Comments on: Finding New Homes For 44 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners

By: Guantánamo: Idealists Leave Obama’s Sinking Ship by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:46:25 +0000

[...] seven still remain at Guantánamo, nearly 14 months after Judge Urbina ordered their release, and dozens of other cleared prisoners face indefinite detention at the US government’s pleasure, because other countries — unenthused [...]

By: Judge Orders Release Of Algerian From Guantánamo (But He’s Not Going Anywhere) by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:40:27 +0000

[...] interagency Task Force, which has been reviewing the prisoners’ cases all year, and which announced last month that seven of the remaining nine Algerians at Guantánamo had been cleared for [...]

By: Andy Worthington on The Peter B Collins Show « Dandelion Salad

Andy Worthington on The Peter B Collins Show « Dandelion Salad — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:12:16 +0000

[...] men are either cleared prisoners (around 90 in total), who, for the most part, cannot be repatriated, and others (around 75, apparently), who, disturbingly, are regarded as too dangerous to release, [...]

By: Obama’s Failure To Close Guantánamo By January Deadline Is Disastrous by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:47:41 +0000

[...] of these — from countries including Algeria, China, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Uzbekistan — cannot be repatriated. European countries have so far accepted a handful of cleared prisoners, but a major stumbling [...]

By: An Evening with Andy Worthington: “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo” « Dandelion Salad

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:25:23 +0000

[...] also explained how there are many dozens of men from other countries, including Algeria, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Uzbekistan, who are in a similar predicament, and [...]

By: Will Guantánamo Prisoners Be Released In Georgia? by Andy Worthington « Dandelion Salad

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:22:08 +0000

[...] messages” provided by the US government, pointing out, as I explained in a recent article, “Finding New Homes For 44 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners”: Recently, for example, when Swiss officials visited Guantánamo to investigate the cases of [...]

By: Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:08:53 +0000

Thanks for the supportive words – and for the invitation to Mr. Abdulayev. There is an organization pressing for ex-prisoners to be resettled in the US — No More Guantanamos — which you may want to check out: http://www.nogitmos.org/
(I was very pleased to be asked to serve on the Advisory Board).

By: WanaCare

WanaCare — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:54:17 +0000

Dear Mr. Worthington,
I know this will sound silly, but could Abdulayev come to my house with a green card? Maybe some of these men could not enter the US as citizens, but as laborers with green cards. I sure could use some help with my lawn and my brothers are musicians and could use some back-up.

Wow- you are an amazing human rights agent. Don’t stop!

As more people are laid off or just have time to research, read, relate to others and see what is going on in the world, they know 9-11 was not done by those accused and therefore the Guantanamo prisoners have been held innocently and the US citizens are finally acknowledging it.

I’ve written letters to my representatives and put them on notice that I’m watching how they vote in the senate & congress. I think only 6 should stay next term. I’m also ordering another of your books to donate to my local book store. Thanks

By: Andy Worthington

Andy Worthington — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:41:40 +0000

Thanks, TD. Glad you appreciated the analysis of how the Task Force has actually spent most of its eight months paralyzed! As was revealed in the comment to the New York Times by officials who talked about the fear of releasing prisoners to Yemen, the Obama administration is, effectively, trapped in the same place that the interrogators in Afghanistan spoke about nearly eight years ago — not wanting to risk releasing someone who appeared to be innocent, but who might not have been.
Bring on the police state, eh? Let’s apply this to ordinary prisons, and never release anyone ever, just in case …

By: the talking dog

the talking dog — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:46:42 +0000

Wow. The world (the “free” world anyway) owes you quite a debt, Andy: no one else I know of is cross-referencing the numbers, to show, to wit, that the “75 clearances” after eight or nine freaking months is almost nothing represent a shockingly small amount of “new work,” given that so many have already been cleared by the Bush Administration, by American federal judges (30 from them!) or both.

And, as noted, the Obama Administration continues to insist on taking an aggressive position in Court that interrogated prisoners that even the Government doesn’t believe should be accepted as Gospel as reliable accusers of others… even though it tries to sell foreign governments on admitting the very same men that it disingenuously accuses of terrorism!

Despite the fact that virtually everyone who has studied these things from General Hood to Col. Wilkerson has concluded that there were never ever more than two or three dozen actual terrorists or “dangerous people” at GTMO… the Obama Administration seems hellbent on legitimating the actions of its despised Bush Adminstration.

And so, the focus is going to be not so much on the Bush Administration for its folly of putting American diplomacy in this position (exacerbated by the despicable Harry Reid and Congress leading the charge to make sure “the problem” can’t be solved by the one way within American control, to wit, resettlement into the United States)… the focus is going to be on who to blame for Obama’s inability to meet the first promise he made re: closing GTMO in one year. I’m betting that at the end of the day, the “villain” is not going to be Cheney or Addington or Bush or Yoo… the “villain” isn’t even going to be KSM or OBL… the “villain” that I predict will ultimately be singled out by the Obama Administration will be White House Counsel Greg Craig, for his “insistence” on the closing of Guantanamo within a year because in the end it was just so darned hard (especially with a President unwilling to take the political risk of acting as if he believed his own rhetoric.)