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Pentagon Prepares for More Detainee Releases from Guantanamo Bay

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The Pentagon is preparing to transfer more detainees from Guantanamo Bay in coming weeks despite continued Republican opposition, according to defense and congressional officials.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, after five detainees were transferred last week, there will be another round in December, but defense officials refused to disclose further information on their numbers or nationalities.

Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, complained at a recent hearing of an increase in notifications by the administration to lawmakers on coming transfers from the detainment facility.

President Obama promised since before he took office that he would close the controversial detention center, a move that has been opposed by many Republicans.

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Pat Roberts Threatens to 'Shut Down the Senate' if Obama Moves Gitmo Terrorists to U.S.

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Photo Credit: APSen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) is threatening to “shut down the Senate” if President Obama uses executive power to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and bring its terrorist prisoners to the U.S.

“I stopped him once from trying to send a Gitmo terrorist to [Fort] Leavenworth. I shall do it again, I shall do it again and if he tries it again I will shut down the Senate,” Roberts said Friday in Topeka, according to The Hill.

Roberts, who is facing a tight reelection race against Independent Greg Orman, told reporters that he would filibuster on the Senate floor for hours, in the same manner Ted Cruz did to protest Obamacare last year.

“Once you get control of the floor you just don’t leave it. Ted Cruz did that with regard to ObamaCare. If necessary, I’ll do it with terrorists,” he said, according to The Hill’s report.

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Former Guantanamo Detainee Was on Ground in Benghazi During Terror Attack, Source Says

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Photo Credit: Fox News A former Guantanamo Bay detainee with Al Qaeda ties was in Benghazi the night of the Sept. 11 attack, according to a source on the ground in Libya.

The source told Fox News that ex-detainee Sufian bin Qumu, who is suspected of running camps in eastern Libya where some of the assailants trained, is also a “respected member” of Ansar al-Sharia — one of the Islamist groups identified in State Department email traffic two hours after the attack.

Two sources familiar with the investigation, when asked about bin Qumu’s whereabouts the night of the attack, did not dispute the claim he was in Benghazi.

While it is not clear whether bin Qumu was directing the assault, his security file from Guantanamo may be revealing. Having already trained in Usama bin Laden’s camps, in 1998 bin Qumu joined the Taliban in Pakistan and “communicated with likely extremist elements via radio during this period indicating a position of leadership,” the file shows.

Fox News’ ongoing reporting on the attack has shown that at least four key Benghazi suspects have ties to the Al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan. They include bin Qumu and Muhammad Jamal, whose network is also suspected of training jihadists for the attack. Jamal was held, and later released by, Egyptian authorities. Earlier this month, the State Department’s terrorist designation for Jamal and his network cites letters he exchanged with Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, where Jamal asked for money and explained the scope of his training camps, which included Libya and the Sinai.

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Obama Standing by Decision to Lift Moratorium on Releasing Guantanamo Bay Prisoners Back to Yemen

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In spite of the ongoing terror threat emanating from Yemen, the White House says it does not plan to rethink President Obama’s decision last May to lift a moratorium on releasing Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to that country.

“I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen, so we can review them on a case by case basis,” Obama told an audience at the National Defense University during a major counterterrorism policy speech on May 23.

The president is standing by that announcement, even though Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen that U.S. intelligence officials say is now the greatest Al Qaeda threat to the U.S. homeland, was formed in part by several former Guantanamo Bay detainees who were released in 2006.

“A handful of former GITMO detainees, primarily Saudi citizens, made their way across the border into Yemen and they joined AQ in Yemen,” according to AQAP expert Gregory Johnsen, author of “The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia.”

“It was that merger between people, former GITMO detainees from Saudi Arabia and the AQ escapees in Yemen, that really formed AQAP, the group that announced itself in January 2009, and that’s the group we know today as AQAP.”

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Gitmo Offers ‘Resume Writing’ Class for Terrorists

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Photo Credit: AP

The 166 terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay are offered a course in “interviewing and resume writing” as part of their indefinite stay at the prison camp.

Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) lists the variety of classes and activities it offers to the terrorist trainers, financiers, bomb makers, recruiters and facilitators who are housed at Gitmo.

Among them: “Interviewing and Resume Writing “and “Writing Success.”

The classes are part of “The Instructional Program” at Gitmo, which teaches literacy, English as a second language and art.

The prison that houses 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, also offers prisoners a “Life Skills” class, “Computer Familiarity,” “Personal Health and Wellness,” and “Personal Finance and Business.”

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U.S. Trains For Mass Migration In Caribbean Security Drill

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Photo Credit: JTF GuantanamoA simulated wave of Caribbean migrants sailed to the Guantanamo naval base this week for a training drill designed to prepare U.S. troops and security agencies who might someday have to handle the real thing.

The exercise is held every two years to prepare for a potential mass migration brought on by political upheaval or natural disaster in the region.

More than 500 U.S. troops and government workers flew to the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in eastern Cuba for the drill, which started on Saturday and runs through Friday.

“It’s not related to any real-world event,” said Colonel Jane Crichton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army South unit based in San Antonio, Texas, which is participating in the drill.

The drill is taking place on the sparsely populated Leeward side of the base, which is bisected by Guantanamo Bay. Most of the base facilities are on the Windward side, including the detention center that holds 166 prisoners captured in anti-terrorism operations.

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Government Scraps Position Dedicated to Closing Prison at Guantanamo

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The State Department office responsible for helping facilitate the relocation of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been closed, The New York Times reports.

The paper reports that Daniel Fried, who served as the special envoy for Guantanamo Bay since the position’s inception in 2009, has been reassigned. He will not be replaced, and his duties will now be “assumed” by the State Department’s legal adviser, according to an internal personnel announcement.

Relocating detainees had been seen as a vital step in the president’s promise to close the prison, which was frequently and vociferously criticized by liberal activists before Obama’s election.

“I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that,” Obama told CBS’ Steve Kroft in November 2008.

Obama also signed an executive order shortly after taking office that declared the prison for suspected terrorists would be shuttered “no later” than January 2010.

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