Two of the alleged ringleaders of the Detroit bomb plot were released from Guantanamo in 2007

Mark Cannon

But, assuming this is true, were they Islamic terrorists before they were locked up in Guantanamo for years without trial or did they become "radicalised" whilst there?

Austin Barry

"..what to do with those the authorities have reasonable grounds to believe are terrorists but not enough evidence to prosecute successfully in civilian courts.."

Perhaps targeted Mossad-style assassination?

Snowman

come on James, it’s of far greater importance that their ‘uman rights stopped being infringed after their release from Guantanamo than anything they may have done after it. Haven’t you yet come across moral equivalence, ha?

I trust fully in the anointed one. You just wait until he finishes on the golf course, he’ll have an instant solution.

Mark Cannon: it was Bush who ‘radicalised’ them, didn’t you know.

YA

Cognitive paralysis I name it.

Just mentioning word Guantanamo makes you relaxed. So many brightest, spotless, most nobless legal minds have thought about it, found all definitions, formulated all problems, and found all solutions.

Which doesn't change the simple fact that, by actions, declarations and ideology, these "inmates" are clearly "hosti humani generi", the monsters, madmen, archaic savages far beyond boundaries of moral field of civilization. There is no doubt Guntanamo is too good for them.

And another simple fact that all these nobless legal a$ are trivially bought, in a vulgar way, for oil money, - by those who cynically try to use the above mentioned savages as jihadi torpedoes breaking the way to new Islamic order. That project will, certainly, fail; but, one needs to wait and hold, until replacement for oil is found.

So for now, thanks and glory - to the decisive people with skills and courage, who succeed to protect civilization from these orks. And on "legality" of Guantanamo.. no more discussions needed.

Bunnykins

PS: To be precise, it's a picture of rather jaded underpants.

King Prawn

The prisoners at Gitmo were treated far better than any other prisoners. So good, in fact, that they have voiced there opinion to remain at Gitmo rather than be transferred to American jails.

Just seen the news where one of the main stories was the repatriation of three dead UK Soldiers from Afghanistan.

It may be just a coincidence, but don't you find it strange that the number of casualties in Afghanistan has increased sharply during the year when the two main allies out there, US and UK, are led by two of the weakest leaders those countries have ever had?

Don't you think that the Taliban and Al Queda have picked up on the weakness of McBroon and Barry Obama!!!

Beer Moth

Are we sure this image is of the would-be bomber's skidders?

They seem to have that ginner say kwa, that hint of Tracey Emin about them. Or is it the latest Benetton street poster?

One thing is sure: there are other pairs just like these, waiting to board a plane just like yours. But hey, what's the big deal man?

wrinkled weasel

To you and me it is just underwear. To the Terrorists, they are the Pants of Destiny.

oldtimer

It is quite clear that the Obama administration has failed to get a proper grip on the situation. It will not be enough to prevent passengers from using the toilet, or hide under a blanket, for one hour before landing - as if that would be enough to deter any sophisticated bomber with a stopwatch. It is quite obvious that what he should have done is to ban the wearing of underpants on any trans Atlantic flight to the USA. That should sort it!

Edward Palmer

Did he go for his ass or his bollocks? I think we have a right to know.

Adrian Gobbi

Most surprised ABC is reporting this. Anything which doesn't reflect 100% well on The Big Red One usually only features on Fox.

Just a matter of time before the daft buggers are begging for the return of G W and Cheney.

salieri

Art therapy. Priceless.

YMT

I see that UCL is being taken to task for the issue of extremists on campus. I thought this was a well know "fact" but most of the UOL colleges have hard line Islamic societies, UCL, SOAS, Goldsmiths etc.. All very pro-islam and anti-US/Israeli, plus all these groups hide behind the NUS.

Perfect breeding groups, kids away from parents, vulnerable and easily manipulated. Time to really start tackling these groups at the universities otherwise more problems will occur and soon.

Bob Frost

'Goodness gracious, great balls of fire'.

Nicholas

Execute the same number of G-mo inmates as civilians who would have died on that airliner. Fear of retaliation is pointless. They use Western liberalism as a weapon. What is needed is resolve.

nev parker

My God those underpants look deadly even without a bomb

old fogey

What a complete arser; he tries to commit mass murder and strike a blow for radical Islam in its struggle against the west...and ends up with his drawers all over the worlds press, and with burnt, too painful to use, testicles , making him incapable of servicing those 72 virgins anyway.

Augustus

It's clear that Obama's evident weakness has only emboldened terrorists. It's what you might call a September 10th mentality. Everything about Obama invites terrorists to try harder. Bush scared them, but Obama can't seem to frighten anything larger than a fly.

Pinkindindy

Pound to a penny we hear no more about the "distinguished gentleman" who got the suspect through controls without a passport.
Another pound that there'll be no cctv pictures released of him either.

Snowman

nev parker: will you please stop it. You made me laugh so much that I dropped the pipe, and only narrowly missed burning my own testicles.

Edmund Jerk

Exploding Pants! What will those zany Jihadists think of next?

Fergus Pickering

Well, I suppose killing them in secret is not to be thought of, is it? The one we are presently stuck with would be all the better for a hanging, as the old Scottish judge used to say.

Cuffleyburgers

Beige? My god

Vulture

Say what you like abt nasty old Pinochet and his Argie counterpart. Dropping those Leftists from helicopters over the drink certainly cleared up their terrorism problem. It was a big mistake to bring the Gitmo guys back from Afghanistan in the first place.'Stone dead hath no fellow'.

When asked if he favoured a 'Carthaginian solution' to end WW2 Wild Bill Donovan, founder of the CIA drawled 'I don't recall we've had any trouble from Carthage since'.
That's the only way to wage war.
* Historical note: after the battle of Zama, the Roman General Scipio Africanus massacred the Carthaginians, tore down their buildings and sowed the site with salt. Sorted! (Or possibly 'Salted!')

Outfangthief

Ah Vulture, but whither the Romans now..?
State terror is terror nonetheless. Pax!

RMH

So these terrorist were released under Bush's watch.

smog

This has to become (no pun intended) one of the iconic images of the decade, if not the new millenium.

Vulture

@Outfangthief:
Well, after they'd cleaned up Carthage the Romans dominated the known world for the next several centuries. And nothing lasts forever!

Point is that our jelly-bellied liberal legalism has only encouraged the Jihadis.
It's time we tried the Roman way. I predict that even Barry O will be forced down that
path after the next bomber gets through.

Himmelfarb

Iconic image? No, seminal icon is closer to the mark.

Gil

This new decade is turning out to be pants.

Don't start about Gitmo or you'll have that boring chap from the University of Glasgow Human Rights coming on. What's 'is name? Laird?

Cuffleyburgers

Vulture - go and take your medication.

We will achieve nothing by sinking to the same level of moral depravity as our enemies.

Respect for the rule of law is the greatest flowering of our civilization, and is what makes all the rest possible.

Guantanamo was not only wrong it was also a mistake in the immortal words of Talleyrand; but of the guys who were taken there, many were most likely quite justifiably suspected, and on release they should have been kept under the closest posible scrutiny; and how do we know they weren't? Perhaps the reason the knicker bomber's fuse failed was because it had been got at by western intelligence who had let him go through the motions (sic) so as to gather proper evidence for a wider sweep of co-conspirators and a successful trial and conviction. How do we know?

One thing however I am convinced of and that is that getting mediaeval on their asses ain't going to achieve anything.

Frank

I am slightly incontinent as a result of prostate problems. The thing attached to the underpants looks highly reminiscent of the absorbant liner I use to catch the drips; really looking forward to my next flight.

Vulture

@Cuffs: Your faith in the so-called rule of law is quite touchingly naive. Do you think that waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, and all the other tricks used are within your precious rule of law? We alreaedy use torture and extra-judicial killing ( eg. Drones). My argument is that we should really take the gloves off and stop pretending that we are playing some sort of cricket.

I agree with you that Gitmo was a mistake. These guys should have been quietly bumped off while they were still in Afghanistan. It would have saved a hell of a lot of trouble.

Necessity knows no law. We are in an existential mudfight with these guys and we're bound to get down and dirty. If we don't, they win.

Chuck Unsworth

@ Weasel

Excellent - in a nut-shell.

Snowman

Cuffleyburgers @ 11.42:

Your ‘respect for the law is the greatest flowering of our civilisation’ sounds noble, heart arming, cultured and all that, but sadly in real life not everyone plays to the same absolute sheet of music, however persuasive the tune may be. If one finds oneself in a jungle, the notion of avoiding cruelty to the wild beasts around may only be good for someone who minds not being eaten alive. Never the best response, my friend.

With the deluded fruitcakes we are not debating some high moral principles, we are engaged in a mortal combat. Either they kill us, or we kill them. It’s war, and in war the formal rules or principles encased in statues cannot prevail absolutely. My tutor Edmund Burke tells me that ‘war suspends the rule of moral obligation’, and I have yet to find him wrong on this judgement.

Our sticking to the ‘due process’ equates the terrorists with criminals. Big mistake that, I reckon. No criminal, in my knowledge, has ever attempted to subvert or destroy the society of which he’s a member.

Vulture has a point. What we perceive as strength of our societal arrangement, they perceive as weakness, and more to the point, weakness they can and do exploit.

Kennymac825

FRANK

On the upside you wont have to get up during the last hour of the flight. :)

JohnAnt

Charming pic.
Question is, will M&S still take them back? And which box to tick? (Too big, too small, wrong colour, wrong style, spontaneously combusted...)

Archie

Sorry, Cuffleyburgers, you're dead wrong with regard to this one, squire. Sorry to say, it's fingernail pulling time!