Cheney Did WHAT???!!!!

Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Dick Cheney's Role in Al Qaeda's Yemeni Resurgence

It is a well-known fact in Washington that then Vice President Cheney proudly micro-managed all things Gitmo (authorizing torture and determining detainee releases). And as he continues his hyper-partisan attacks on President Obama and the Democratic Party let it be clearly understood that Al Qaeda's resurgence in Yemen can, in no small part, be traced back to Dick Cheney himself.

In 2007, then Vice President Dick Cheney personally authorized the release of 11 Saudis from Guantanamo Bay, who then passed through a leaky Saudi halfway house terrorist rehabilitation program to rejoin Al Qaeda. Two of the 11 former detainees took the express jihadi underground railroad to rejoin Al Qaeda in Yemen.

In February, 2009, the New York Times reported that U.S. counterterrorism officials confirmed that one of the Cheney repats was Said Al-Shihri, who became the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, and that he was suspected of being involved in a deadly attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen in 2007. Shortly after the attack, Shihri appeared in an Al Sahab Al Qaeda video production along with another Cheney repat identified as Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi, who also rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Based on a comprehensive review by the Defense Intelligence Agency 14% of the 530 Gitmo detainees released through Cheney's direct approval (74 to be exact) have either been identified as reengaging in terrorism or suspected of doing so.

So, let me get this straight. Cheney authorized the release of unrepentant hardened terrorists to his Saudi friends. Having cut their shackles from the Saudis, these escapees are now training and recruiting the likes of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and threatening to attack the U.S. embassy in Yemen, and Cheney has the chutzpah to accuse Democrats of being soft on terrorism!

At best, Cheney's 2007 authorization to transfer Gitmo detainees to Saudi Arabia represented a fawning leap of blind faith in Saudi assurances that these detainees were perfect guinea pigs for an unproven terror rehab program and would no longer pose a threat to them or to us. However, the alarming recidivism rate has had dire and direct consequences on American security.

At worst, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its subchapter in Yemen should dispatch to Cheney a warm jihadi thank you note for playing such a direct role in their reconstitution, their resurgence, and their increasing danger to the U.S. homeland and our diplomats in Yemen.

Ordinarily, had Cheney kept reasonably quiet like his former boss instead of pretentiously anointing himself the sole defender of America's safety and security (as if every decision he made kept America safe), his decision to authorize the release of Al Qaeda operatives now back in the fight against the U.S. in Yemen and elsewhere would not have warranted a revisit -- just another footnote in the history of Cheney's imperfect logic where he is often wrong, but never in doubt.

However, in view of Cheney's willfully inaccurate partisan attacks he deserves to now be held accountable for the Yemeni Al Qaeda terror sanctuary he helped man through his own micromanagement of Gitmo detainees and misguided deference to his Halliburton buddies in Saudi Arabia. As a result, America is a whole lot less safe because of Mr. Cheney's own decisions.

More proof that right wingers are the ultimate HYPOCRITES,
Imagine if Obama had done the same thing. The whole Republican crowd would be screaming from the rooftops.

Hey dumbasses did you notice what happen in 2006???? yea thats right democrats took control of congress and were trying to force the closing of Gitmo for much longer then that they just did not have the power to do anything about it before then. You two twits really think Cheney gave a rats ass if terrorist were kept at Gitmo for the rest of their lives or not, that is one of the most laughable things I have seen yet. You want to put blame anywhere then try looking at your democrat buddies that wanted to close Gitmo from the BEGINNING and give the terrorist constitutional rights and stopped the military tribunals at every turn, yes thats right the democrats are part and parcel to the ACLU which fought Bush at every turn to treat terrorist like terrorist.

Lets remember who started Gitmo and who wanted to close it down from the beginning, you two dumb twits.


P.S. I am still LMAO, Yea right, Cheney cared about terrorist, still LMAO. Thanks every time I need a pick-me-up I will come to this thread.

i seem to remember Bush saying he wanted to close down Gitmo.

Does that jog your memory?

Dumbass Bush only saud that kind of crap because he was being bashed and threatened every day by the controlling party (democrats) to cut funding for it and was also bashed by almost every media outlet. The fact is though for all that, you still had Gitmo running at almost full steam all through Bush's term, RIGHT.

Here is another fact: Who was it that stop Bush's first attempt at military tribunals????? Ho yes thats right, it was democrat libs like yourself who thought terrorist needed to have more rights, now wasn't it. You know the ones that Bush tried to do in the first year after Gitmo started up but was held up by your lib friends for several more years, and for what was it again, Ho thats right, TO GIVE TERRORIST MORE RIGHTS.

Havasucker you can try to spin Bush as a softy on terrorist, all you want. The problem is you have the history of what the democrats did and said to stop Bush at every turn when they thought Bush was being to tough on TERRORIST, yea thats right, TERRORIST for god sake.


P.S. My god you also have the present to deal with just look at what Obama and the democrats have done to Bushes polocies. Need I remind you, who is it that is going after CIA agents for being tough on TERRORIST. Who is it that wants to give TERRORIST trials in criminal courts

The Democrats had nothing to do with Bush/Cheney releasing prisoners from Gitmo. Bush was the only one who had the power to release prisoners from Gitmo. Just the facts.

Show me where Bush said he was pressured or forced to lessen the population at Gitmo.