Guatanamo Detainees Coming To A Town Near You
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 08:53AM Amhest, Mass has officially opened its arms welcoming the detainees.
Town leaders in Amherst, Massachusetts, have endorsed an offer to make the college town a possible resettlement home for two detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison. The resettlement resolution was approved by select board members in a 2-1 vote. Tonight, there is mixed reaction from those who call Amherst home.
The vote was 2 to 1 with two board members absent.
Interesting that this vote was taken with two members absent. Hmmm.
The new Pioneer Valley chapter of the group No More Guantanamos is hoping two Guantanamo Bay Prison detainees, Ahmed Bel Bacha, of Algeria and Ravil Mingazov of Russia, will be able to resettle in town - if they are released from custody.
The important thing to note here is that neither of these two men are US citizens. So why not send them back to their own countries?
We have thousands of people seeking to move to America every day, many of whom are productive skilled people who are forced to wait in lines to move (don't get me started on illegals who cut the line) here and we're going out of our way for suspected terrorists?
The article does go on to give some information about the two men in question.
Bel Bacha, who worked for the Algerian government and who was threatened by Islamic militants has been cleared by a US military panel.
Mingazov, was in the Russian military, converted to Islam, and was sought by the KGB, then later arrested in Pakistan. He has not been cleared, but has never been charged.
Here are a couple other key facts you should know about these two men that isn't listed in the Boston news story above:
Bel Bacha, the one who was cleared was captured in combat fighting on behalf of the Taliban. He traveled to France in 2001 and obtained a false passport which he used to get into London and meet with the Finsbury Park Mosque. That Mosque is where they found a "mini arsenal". Bel admitted that his travel to Afghanistan was facilitated by that Mosque. He also was known to have stayed at a Jalalsbad guest house where he received training on small arms, rifles and machine guns.
Ravil Mingazov likewise has an interesting past. He traveled volentarily into Afghanistan in 2000 where he was known to have been in the training camp of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a known terrorist group, where among other things he learned how to make explosives. At the al Farouq camp where he also trained and listened to speeches from Usama Bin Laden he received training on explosives, chemicals, pistols and rifles. He was known to be at the al Faroug camp on Sept 11, 2001. He even openly defined himself as a "religous person who would fight for Islam".
These are the people our neighbors to the south describe in the Boston article by stating:
"They sound like two very fine guys. They would add to our community," said Amherst town meeting member Ruth Hooke.
Amherst, Guatanamo in Richard Barnes Blog
Reader Comments (9)
These two islamo-Fascists sound even scarier than ACORN and Van Jones- maybe they scare you as much as Rev. Wright or Hitler, I can't say for sure.
Frankly, I don't see how America will be able to defeat these two terrorists. we are doomed, and it's all Obama's fault. This is part of his plan for setting up a caliphate in America, where he will force us all to worship some Moslem devil. Serves us right for electing a guy with the middle name Saddam-Hussein.
As a point of fact, not that it ever matters when you post, Ben Bacha was not "captured in combat fighting on behalf of the Taliban". How you managed to deduce that from the article that you referenced is a mystery. Or, given your track record in comprehension, maybe not so mysterious.
I got a very different reading from these articles, but perhaps that's because I am not in a condition of permanently quaking in my boots and jumping at shadows. . One of these guys was held by my govenment for 8 years in prison and then released after being cleared of all charges. The other guy was held for 7 years for no particular reason, never charged with anything, and then released. Do these facts bother you at all? Imagine one of these guys was your son, or brother, or father. Would it bother you then?
The declassified documents I supplied in the link are called "Combatant Status Review Tribunals Summaries". What do you think that means? That these guys were picked up while sitting at a Afghanistan star bucks?
I've news for you, terrorists are real. There are people out there who want to see Americans die.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/22/fbi_calls_sudbury_suspect_inept_but_serious_terror_plotter/
Unlike you, I don't think its a good idea to take them into our country with open arms.
Why you insist on saying our military lies is shameful, but I guess anyone who is willing to deny weapfunding to the army in a time of war to protest something-or-other is beyond shame.
Even if we were to assume he was a nice guy who was just sitting in his living room watching Jahad Idol on TV when the American troops stormed in and "captured" him, that government document states flat out he received terrorist training in known terrorist training camps. He openly admitted to going to these camps. You think it's a good idea to allow this person who isn't even a US citizen entry into our country ahead of the countless others who have been trying to legally relocate here and who actually have skills that would benefit our country?
The US did not capture him, the Pakis did. He recieved training in a camp, but not "terrorist training". He was never trained to be a terrorist or to fight the US. He trained with an AK-47 and a machine gun, unlikely terrorist weapons. He was training to fight with the Taliban in their civil war against Massoud's Northern Alliance and got caught up in the global war on terror by accident after 9/11. Surely you can understand the difference?
I think it is not a good idea to let these guys into the US- they are not our friends. You are confusing me with some guy in Amherst for some odd reason. The men should be sent back to their home countries with sincere and deep apologies for what our country had done to them.
We had these poor guys in jail for 7 years ... for what? We owe them something. I suggested at least a deep apology.
Do you know if their countries will take them back? What of they will be put to death in Algeria and Russia- 2 countries not well known for following judicial niceties. Does that change your views?