gitmo-time-to-close-the-damn-thing

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/01/gitmo-time-to-close-the-damn-thing/

MY COMMENT: Mohamedou Slahi and I have exchanged direct messages via Twitter, and we have exchanged books, his “Guantanamo Diary: Restored Edition,” mine, “Saving Grace at Guantanamo Bay: A Memoir of a Citizen Warrior.”

We disagree on some major points. First, the fact that he is alive is proof of the benevolence of the United States. 731 detainees were RELEASED from the US military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; NONE were beheaded, executed, blown up, hacked to death, dragged naked and lifeless through the streets, drowned and burned alive, all things our enemies have done to us and/or our allies.

Second, all I read about was “human rights,” but not a murmur about human RESPONSIBILITIES. Mohamedou has a 12 page “Guantanamo Docket,” a classified Department of Defense document (released through Wikileaks) dated 3 March 2008, that details why, how, and where he was apprehended, and a statement on his status at the time as “a HIGH RISK, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies.” The docket says he swore bayat (loyalty) to Usamma bin Laden in 1991, trained as a jihadist, and admitted to being an al Qaeda recruiter in Europe. That just scratches the surface.

Third, no mention of the attacks of 9/11/2001, for which he probably recruited some of the bombers. No mention of the nearly 3,000 innocent lives lost that day, and THEIR human rights!

Fourth, as for his claim that the US did not follow the law, the Law of War does not apply to nor does it protect unlawful combatants. According to the Geneva Conventions, unlawful combatants earn ZERO extra-legal privileges and can be shot on sight on the battlefield. Instead, the US captured, cared for and then released him. In WWII, over 400,000 mostly German lawful combatant POW’s were lawfully held in the US without charge or trial “until the end of hostilities.” Mr. Slahi was treated ABOVE the requirements of all applicable laws, and was never entitled to habeas corpus, only application to such, which was denied.

In the end, no one should feel sorry for Mohamedou Slahi. He is lucky to be alive. His training, associations and actions put him in the higher echelon of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Amnesty International should be ashamed to print even one word from him in the context of a human rights poster child, as he is anything but.