Obama pardons USS Cole terrorist

[redrumloa]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/05/uss ... index.html

The U.S. government has dropped charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspect in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

Groan...

With this move, all cases at Guantanamo are now in line with the president's order to halt court proceedings at the detention center, according to Gordon.

Al-Nashiri is accused of planning the October 2000 bombing of the Cole while it was in the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack killed 17 American sailors and crippled the vessel, which returned to service in 2002.

 

[faethor]

Does anyone have to mention the accused are not the proven guilty?

One might want to blame Obama but...Judge Col. Pohl is the one that ended the trial.... When prosecutors asked for a continuance in the trial, Pohl denied the request, saying the government's "argument for continuances were unpersuasive"

Maybe the better question is how did the Bush Administration fail to commit enough resources to ensure a persuasive trial for the prosecutors? Or perhaps even start the trial sooner? They had what 7+ years here to get this done.

 

[Glaucus]

Sounds to me like the US rounded up some random rag heads to lay the blame on. If there's not enough evidence to keep the trial going, then why are you detaining them? If they're not war prisoners then they are just suspects, which means you put them on trial and let the courts decide. Locking them up indefinitely is not good policy. You freedom loving Americans should be the first to know this.

And by the way Red, the integrity of the judicial system is more important then letting go a few guilty people. This Guantanamo issue has done nothing but damage the reputation of the judicial system and the US as a whole. You should be more worried about that then a possible terrorist being set free. By your words you sound like you're terrified of these guys. By setting him free you show that your system is worth protecting and that you're not scared of them. It's time the Us stopped acting like a nation of cowards.

 

[redrumloa]

And by the way Red, the integrity of the judicial system is more important then letting go a few guilty people. This Guantanamo issue has done nothing but damage the reputation of the judicial system and the US as a whole. You should be more worried about that then a possible terrorist being set free. By your words you sound like you're terrified of these guys.

Putting words in my mouth? I'm not a cheerleader for Guantanamo and I agree they should have been tried and charged long ago. On the flip side I have an issue with Obama walking in office and immediately pardoning a likely terrorist. I cannot believe they are holding innocent middle easterners just for the fun of it, there has to be evidence. Use the evidence and try them now!

 

[Glaucus]

Didn't you read Faethor's response? You assume that Obama came into power and "pardoned" some terrorists, where as it could have been that Bush was intentionally locking up people that may have been completely innocent (or at least, had no real proof of guilt). There were many problems with Guantanamo and the Patriot Act, Secrecy being right at the forefront. No one really knows what evidence they have (and in some cases not even the charges) and you should ask yourself, who was it that introduced secret evidence and secret trials? It sure wasn't Obama! I think there's plenty of reason to suspect that Bush was holding these middle Easterners "just for fun", as it seems there was very little legitimate reason for doing so. they developed no process for dealing with these people and it seemed that they had no intention either.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Putting words in my mouth?

Seems that you are the one "putting words".

On the flip side I have an issue with Obama walking in office and immediately pardoning a likely terrorist.

The word "pardon" does not appear in the article you linked. To be pardoned you first have to be convicted. If charges are dropped there is no trial and you cannot be found guilty therefore you cannot be pardoned. You are making a statement that it at base completely false.

I cannot believe they are holding innocent middle easterners just for the fun of it, there has to be evidence. Use the evidence and try them now!

Because you cannot believe a thing doesn't make it not so. However, they are not holding them for "fun". They are being held to justify foreign policy. And they are being held instead of tried because trying them would require evidence and not having sufficient evidence for a civilian court of law they were to be tried by military tribunal but even those trials have moved at a crawl because ... they STILL can't convict and have been having to let people go. Holding foreigners in Gitmo is all about scaring Americans and justifying war in Afghanistan and Iraq.