Links in “Guantanamo Bay”

Worldwide: The New York Daily News today marked news of Bin Laden's death with the headline 'Rot In Hell'

Last night at about 10:15pm ET, my wife received a message via her Facebook account that the President was going to make a special announcement at 10:30pm. We switched the TV over to FoxNews after noticing that Drudge and various other media outlets had only begun to flash “breaking news” that the President was going to speak.

At about 10:45pm, Geraldo (who happened to be the one live on FoxNews at the time) merely speculated that perhaps this was going to be about Osama bin Laden. It wouldn’t be until shortly thereafter that a FoxNews producer would begin confirming this hunch.

HotAir.com has an excellent play-by-play posting of things as they transpired last night, which was apparently a culmination of several years’ worth of intelligence (via MSNBC via HotAir):

After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, “detainees gave us information on couriers. One courier in particular had our constant attention. Detainees gave us his nom de guerre, his pseudonym, and also identified this man as one of the few couriers trusted by bin Laden.”In 2007, the U.S. learned the man’s name.

In 2009, “we identified areas in Pakistan where the courier and his brother operated. They were very careful, reinforcing belief we were on the right track.”

In August 2010, “we found their home in Abbottabad,” not in a cave, not right along the Afghanistan border, but in an affluent suburb less than 40 miles from the capital.

In the end, it was US Navy Seals who got the job done, and they were in and out without the Pakistani government even knowing we were coming. As an old sailor myself, let me just offer up a salute and say, well done, boys. …

Another fascinating aspects was that an IT consultant based out of Abottabad had been live-blogging via Twitter about the covert operation without knowing what was really going on.

Speaking of Twitter, here’s a rough timeline of how things unfolded on the social media platform.

The Daily Mail has a complete run-down of pictures and info about the operation.

Nevertheless, RedState sums up the domestic political ramifications, going forward: “Osama Is Dead. Don’t Believe It Makes Obama Invulernable To Defeat.”

Personally, I would like to thank Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama for both helping to make this day possible, and while they were both the top decision-makers for any military operation in their respective presidencies, it really is all about America’s military and intelligence communities that actually made it happen.

Lots of thanks and prayer goes out to the individuals who will never be named and will never be publicly awarded for their exceptionally brave actions over the weekend.

-Phil

The Executive Order; coverage from TheHill.com and ABCNews.com. I’m not sure what the logic is in the President — on recommendation from top people in the Administration — closing down the detention facilities in Cuba. Not only this, but the President is also expected to issue an order closing down CIA-sponsored detention centers around the world.

Of course, one of the key questions is going to be, where will the detainees go? Perhaps the following article from McClatchy.com provides some insight (hint: for you folks in South Carolina, Kansas and California, you could very well be living next to a terrorist–er, “enemy combatant!”):

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s decrees Thursday on the detention and interrogation of accused terrorists increase the likelihood that some detainees now held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will be moved to South Carolina in a year or less.

On his second full day in office, Obama directed that the controversial Guantanamo detention facility be closed “no later than one year from the date of the (executive) order.”

Senior Pentagon sources in November identified the Naval Consolidated Brig in North Charleston as a possible home for detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay, along with Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and Camp Pendleton in California.

“Transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay to U.S. soil will endanger American lives,” Sen. Jim DeMint, a Greenville Republican, said of Obama’s order to shut down the military prison. “If the new administration tries to move these known terrorists to South Carolina, they should be ready for a fight.”

Why is the President shutting this part of the naval base down? If the answer has something to do with “enhanced interrogation techniques,” wouldn’t legislation be phenomenally simpler?

Even better question: If you had the responsibility to ensure America’s safety and you had reason to believe that an individual under your control possessed knowledge that would stop a cataclysmic event from happening on American soil, wouldn’t you do anything you could to get that information?

That was a loaded question; your answer directly confirms your specific position on the global war on terror.

-Phil

AmericasRight.com reported yesterday evening that Reps. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Sue Myrick (R-NC) have introduced bills that would prevent transporting or incarcerating Guantanamo Bay detainees through the States of Georgia or North Carolina, respectively:

In the wake of the executive order mandating the closure of the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and transfer of the detainees, the order signed by President Barack Obama within hours of his inauguration and without further plan as to the fate of the detainees themselves, individual states are taking matters into their own hands to ensure that their respective constituencies remain detainee-free.

Just this past week, Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-GA) introduced the “NO GITMO in Georgia Act,” a bill intended to prohibit the transfer or incarceration of the detainees in question through or within the state of Georgia. Gingrey was joined by a half-dozen other Republican Congressman from Georgia — Reps. Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price, John Linder, Jack Kingston, Nathan Deal, and Paul Broun.

Better yet, Gingrey’s bill has sparked similar legislation in other states, including a bill sponsored by North Carolina Rep. Sue Myrick, also a Republican. Myrick’s bill, as of Saturday afternoon, had no such cosponsors.

Below is a statement released by Rep. Gingrey from his web site…

Washington, Feb 3 -

In response to the executive order recently issued by President Barack Obama, to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within one year, Congressman Phil Gingrey, MD (R-GA) has introduced the NO GITMO in Georgia Act. This bill will ensure that current detainees held at Gunatanamo are not relocated to the State of Georgia.

“The detention center at Guantanamo houses some of the world’s most hardened terrorists who want nothing more than to destroy America,” said Gingrey. “And yet, the Obama Administration has committed to close the facility without answering questions critical to our national security and public safety. Where will current detainees and convicted terrorists be relocated? How will we ensure that they are not allowed to return to the battlefield to fight us again? Will they be afforded the same legal rights as American citizens?”

“I am certainly not comfortable with terrorist detainees being housed in the State of Georgia,” continued Gingrey. “Therefore, I have introduced the NO GITMO in Georgia Act to make sure that never happens. No matter what the fate of this critical national security facility may be, this bill would prevent either the transfer to or housing of Guantanamo Bay detainees in any military facility or Federal detention center within the State of Georgia.”

Congressman Gingrey is joined in this effort by the entire Georgia Republican House Delegation – Reps. Paul Broun (R-GA), Nathan Deal (R-GA), Jack Kingston (R-GA), John Linder (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA).

Gingrey’s legislation has sparked other state delegations to introduce similar legislation to prevent terrorist detainees from being relocated to their states.

To date, we know that South Carolina, Kansas and California were on a short list somewhere for potential detainee transfers. Maybe folks in those States will similarly wake up to this potential debacle.

-Phil

According to SCOTUSblog.com, there will probably be no scheduled Orders issued at all today:

As of 1:30 p.m., the Court has issued no other orders on pending cases. It thus appears that the next release of orders will come next Monday.

There are still plenty of things to consider for you, dear readers, over this weekend. Let’s get started:

• The President issuing an Executive Order to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within a year of the EO’s effective date is prompting questions from at least one federal judge concerning the more than 600 prisoners in Bagram air base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Not only this, but now the definition of “enemy combatant” is at issue once again, as “in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last June giving detainees a constitutional right to challenge their continued confinement, the ‘enemy combatant’ issue is a central question before each of the federal judges involved in deciding some 200 habeas cases.”
• Kerchner v. Obama has now been updated with the entire 40-page petition. Attorney Mario Apuzzo has put together quite the case in New Jersey Federal Court.
• Ankeny v. Daniels similarly has updated documentation: the petition, copy of the original story and an incredible Letter to the Editor concerning this case.
• RenewAmerica columnist Michael Bresciani has an excellent column that all opponents of eligibility should seriously consider: “Obama documentation activists -- not conspiracy theorists.”
• RedState shares how one Republican activist has “The right perspective on technology.“
• Lest we forget about Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) versus Al Franken, Hotair.com reports that “Franken loses in court, full contest to be heard.“
• Speaking of Senators, AmericanPower reports that Kirsten Gillibrand, the soon-to-be-appointed replacement for Hillary’s Senate seat is the “Left’s Blue Dog Nightmare” (note especially her 100% NRA voting record).
• On the other hand, regarding abortion, InvestigatingObama reports that “Obama to Escalate Worldwide ‘Abortion’ Holocaust, with Americans’ Confiscated Money.”

As always, check back here at The Right Side of Life for updates.

A current listing of eligibility lawsuits can be found here.

-Phil