Courted as Spies, Held as Combatants

[PatrickHenry]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...65.html?sub=AR

As they tried to board a flight at Gatwick Airport in November 2002, three Arab residents of Britain were pulled aside by security agents. Police had questions about their luggage and ties to a radical Islamic cleric. After four days in custody, the men were cleared of suspicion and resumed their trip. But British intelligence officials weren't ready to drop their interest in the men. Before the three flew out of the country, the MI5 security service sent cables to a "foreign intelligence agency," according to court testimony and newly declassified MI5 documents, calling the men Islamic extremists and disclosing their destination: Gambia, a tiny West African country. When they arrived on Nov. 8, they were detained by Gambian and U.S. intelligence operatives, who interrogated them again, this time for a month, British and U.S. documents show. Then two of the men, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, disappeared into the netherworld of the U.S. government's battle against terrorism, taken first to a prison in Afghanistan, then to the Naval detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The primary purpose of this elaborate operation, documents and interviews suggest, was not to neutralize a pair of potential terrorists -- authorities have offered no evidence that they were planning attacks -- but to turn them into informers.

Nooo! The US would never do something as horrible as indefinitely locking up someone without a trial or access to a lawyer for the crime of non-snitching... :eek:

[Osborn F Enready]

Amazing.

But hey, rights are just perception anyway, right?

And people wonder why I refuse to be disarmed......

[Technosoul]

This report did not give details about why they were making those trips, buisness, vacations, etc. If they were on a business trip representing a company then their religious connections would not be a reason to detain them (other then perhaps to do a normal search which takes only about one hour).

Why did they go to Africa? That seemed a bit odd if one is on vacation but was their a business reason involved?

Did they say something radical that caused the interviewers to think they might do something radical? Was the interviewer stereotyping people without proper justification?
Were they abducted just because they attended a temple where the preacher said radical things or things that might be offensive to the USA?

Now it is true that a wanna-be terrorist could journey around without taking bombs and stuff like that in their suitcase, or even maps or printed details about a secret mission. Should we let them slip through the cracks just because we cannot find such physical evidence when we know that they were funded by a radical religious group with ties to terrorist agendas?

Many "innocent" Americans can no longer journey around the globe without the fear of being abducted by one of those radial groups - we got lots of reports about hostage taking. And yet we should honor their rights to journey the world without fear of being held for questioning? Hmm?

What if they were just going to peach terrorist idealogies to people in Africa for their religion, and there-by they could encouage others to become of that same mind-set, just by talking. Should we allow the spread of such concepts without trying to derail that mission?

Remember 9-11? Remember those car bombings in Iraq? All encouraged by some radical religious teaching by certain (known about) temple or preachers. We are out to stop them, to TOTALLY stop them. If anyone is a "person of interest" because we know they belong to one of those sects then by all means - put them under wraps, let us set an example for them which states - if you belong to one of those places or groups that advocates such anit-American crap then you better not get on an airplane or try to visit places where we might be at - or else. Stay home and on your own turf. Because we have had enough of that violence and our motto is "never again" - and we are not just talking though our hats - we mean business.

Those are my opinons and I am known on this forum for being a liberal and and a leftist. This is not a left wing or right wing issue - it should be a united front on all terrorists - so put on your hard hat folks and lets go get them guys wherever they stick up their heads.

[jose]

The Gambia is a populer holiday destination for people from the UK, it was a British colony the people speak english its also sunny in november compared to britains gloom it is hot and cheap.
oh and so are the locals
from pats link
The purpose of the trip, they have said, was to help Rawi's brother, Wahab, set up a peanut-oil processing plant

On Oct. 31, 2002, as Banna was packing for the trip, an M15 agent called at his London home and pressed him again to infiltrate extremist circles on behalf of British intelligence, either domestically or in a Muslim country.

"He did not give any hint of willingness to cooperate with us," the unnamed MI5 agent wrote in a report.

Rawi told his lawyer he was visited in Guantanamo at least six times by MI5 officials, including some of the same agents who had served as his handlers in London. They apologized for the turn of events, but asked whether he would still be willing to work for the agency if they could secure his release.

They were also accused of carrying a suspicious electronic device in their luggage to Gambia; British police who stopped them at Gatwick determined it was a battery charger, police reports show.

I wonder if MI5 offered them a free rucksack and a return train trip to visit london?