rssMcCain, Graham and Lieberman Twist Facts for Political Gain
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 9:23 am
- 11 Comments
It’s not exactly surprising that some Republicans would be using the failed Christmas terror plot to grandstand and try to thwart President Obama’s plans to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but there’s something particularly disconcerting when leading senators such as John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) intentionally distort the facts in their attempt to make their point.
As I noted yesterday, the three sent a letter to President Obama yesterday — and blasted a press release to reporters — calling on the president to halt the “planned” transfer of six Yemeni detainees back to their home country, because it turns out that Yemen is chock full of terrorists. The three only learned this, it appears, after reading that the would-be Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spent some time there. But there’s no way that the three senators and their aides and press secretaries did not know that the Obama administration had already sent back the six Yemeni detainees in question at least ten days earlier. Just do a Google search — it was in thousands of news outlets around the world. And that was following a press release issued by the Department of Justice on Dec. 20.
What’s more, the six detainees, who the senators said in their letter (without naming them) “have been identified as threats to the United States and its allies” had actually all been determined by the administration’s Guantanamo Detainees Review Task Force not to be threats to the U.S. government. One of them had even been ordered freed by a U.S. federal judge.
Yesterday I searched for hours to find out if there were six more detainees hidden somewhere that the administration was about to send back, some particularly dangerous Yemenis about to leave Gitmo that maybe these senators knew about and the rest of us didn’t. But no, there aren’t. The Justice Department and lawyers representing Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo, at least, knew nothing about such impending plans for another group of six. And when I asked Graham’s press office just which six Yemeni detainees they were talking about — Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop couldn’t name them, either.
The only logical conclusion is that the three senators were referring to six detainees who’d already been sent back to Yemen — and that they were doing so purely to try to embarrass the Obama administration and create yet another obstacle to closing down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. As I wrote back in February, what to do with the Yemenis, many of whom the administration has determined are not dangerous, remains one of the administration’s biggest obstacles to closing the prison camp.
None of this is new, and certainly McCain, who as a presidential candidate last year actively campaigned to close Gitmo, knew that. Apparently that won’t stop anyone from using a high-profile averted holiday disaster for his own political gain.
11 Comments
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Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 11:11 am
The gitmo lawyer for the yemen detainees said 30 to 35 were about to be released. This was the first wave.
And if you read the bios on them which fox put up the detainees were a threat. Even the Obama administration said they were low threats.
One of the detainees was caught near where bin laden was at a time. All of them went to afghanistan to fight the U.S.
These terrorists are being released to yemen which is a hotbed of terrorism and al queda loves to promote gitmo detainees. You have a radical cleric in yemen who might have been involved in the fort hood bombing and Obama weeks after sends more terrorists to yemen.
Saudi arabia announced in february that their rehab center was a failure yet obama sent gates their in may to praise the system and offer to send some yemenis to it.
Yemen is the worst place to send anyone all the USS cole bombers escaped and the elder system is weaker than saudi arabia and you can just leave the system.
The terrorist on the plane to detroit said there were many more training to be bombers on planes.
Only you would focus not on the party who has all the power but on mccain who has no power.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:02 pm
“One of the detainees was caught near where bin laden was at a time.”
Seriously? So if I was in a bank, and it got robbed, should I got to prison because I was near where the bank robber was at the time?
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
“And if you read the bios on them which fox put up…”
Right about there is where you got into trouble with your narrative.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:27 pm
No, many of us focus on the administration that created them. After 9-11, the hate speeches were in full swing, and let's not excuse the useless war called Iraq. THAT created more terrorists than Al Qaeda could handle.
The Obama administration inherited this miasma left by the same idiots who are vociferously defending the same failed policy (Hello, DickeyBoy).
Now we have no money to address our own domestic problems, let alone terrorists. Many who whine about National Security (or lack thereof, Hello again, Dickey boy) never wore a military uniform, never saw the reality on the ground.
I don't know about Graham, but McCain should know better. Lieberman? Let him go back home. His constituents will see to that. They're in trouble in 2010, and their antics are just wasted time.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 12:32 pm
Jason seems to have gotten the facts a bit twisted, but then again he utilized Fox Noise as his source. Gossip is usually closer to the truth than Fox!
These three senators should be ashamed for using the Christmas Day terror incident for political gain. But, let's see….McCain, Lieberman….what else would you expect. Remember….they were on the LOSING side of the last election….thankfully!
Also, Jason – you might want to brush up on your spelling and usage. Or do you want to blame American teachers because you are illiterate?
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
The gitmo lawyer for the yemen detainees said 30 to 35 were about to be released. This was the first wave.
And if you read the bios on them which fox put up the detainees were a threat. Even the Obama administration said they were low threats.
One of the detainees was caught near where bin laden was at a time. All of them went to afghanistan to fight the U.S.
These terrorists are being released to yemen which is a hotbed of terrorism and al queda loves to promote gitmo detainees. You have a radical cleric in yemen who might have been involved in the fort hood bombing and Obama weeks after sends more terrorists to yemen.
Saudi arabia announced in february that their rehab center was a failure yet obama sent gates their in may to praise the system and offer to send some yemenis to it.
Yemen is the worst place to send anyone all the USS cole bombers escaped and the elder system is weaker than saudi arabia and you can just leave the system.
The terrorist on the plane to detroit said there were many more training to be bombers on planes.
Only you would focus not on the party who has all the power but on mccain who has no power.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
“One of the detainees was caught near where bin laden was at a time.”
Seriously? So if I was in a bank, and it got robbed, should I got to prison because I was near where the bank robber was at the time?
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
“And if you read the bios on them which fox put up…”
Right about there is where you got into trouble with your narrative.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 5:27 pm
No, many of us focus on the administration that created them. After 9-11, the hate speeches were in full swing, and let's not excuse the useless war called Iraq. THAT created more terrorists than Al Qaeda could handle.
The Obama administration inherited this miasma left by the same idiots who are vociferously defending the same failed policy (Hello, DickeyBoy).
Now we have no money to address our own domestic problems, let alone terrorists. Many who whine about National Security (or lack thereof, Hello again, Dickey boy) never wore a military uniform, never saw the reality on the ground.
I don't know about Graham, but McCain should know better. Lieberman? Let him go back home. His constituents will see to that. They're in trouble in 2010, and their antics are just wasted time.
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 5:32 pm
Jason seems to have gotten the facts a bit twisted, but then again he utilized Fox Noise as his source. Gossip is usually closer to the truth than Fox!
These three senators should be ashamed for using the Christmas Day terror incident for political gain. But, let's see….McCain, Lieberman….what else would you expect. Remember….they were on the LOSING side of the last election….thankfully!
Also, Jason – you might want to brush up on your spelling and usage. Or do you want to blame American teachers because you are illiterate?
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