GITMO detainees to be released in US

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that some Guantanamo detainees will be released into the United States. Others would be put on trial in American courts.

Today on Wall Street Journal Online:

For “people who can be released there are a variety of options that we have and among them is the possibility is that we would release them into this country,” Mr. Holder said. “That process is ongoing and we’ve not made any determinations or made any requests of anybody at this point.”

Among the detainees whose fate remains undetermined are 17 ethnic Uighurs (pronounced wee-gurs), from the Central Asian region of China, who have been ordered released by a judge. The U.S. has refused to turn the men over to China, which considers them part of an separatist group.

The Uighurs are Chinese terrorists who trained in Afghanistan and are linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban. According to Thomas Jocelyn at the Long War Journal:

20 of the 22 Uighurs detained at Gitmo were allegedly trained in an ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) training camp and/or other facilities. At least 15 of the Uighurs detained at Gitmo have admitted that they received weapons training. The main training camp at which the Uighurs trained was reportedly sponsored by al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Five have since been released to Albania.

The bottom line: does releasing terrorists into the United States make Americans more or less safe? Do you want someone who has had training in Afghanistan terrorist camps living in your neighborhood? I sure don’t, but the Obama administration wants them to live in somebody’s neighborhood (likely not in their backyard though). Even if they were put on military bases, the safety of our military’s dependents would decrease significantly.

One terrorist group (Jamaat ul-Fuqra) has 35 known terrorist training camps in the U.S.. It is unknown how many al Qaeda, Hezbollah, or HAMAS camps and cells have here. Iran claims to have several thousand suicide bombers already deployed in the U.S.. Sending terrorists into the United States will only increase the potential of another attack on our homeland. And keeping Americans safe is supposed to be the primary responsibility of government.