WHY IS THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT RELEASING GUANTANAMO PRISONERS?
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on FoxNews.com on July 27, 2007.
Calling him a "senior Taliban commander," The New York Times re****ted on
Wednesday that Abdullah Mehsud blew himself up at his hide-out in the town
of Zhob in southwestern Baluchistan Province in Pakistan, rather than
surrender to government forces.
But what was he doing commanding Taliban troops in the first place?Mehsud
had been captured by American forces in northern Afghanistan in December
2001 and sent to the Guantanamo Detention Center. The reason he was able
to
resume his duties as a Taliban commander is because we released him from
Guantanamo in March 2004. The Times re****ted that "upon his return to the
region, he took up arms again and soon became the Taliban commander of
South
Waziristan, a tribal area near the border with Afghanistan."
Mehsud is suspected of being the mastermind behind the kidnapping of two
Chinese engineers in 2004, one of whom was killed.
So the question, not asked by The Times, of course, is why on earth did we
free Mehsud in the first place, permitting him to go back to his day job
as
a guerilla and terrorist leader?
The answer is as obvious as it is depressing: pressure from human rights
activists and their journalistic accomplices throughout the world. In the
past few years, we have released hundreds of detainees and most face no
charges in their native countries when they are repatriated.
But those who lock up in Guantanamo are dangerous people. A recent
Pentagon
study showed that most are fully conversant with explosives, high-tech
rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The study said that 73 percent of
those under detention in 2004 and 2005 were "demonstrated threats" to the
United States.
In most wars, prisoners are not released until the conflict has ended for
exactly the same reason - to prevent them from returning to enemy lines
and
resuming the battle. But, as a result of the misplaced sympathy of the
global liberal community, Guantanamo Bay Detention Center has become far
too
much of a revolving door through which terrorists are returned to their
country of origin, courtesy of the U.S. government, to take up arms
against
us again. This is a crazy, short-sighted policy.
But the good news in the death of Mehsud is that it indicates that
Pakistan's
President Musharraf has become serious about raiding al Qaeda and Taliban
strongholds along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. In this region, where
Usama bin Laden is likely hiding out, local warlords, protected by a
cease-fire deal with Musharraf, have been safe from Pakistan and American
troops. But with the renewal of conflict between the Musharaff regime and
the militant Muslims, the cease fire is off and the raid that led to
Mehsud's
death proves it.
Now it is time for the United States to take over the hunt for bin Laden
and
send our troops across the border into Pakistan in search of the elusive
terrorist. Nothing could underscore the sma****ng success of Bush's war on
terror than the apprehension of slaying of bin Laden. Until now, our
alliance with Musharaff and our perceived need to abide by his cease-fire
has inhibited us from crossing the border to hunt for the terrorist. But
now
that the cease fire is a dead letter, perhaps we can free ourselves to go
in
after him.
And, in the meantime, let's stop releasing terrorists from Guantanamo!
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