Dick Cheney's Role in Al Qaeda's Yemeni Resurgence

[Joanne98]

It is a well-known fact in Washington that then Vice President Cheney proudly micro-managed all things Gitmo (authorizing torture and determining detainee releases). And as he continues his hyper-partisan attacks on President Obama and the Democratic Party let it be clearly understood that Al Qaeda's resurgence in Yemen can, in no small part, be traced back to Dick Cheney himself.

In 2007, then Vice President Dick Cheney personally authorized the release of 11 Saudis from Guantanamo Bay, who then passed through a leaky Saudi halfway house terrorist rehabilitation program to rejoin Al Qaeda. Two of the 11 former detainees took the express jihadi underground railroad to rejoin Al Qaeda in Yemen.

In February, 2009, the New York Times reported that U.S. counterterrorism officials confirmed that one of the Cheney repats was Said Al-Shihri, who became the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, and that he was suspected of being involved in a deadly attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen in 2007. Shortly after the attack, Shihri appeared in an Al Sahab Al Qaeda video production along with another Cheney repat identified as Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi, who also rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Based on a comprehensive review by the Defense Intelligence Agency 14% of the 530 Gitmo detainees released through Cheney's direct approval (74 to be exact) have either been identified as reengaging in terrorism or suspected of doing so.

So, let me get this straight. Cheney authorized the release of unrepentant hardened terrorists to his Saudi friends. Having cut their shackles from the Saudis, these escapees are now training and recruiting the likes of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and threatening to attack the U.S. embassy in Yemen, and Cheney has the chutzpah to accuse Democrats of being soft on terrorism!

Continued>>>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-marc-ginsberg/dick-cheneys-role-in-al-q_b_410614.html

[Blue Owl]

1. Dick got a Yemeni Straw Man for Xmas

Now he's re-gifting it to all of us lucky ducks in the form of more war, more occupation, more terror.

THANKS DICK!

[get the red out]

2. Terror can only help Cheney

It makes him $$$ and I am sure he believes some hideous terrorist attack on the US will rehabilitate his reputation and the reputation of his administration, putting him back as a big leader in his party.

Sick Dick.

[alstephenson]

3. Since when does a VP "personally authorize" the release of prisoners???

I mean WTF???