Three of the Gitmo Five released! Bit of background!

[Lennon Saviour of E]

The Infamous Five should be left to rot in Guantanamo Bay

Strike up the band, roll out the red carpet, hoist the bunting. They're coming home, they're coming home. Let joy be unconfined. The Government has demanded the immediate release of five British "residents" held at Guantanamo Bay. And the U.S. seems certain to comply. The moment they touch down at Heathrow, the infamous five will be feted by the media. There will be sympathetic interviews on the BBC, book deals, columns in The Guardian. They'll be flavour of the month on Facebook. We will be treated to lurid, tear-strewn accounts of their illegal incarceration and "torture".

Their implausible claims of mistaken identity and wrongful arrest will be swallowed without question by gullible reporters and commentators, anxious to grasp any stick with which to beat America and undermine the war on terror. These poor lambs will be invited to denounce unprovoked Western aggression against Muslims, to tell us that Bush is "worse than Hitler". Fat claims for compensation will follow - on legal aid, naturally.

But before you reach for another bottle of Bollinger to celebrate this triumph for truth and justice and "yuman rites", it's worth a quick glance at the track record of these British "residents". None of them are British citizens and nor were any of them actually resident in Britain at the time they were detained. All had been granted the right to remain here after arriving as asylum seekers. But when they were picked up, they were thousands of miles away in, variously, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Gambia. Take Shaker Aamer, for instance. He's a Saudi national who came to the UK in 1996. When he was arrested he was working for a "charity" in Jelalabad. According to his lawyer, the ubiquitous Clive Stafford Smith, Aamer went to Pakistan and then Afghanistan in 2001 to look for work after failing to find a job in the UK.

As you do. There you are, sitting in a council house in Birmingham, scouring the "sits vac" column of the Evening Mail. Since there's nothing suited to your talents, you decide you might as well up sticks and try your luck in Afghanistan. Of course, it's not unknown for people to emigrate in search of a better life. Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. are popular destinations. But how many conclude that the grass is greener in Afghanistan?

At the time, the country was being ruled by the Taliban. Perhaps he hoped to get a job pushing walls on top of adulterous wives or beheading infidels. Just for the record, when Aamer shipped up in Afghanistan, the official rate of unemployment in Kabul was 70 per cent. Then there is Abdennour Sameur, an Algerian refugee granted asylum in Britain in April 2000. Two years later he was arrested in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in the company of a gang of Arabs.
He said he'd gone there because it was impossible to live the life of a good Muslim in Britain. Only a madman would move to the middle of a war zone in search of a more spiritual existence. How about Omar Deghayes, a Libyan with refugee status in the UK but also in Pakistan when he was arrested? His family now live in Afghanistan. By what stretch of the imagination is he a British 'resident'?

Surely, as a good Muslim, he should have applied for asylum in Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia. Same goes for Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian refugee who converted to Islam in 2001 - a very good year for it. He, too, was arrested in Pakistan on explosives charges. Jamil el-Banna is a Jordanian, granted refugee status in 2000. Captured in Gambia two years later, attempting to board a plane with a suspicious device. Linked to Abu Qatada, Al Qaeda's "ambassador in Europe".

El-Banna says he's only met Qatada once. So that's all right then. Let's say I'm wrong - which I'm not - and all of these men are guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's the whole point. As British "residents", the right place for them to be residing was Britain - not Pakistan, Afghanistan or Gambia. They all came here claiming to be in fear of their lives. If Britain really was the only place, as Clarkson would say, in the wurrld, they could feel safe, why didn't they count their blessings and stay put? Instead, shortly after getting residency, they disappeared to some of the most inhospitable, dangerous places on earth.

So why the hell does the Government think we have any obligation towards them? Easy. This is all so that New Gordon can throw a fish to the Guardianistas and prove that he's not a poodle of the hated Bush regime. This isn't about the five detainees, it is - like everything else he ever does - all about Gordon and Gordon's image. Pathetic. One of them even admits he doesn't want to live in Britain. The rest all rejected our hospitality.

They are not British "residents", they are residents of Guantanamo Bay and have been for the past five years. And as far as I'm concerned, they can stay there until they rot.

By The Great Man and Diamond Geezer Littlejohn - The Mail.

[Jager]

I disagree.

That incarceration was illegal under the Geneva convention. If they are guilty, they should be tried in a court of law.

As for the other stuff, its all redundant. Not everything the American or British government says is true, as you so kindly point out.

So what makes you think they are actually guilty of anything?? Other than being war combatants?

[apetimberlake]

Originally Posted by Jager

I disagree.

That incarceration was illegal under the Geneva convention. If they are guilty, they should be tried in a court of law.

As for the other stuff, its all redundant. Not everything the American or British government says is true, as you so kindly point out.

So what makes you think they are actually guilty of anything?? Other than being war combatants?

Agreed.

[Lennon Saviour of E]

Originally Posted by Jager

I disagree.

Other than being war combatants?

Eh? They're supposed to be residing in the popular safe haven that is England, in order to receive our protection.

And what do they do ...

[apetimberlake]

Originally Posted by Lennon Saviour of E

Eh? They're supposed to be residing in the popular safe haven that is England, in order to receive our protection.

And what do they do ...

None the less..everyone has the right to fair trial under Geneva convention.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Lennon Saviour of E

Eh? They're supposed to be residing in the popular safe haven that is England, in order to receive our protection.

And what do they do ...

Do you honestly think they are wondering around doing god knows what, without any supervision from British authorities???? Ah no.

Lets face it, the muslim community in western communities are being monitored very closely. To the point they are racial profiled on planes and in society in general.

Have faith in your system and law enforcement. And hope your government takes on a role of peace maker as opposed to war monger on the international scene.

[Mr Brightside]

Great Littlejohn post there.

These bastards should never have been allowed to set foot on our shores, but that's the Labour Government for you. Headed by a totally inept and incapable idiot who tries to smile once a year, but can't even manage that for fuck sake.

The bastards should have been shipped back to Afghanistan, Pakistan, timbuk-fucking-too, wherever they came from.

And rot in hell they should.

Here in Northern Ireland during the 70's, there was internment without trial. The authorities knew them all, so they passed a law that enabled them to scoop the lot of them and throw them in jail without trial. However, these guys were British citizens, so they were afforded the rights as such.

Terrorists acting in the name of Allah are not British. They claim to be muslim. In this day and age, internment without trial should be brought back and every bastard terrorist (even those who are lillywhite) should be thrown in jail or put on the next bus, ship, plane to their beloved fucking homeland.

These bastards are a stain on humanity, and conviction without trial is the only way to deal with shit.