The Biden administration: sympathy for the terrorists
Mohammed al-Qahtani, who planned to hijack planes on Sept. 11, 2001, for al Qaeda but was denied entry into the United States, will be transferred to Saudi Arabia following the Biden administration’s decision late last week to set him free. He is scheduled to be flown to Saudi Arabia and placed in a “custodial rehabilitation and mental health care program for extremists,” according to the New York Times.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), lead Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, called the Biden administration’s decision “an appalling capitulation to the far-left.”
“Letting a 9/11 hijacker walk free is an appalling capitulation to the far-left,” Rogers said. “On Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people—Mohammed al-Qahtani was supposed to be one of the hijackers that day. He flew to America to participate in the attack and would have succeeded but for sharp-eyed INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] agents. The leader of the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed Atta, was waiting in the airport parking lot to pick up al-Qahtani when he was denied entry to the United States.”
Al-Qahtani is one of 39 accused terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. Most were freed and transferred to other countries during the Obama administration. Now the Biden administration is following suit as part of a bid by Democrats to shut down the facility.
This isn’t a person who was just thinking about it – this is a person who came very very close to participating in 9/11 and who was stopped only by other circumstances.
The article goes on to add that al-Qahtani is reported to be mentally ill. I’d really like to know more about that. One could argue, I suppose, that he was always mentally ill, but if he really was part of the plot and trusted by the other hijackers, I doubt he was mentally ill back then (unless one considers fanaticism a mental illness). My guess is that his mental illness is a claim but is untrue, but that in any event it doesn’t take away from his possible dangerousness. I certainly wouldn’t trust the Saudis and their rehab program to make a difference, either.
The US government admitted in 2008 that al-Qahtani had been tortured. Here’s what happened:
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.”
“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case” for prosecution.
The legal definition of torture is not what most people think of when they hear the word:
Crawford, 61, said the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani’s health led to her conclusion. “The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent. . . . You think of torture, you think of some horrendous physical act done to an individual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and uncalled for. And coercive. Clearly coercive. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge” to call it torture, she said.
It also included various forms of humiliation, and insults to his family members. And yet at the time, Crawford added:
“There’s no doubt in my mind he would’ve been on one of those planes had he gained access to the country in August 2001,” Crawford said of Qahtani, who remains detained at Guantanamo. “He’s a muscle hijacker. . . . He’s a very dangerous man. What do you do with him now if you don’t charge him and try him? I would be hesitant to say, ‘Let him go.'”
That was in January of 2009. But now the Biden administration has done just that.
They need to empty Gitmo so it can accommodate the 1/6 political prisoners. Has anyone else read Kurt Schlicter’s novels that seem to be coming true these days?
“mentally ill”
It seems to be an instant boilerplate statement after a jihadi attack that the attacker was mentally ill, and his family was really, really trying. There never seems to be any supporting data.
Yes, that definition of torture certainly applies to the treatment of the political prisoners in the DemocRat/RINO D.C. Gulag.
“Mitch McConnell criticized the Republican National Committee for its censure of Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney and broke with their language on Jan. 6, calling it a “violent insurrection.”
“It was a violent insurrection with the purpose of trying to prevent a peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election. … That’s what it was,” McConnell said.
When the hundreds, perhaps even thousands of jihadists who have crossed over our southern border into America start conducting terrorist attacks, remember who enabled it and, who voted for the enablers.
Read a month or two ago the Sundowner administration was cleaning out Guantanamo. Anyone taking bets he shows up again?
Ending the detention center has been a wish for the Leftists for decades.
Torture = insulting his family. Well, OK then. We should not just release him, we should write him a big check and have the President* deliver it in person. On his knees.
Whatever happened to the Lubyanka Breakfast?
Mike K @ 4:57: “…Has anyone else read Kurt Schlicter’s novels that seem to be coming true these days?”
Yes. But I thought they were purest fantasy, working the very fringe of credibility; not a damn how-to manual.
And now this, dated 2-7-2022 from the Department of Homeland Security:
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors. These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence. Mass casualty attacks and other acts of targeted violence conducted by lone offenders and small groups acting in furtherance of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances pose an ongoing threat to the nation. While the conditions underlying the heightened threat landscape have not significantly changed over the last year, the convergence of the following factors has increased the volatility, unpredictability, and complexity of the threat environment: (1) the proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions; (2) continued calls for violence directed at U.S. critical infrastructure; soft targets and mass gatherings; faith-based institutions, such as churches, synagogues, and mosques; institutions of higher education; racial and religious minorities; government facilities and personnel, including law enforcement and the military; the media; and perceived ideological opponents; and (3) calls by foreign terrorist organizations for attacks on the United States based on recent events.
According to the DHS, this threat environment is expected to last until 6-7-2022. So is that 120 days to flatten the domestic terrorism curve?
I hereby issue this Domestic False Flag Alert, effective through 11-8-2022 (or through the number of days or weeks required after 11-8 for the counting of midterm votes to continue).
Trump was the Bad Orange Man. Don’t forget that.
You know you think the last shoe may have dropped, but no. They have a whole shoe store full of shoes.
Wow MollyG,
… and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors.
We now have an official government abbreviation, MDM = mis- dis- and mal-information, for telling the truth. At least in some situations.
Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act. — Orwell.
The DHS had to one-up George. Revolutionary acts aren’t always wrong, but now it must labeled a terrorist act.
They have met the enemy and I’m afraid it’s us
Hard to tell what the future has in-store for this guy. The Saudis still have a professional sword-swinger for problem children. He seems to get a lot of practice.
This is extremely disgraceful, but after Bowe Bergdahl it’s no surprise.
Jihadis are not the worst of our problems, by any means.
I just viewed a presentation on the “Implications of a Rising China” by a retired Army/Marine Major General, who presented truly frightening statistical comparisons between the military assets that China has developed and fielded over the last dozen years or so vs. those of the United States over the same time period.
These comparisons showing that, as of now, China has grown it military to such an extent that it outclasses the United States in virtually every category—in numbers of aircraft, in numbers of ships, in numbers of missiles—it was only in space assets that we had parity. (You can try to say that our weapons might be of superior quality to those of the Chinese but, as Stalin supposedly said, “quantity has a quality of its own.”)
And while our “woke” military leaders were worrying abut things like the plight of transgenders in our military, the Chinese were developing game-changing “hypersonic missiles,” which, according to their comments, took our military leaders completely by surprise, and none of which we have in the current U.S. inventory.
His presentation also showed how China was steadily improving it’s power projection capabilities over the vast area of the Pacific it illegally claims as it’s national territory. Moreover, how, in the next couple of years, as it’s military forces steadily increase in power and reach, China will be able to interdict any travel through the air and sea lanes, from Hawaii all the way back to China.
Then, of course you have to count, as well, national will, and what kind of leadership each nation has and, in that respect, with the weak and compromised Biden Administration in office, we are also totally screwed.
His haunting final question, “What are the chances of a shooting war between the U.S. and China in the next 5-10 years?”
From his presentation I’d say that—if our leaders even have the foresight and the guts to resist China–such a shooting war was pretty likely, and that, as things stand today, we would lose it or–if we won–it would be at great cost, and we would take a horrific beating.
I apologize.
I realized that I left the wrong impression with my post above, by not specifying that the correlation of Chinese vs U.S. forces referred only to the military forces the U.S. currently has stationed in the Pacific.
The U.S. does have additional ships, aircraft, and missiles–but they are stretched thin, and deployed in other areas of the world–so that a massive shift in our military assets from those other areas of the world to the Pacific would have to be made to give us a better chance of deterring the Chinese in their ambitions.
…And this is why, despite a VERY long history of being a swing voter, I cannot, in all good conscience, vote for a Democrat. I will ack it would still depend on my perception of the individual, but it would take one hell of a notable set of behaviors — almost certainly enough to prevent them making it out of the primaries — to put them into the “would vote for” category.
>:-/
}}} The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors. These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence. Mass casualty attacks and other acts of targeted violence conducted by lone offenders and small groups acting in furtherance of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances pose an ongoing threat to the nation.
HEY HEY HEY.
This is entirely and incontrovertibly true.
… about actors on the LEFT.
}}} They have met the enemy and I’m afraid it’s us
NOPE. It’s still THEM. They are no longer Americans, and have not been for a very very long time. They call themselves that… just as they claim to care about “the common man”… if only they weren’t so common.
it would take one hell of a notable set of behaviors — almost certainly enough to prevent them making it out of the primaries — to put them into the “would vote for” category.
If it ever came to it, God forbid, I would vote for a Dem like Tulsi Gabbard over a Republican like Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney.
If it’s for the House of Representatives I’m afraid I would vote for any Republican over any Democrat. The power in the House resides in the Speaker and the Committee Chairs and those must be in the hands of the GOP. I’m assuming of course that the Republican I vote for will be true to the party in this regard.
Regarding the DHS “Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” I didn’t start out as a crackpot. It took the actions and overreach of the permanent unelected bureaucracy (“Deep State”), as enabled by our “elected” government’s decades-long fecklessness, grift, and dereliction.
Snow on Pine,
The left and its political wing the democrat party are enabling the infiltration of hundreds, perhaps thousands of jihadists. (a safe assumption out of 2 MILLION illegals). Enough terrorist attacks will allow the Xiden administration to both declare martial law and suspend elections for the duration of the ‘national emergency’.
Bidet’s puppet masters are not going to resist with force China’s takeover of Taiwan.
China’s subsequent control of the South China sea will allow them to control commercial shipping lanes.
China is betting that nothing they do will result in the US risking nuclear war.
Isolation, is not torture.
the qahtanis are a clan that was notorious even in the nejd region, where charles doughty visited, in between kingdoms and wrote about in arabia deserta, yes he will go to the requisit ‘rehabilitation center. and emerge at the top of the leadership,
of the saudi branch, aqap, of course sundance has a film about the center, with the star being the brother of the last chieftain that trump dispatched in 2020,
susan crawford fell for some of the levick whitewash they sold jess bravins of the journal, which hid along with the mauritanian, was one of those with knowledge of the courier that led us to bin laden,
No isolation is not torture, but it can drive you insane. Cue the IDGAF response, and the consider the Jan. 6 2021 prisoners.
qahtani wanted hundreds to burn and die, on the Capitol complex, a little cold water and isolation doesn’t phase me, he was also trusted enough to train the hijackers in communication skills, thats how he knew about the couriers, this is who dick durbin, who communicated with the alexandria shooter, cried ‘crocodile tears’ about,
A recent example
https://www.longwarjournal.org/tags/ibrahim-al-qosi
not an exception but the rule
http://uniset.ca/terr/news/wp_suicidebombiraq.html