We hear the outcry about Guantanamo Bay and the poor, poor prisoners who aren’t getting a fair shake and have no rights.

Here is a fine example of what releasing a prisoner can escalate to.

Abdullah Mehsud is a powerful Taliban commander based out of South Waziristan, and a member of the same tribe as Baitullah Mehsud, another senior Taliban Tribal leader in South Waziristan. Baitullah conducted a suicide campaign against the Pakistani government in the late winter and spring of 2007.

The Taliban targeted Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao with a suicide strike while he was addressing his political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (Sherpao Group), in the settled district of Charsadda in Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).

Abdullah Mehsud (or Noor Alam) fought with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in 1996, and lost his leg during the fighting. He was captured by Rashid Dostrum’s forces in Kunduz, Afghanistan in December of 2001 and sent to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

He was released from U.S. custody after just over 2 years of captivity, and immediately returned to South Waziristan to take command of his contingent In late 2004, Abdullah was behind the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, one of whom was killed during a Pakistani military rescue attempt.

The Liberals, Europeans, Human Rights Watch and a host of other groups consistently call for Guantanamo Bay to be shut down; they seldom have a solution for the relocation of the prisoners. In fact, these groups have no solution to the war on terror, which many believe doesn’t exist.

Setting detainees provides them with the ability to go back to terrorist groups and continue their Jihad, killing innocent people around the world.

Source: The Fourth Rail

Ronald Reagan’s closest allies are throwing their weight behind the White House bid by the late president’s fellow actor, Fred Thompson and Mr. Thompson has yet to announce his candidacy.

As deputy chief of staff, Michael Deaver was a key member of the “troika” of aides who kept the Reagan White House on track.

Mr. Deaver sees the same raw material in Mr Thompson as was perceived in Ronald Reagan, describing him as someone “that could really make a difference”.

Deaver added:

“He [Thompson] is very popular in his party. He could change this whole thing and turn this primary system upside down.

Mr. Deaver voiced the view of many Republicans that the current crop of declared candidates is unsatisfactory. Of the front runner, the former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani, he said: “His popularity may be a mile wide and an inch deep. I’m sure that lead will shrink.”

Clark Judge, a White House speechwriter for Mr Reagan, said:

“Fred Thompson, like Ronald Reagan, is a man of tremendous substance. There is a sense in the party that none of the candidates is quite ‘it’.”

Mr. Reagan, he said, had “embodied the mission of the party – entrepreneurial growth, limited government and a strong national defence. Whoever can bring that mission into this age will be the nominee. And it may be Fred Thompson.”

Roger Stone, who was a Reagan campaign strategist, said:

“The president Americans want is, in fact, the guy they see on Law and Order: wise, thoughtful, deliberative, confident without the cockiness of George W Bush, urbane yet country. Fred Thompson communicates all those virtues.”

Mr Thompson will address the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club, which is billed as the “largest and most active political club in the United States.” The invitation was one that other Republican candidates had tried to secure.

The club includes some of California’s richest businessmen – a necessity if you need to raise $20 million quickly in order to compete with Mr Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Mr. Thompson has shown that he recognises the importance of assuming the Reagan mantle. He is on record as saying:

“Ronald Reagan believed in something. How much we need that today. He showed what can be done if you have the will to push for tough choices, and the ability to ask the people to accept them.”

Mr. Reagan himself, asked whether his training as an actor had prepared him for the presidency, once replied:

“I don’t see how any fellow that wasn’t an actor could do this job.”

Sign the petition: Run Fred Run!

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

One can have whatever opinion the wish about George W. Bush. However, as a consistent support of the President I must say I was perplexed when Mr. Bush awarded George Tenet, former CIA Director the Medal of Freedom.

Now Tenet is out hawking his book and disputing the context of his famous “slam dunk” comment on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His 60-minutes of fame has ended but his previous testimonies under oath are in the public archives.

February 12, 2003 – Washington Post:

“CIA Director George J. Tenet, questioned about the value of ongoing inspections by the United Nations, said there is “little chance you’ll find weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq unless Hussein cooperates with inspectors. On the other hand, Tenet said he would expect U.S. troops “will find caches of weapons of mass destruction, absolutely,” were they to invade the country.

If the United States decides not to go to war with Iraq and instead waits on inspectors, Hussein will continue developing weapons of mass destruction, Tenet said. “He will continue to strengthen himself over time,” he said. “It never gets any better with this fellow, and he’s never been a status quo guy.”

No place in this article with Dana Priest does Tenet use the term “slam dunk” but he was specific about WMD in Iraq.

Tenet also placed the much-disputed link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

Tenet described Abu Musab Zarqawi, the main character in the administration’s case that Iraq was working with al Qaeda, as it had not done in the past, as a “senior al Qaeda associate.” Zarqawi sought medical care in Baghdad, has met with Osama bin Laden, has been financially supported by al Qaeda and has taken “sustenance” from Iraq. But Zarqawi, he pointed out, is not under the control of Hussein.” 

If Tenet is claiming he never said “Slam Dunk” or if he had problems with his claim that WMD existed in Iraq then why did he sit behind then Secretary of State Colin Powell watching Powell put on a dog and pony show, complete with aerial photographs, to the U.N. Security Council in February 2003.

Powell demonstrated a compelling argument to invade Iraq and Tenet stood by and let General Powell move forward on behalf of the Bush administration.

Tenet stood before the country and accepted the Medal of Freedom and he stood by the Bush administration while they explained weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to the world. Now Mr. Tenet is in denial. Tenet could have spoken up before he accepted honors and book deals. Now Tenet has shifted the blame while he prepares for his book tour.

See also: Tenet Tries to Shift the Blame. Don’t Buy It