The Meaning of Closing Guantanamo

I'm linking to this post from Ace of Spades, that links to the father of one of the murdered USS Cole's sailors. For those with short memories, that's the American Navy ship that was in Yemen waters, when it was hit by a boat loaded with explosives. From Wikipedia:

The asymmetric warfare attack was organized and directed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization.[4][5][6][7] In June 2001, an al-Qaeda recruitment video featuring bin Laden boasted about the attack and encouraged similar attacks.

Further, about the scum who Obama wants to free:

By May 2008, all defendants convicted in the attack had escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.[14] However, on 30 June 2008, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, legal advisor to the U.S. Military tribunal system, announced charges are being sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian citizen of Yemeni descent, who has been held at the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.

That's the guy who Obama wants to NOT prosecute. He's already signed the orders. What a wussy. Afraid to make the hard decisions. Afraid to take on the terrorists, who STILL continue their sword-wielding, women & children terrorizing and raping, kill-the-Christian, wild & crazy ways, anywhere they can find a complacent government.

On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole was in the Yemeni harbor to take on fuel. It was rammed by a boat that had been prepared with an explosive front end. 17 sailors died, 39 additional were seriously injured. It was an al-Qaeda attack - Osama bragged about it, so it's not just supposition.

And, now, Obama wants to stop the trial. May we ask WHY? Would the trial bring out unpleasant details about the intertwined nature of the Islamicist war on the West? Would it make it harder to sweep all that "nasty" stuff under the rug, and pretend that the terrorists are just a sweet bunch of misunderstood boys?

There comes a time when we have to act like adults, and stop trying to play pretend. The murdered sailors deserve justice. The families have patiently waited for it. This is another situation like the Leon Klinghoffer case, where a disabled American was on a cruise (on the Achille Lauro), which was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists (what, you mean those poor, misunderstood, victims of Israeli savagery? Why, yes, the same). What happened to Leon?

after being refused permission to dock at Tartus, the hijackers singled out Klinghoffer, a Jew, for execution, shooting him in the forehead and chest as he sat in his wheelchair. They then forced the ship's barber and a waiter to throw his body and wheelchair overboard. Marilyn Klinghoffer, who did not witness the shooting, was told by the hijackers that he had been moved to the infirmary. She only learned the truth after the hijackers left the ship at Port Said. PLO Foreign Secretary Farouq Qaddumi said that the terminally ill Marilyn Klinghoffer had killed her husband for insurance money.

Leon's wife died 4 months later. Some of the hijackers were convicted in Italy, where the crime happened, but those who planned the action, including Muhammad Zaidan and Abu Abba, didn't serve any time in jail.


The Memorial to the dead sailors