Over two years have passed since the first inmates were sent to Guantanamo Bay where they have been held as “enemy combatants.” Today, the first two charges have been filed.

The accused, two men from Yemen and Sudan, are believed to have worked as body guards for Osama Bin Laden. Both are considered key members of al-Qaeda , functioning in managerial-type roles. But get this:

Pentagon spokesman Maj. John Smith said Pentagon prosecutors do not plan to seek the death penalty against either man if convicted.

Say what?!.

Not long ago the White House declared that many of the Gitmo detainees “pose a severe security risk to those guarding them.” Cheney described the detainees as “the worst of a very bad lot… devoted to killing millions of Americans.” Even Rumsfeld has acknowledged that – despite the security measures at Camp X-ray – the mere housing of these terrorists constitutes an ongoing risk.

Q: We’re getting reports that some of the detainees are trying to communicate with each other, passing notes back and forth with rocks and stuff. Do you have anything on that?

Rumsfeld: It’s much like what happened at Mazar-e Sharif. Anybody who has looked at the training manuals for the al Qaeda and what these people were trained to do, and how they were trained to kill civilians — and anybody who saw what happened to the Afghani soldiers who were guarding the al Qaeda in Pakistan when a number were killed by al Qaeda using their bare hands — has to recognize that these are among the most dangerous, best trained vicious killers on the face of the earth. And that means that the people taking care of these detainees and managing their transfer have to be just exceedingly careful for two reasons. One, for their own protection, but also so these people don’t get loose back out on the street and kill more people. This is a very, very serious business and it ought to be treated in that manner.

Indeed.

Tuesday, February 24th, 2004, 12:09 pm   |   War Bites  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.