Target Centermass

Day: August 4, 2005

  • Washington, Kabul Agree to Transfer Afghan Prisoners

    This development is certainly a concession to the negative spotlight continuously focused on the Gitmo detention facilities.

    Prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center and the U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan would be handed over to the custody of Afghan authorities.

    For its part the Afghan government accepts responsibility for the returnees and will work to ensure that they do not pose a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the coalition, or the international community.

    Not all Afghans however will be handed over.

    Some could remain at Guantanamo indefinitely. Fifteen have been selected to be tried by special military commissions.

    I harbor little hope that these transferred detainees will be kept as securely as they obviously are in the isolated Gitmo. On the other hand, I have great doubt that they will be kept as secure in their persons or treated as humanely by their Afghan captors. Quite the conundrum — some scum may escape, possibly to find their way again to the battlefield, but some scum may finally get the treatment that they deserve.

    I truly doubt this maneuver will relieve any of the pressure on the Gitmo detentions. Rather, it may encourage those participating in the intermittent frenzy. On the whole, I’d rather enemy combatants not subject to the Geneva conventions be kept stuck on an island for the duration. By duration, I certainly mean until the radical, expansionist Islamist threat is no longer a threat. Should this mean the detainees only leave Gitmo as elderly corpses in body bags, well, so be it.

  • Talk to me, Goose

    Well, it certainly seems that I’ve lost my blogging edge of late. Jet wash, flat spin, got to punch out … okay, enough of that silly zoomie theme.

    Let’s turn to the blogroll for help.

    • First, it seems that the Associated Press has gotten caught with a little anti-war editorializing in the headline of a story that’s already tragic enough. Later versions of the story carried a more appropriate headline, but graphical evidence of the switcharoo was blogged by Captain Ed of Captain’s Quarters. Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee has even more.
    • The Mudville Gazette hit a little bump in the road today when Mrs. Greyhawk’s always-anticipated Dawn Patrol post was lost without saving. Later, Greyhawk decided to rub it in a little.
    • Chad at In the Bullpen analyzes the news of a new video tape from terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri.

      In all fairness, Zawahiri and Al Qaida threatened England before Blair was in power, but why let the facts get in the way of a rambling psychopath.

    • JohnL at TexasBestGrok finally resurrects his SF Babes Poll with a Stargate Atlantis contest. Previous winners can be drooled over at in his Gallery of SF Babes.
    • Did you know a tank has heavier armor than other military vehicles? In a fisking after my own heart, Paul at Wizbang! tears apart a “news” piece whose author seems surprised by that fact.

      So let me see if I understand about this new “weakness” that has been “exposed.”

      An Amphibious vehicle does not have the same armor as a tank. — I’ll type that again in case the shock of this sudden revelation might be too much to comprehend…. An Amphibious vehicle does not have the same armor as a tank.

    • Speaking of tanks, ol’ tanker Eric of Eric’s Grumbles Before the Grave ponders what it means to support the troops, beginning with the extremes.

      The left screams that “support the troops” means immediately ending a war they deem illegal and immoral, bringing the soldiers home, giving up everything they have accomplished and pretending that the world is now full of flowers and sweetness. The right, on the other hand, claims that “support the troops” means that you must blindly support the President, no matter what, in terms of foreign policy. Of course, neither side says this in this fashion, that is my interpretation of their insanity.

      There’s obviously plenty of room for debate in this area, and Eric is always up for a discussion in his comments section.

    • Over at Ace of Spades, Ace finds another reason to hate the European Union — cleavage control. You have to love any writing that includes the phrases “ale-trollop” and “lager-slut.”