take care of 100 Rambos, even more. I am not worried in the slightest, Rambo was only a green beret.
Posted by: Horserider 4 | Jun 9, 2009 3:36:11 PM
'There are no middle eastern types out here and there are really no need for them.'
Posted by: Horserider 4
curious as to just who qualifies under your 'middle eastern types' comments and how you know whose who in your 'pristine' open spaces.
how will you identify the Tim McVeigh types?.. or don't those terrorists count because they're white?
Posted by: Oh Yeah | Jun 9, 2009 3:01:57 PM
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