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Guantanamo & rendition

Friday, 23rd January 2009

Well, let's hope this has all been thought through. The PR advantages are enormous, obviously, yet today's top story in the NY Times - about a former Guantanamo detainee who's now one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen - illustrates the pitfalls

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
I also notice that Michael Scheurer - who's no mindless hawk - has his doubts about the new policy:
A former CIA analyst who helped set up the rendition programme and headed the unit hunting for Osama bin Laden, [Scheurer] accused Obama of putting Americans are at risk. "It's just more evidence that the Clinton children are back in control. They just have no idea of what kind of world they are facing," Scheuer said. "No matter what they think of Guantánamo or the black sites America is infinitely safer because of it."

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