Military Families Group Launches Ad Against Release of Binyam Mohamed
EmailWith a buy it says is in the mid six figure range, the group Military Families United says it will launch a new TV ad, as soon as tomorrow night, on national cable stations.
The add features no spoken words, but rather very spooky music and images of court documents as these words are typed on the screen: "Binyam Mohamed. Enemy Combatant #1458. Alias: Talba al Kini, Fouad Zouaoui, Binyam Ahmed Mohammad, John Samuels.
"Trained in Al-Qaeda camps to use weapons and create explosives. Given money by Al-Qaeda leaders to fly to the United States. Arrested trying to leave Pakistan.
"In February 2009: Enemy Combatant #1458, RELEASED."
The screen goes black.
Then: "Tell the White House: Don’t release terrorists. Sign the petition today. www.DontFreeTerrorists.com. Paid for by Military Families United. "
The group has also launched this internet petition.
The White House had no comment, though earlier today, asked for comment on Mohamed’s release, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "the President made a decision at the beginning of his administration to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay and to start a process of evaluating the detainees there in accordance with his solemn obligation to do all that he can to keep our country safe, to do it in a way that protects our men and women in uniform, and does so in accordance with our American values. That process, as you know, is ongoing. In terms of the specifics related to Mr. Mohamed’s case, I would point you to the Department of Justice. But the President feels confident that the process that his administration has undertaken will yield results that keep us safer."
- jpt
CPAC: Romney Struggles to Convince Voters 
Obama Backs Off Birth Control Battle?
Good To Go!!!
Posted by: blue star mom | February 23, 2009, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
lame
Posted by: bobo | February 23, 2009, 5:56 pm 5:56 pm
They (meaning the Feds) blew when they sent the word out to torture him, and they held him when they had no legal right to do so. I am sorry some in America like what has happened in Cuba but it does not make it right and I am ashamed it happened at all. So the ad won’t effect me other than to remind me why we have to be very careful who we give power to in America.
Posted by: Bonnie Kimberly | February 23, 2009, 5:56 pm 5:56 pm
These military familys are thinking with their hearts and not with their heads. What would become of the world if someone could be held in jail indefinitely based upon the belief that that person could possibly be thinking of commiting a crime. That type of thinking would cause a total breakdown of our system of justice. This Binyam Mohamed guy has been held at Gitmo for more than a year after all charges against him has been dropped. Currently there are no charges pending against this guy so what grounds do we have to continually imprisom him?
Posted by: johnnylee | February 23, 2009, 6:01 pm 6:01 pm
At least they aren’t camping out on his lawn in Chicago while they demand their answers.
Posted by: MayBee | February 23, 2009, 6:07 pm 6:07 pm
Good for them. They have the most at stake (their family members are on the frontlines). They should make their voices heard and President Obama should listen carefully and earnestly to their concerns.
Posted by: Bravo! | February 23, 2009, 6:12 pm 6:12 pm
Saw on whitehouse :
Ok it’s not the watergate tape but just a small manipulation on a White House video tape I do not like. On the video released today on the White House website on the Obama /Harper press conference in Ottawa, the small Obama’s slip on Iowa/Ottawa just deseapeared and President Obama perfectly said :”It’s a great pleasure to be here in Ottawa…”. Ok it’s seems to be nothing but when an administration you believed in have followed an administration which had an habitual practice of that kind of stuff and you see that again, even a small one you don’t like it.
Posted by: Thierry from Paris | February 23, 2009, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
May be if their child is whisked off the street and sent to Morrocoo and Afganistan for some horrific torture and held without charge for 7 years they would change their mind. Is this why our loved ones are on the frontlines?
Posted by: Zazu | February 23, 2009, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
with millions in questionably foreign campaign donations made to the false prophet, i guess he’s making good on his campaign promises to hamas!
Posted by: sunoverla | February 23, 2009, 6:36 pm 6:36 pm
johnnylee, hundreds of thousands of enemy combatants were held by FDR without any criminal charges. They were released at the end of hostilities. “Crime” has nothing to do with it. Enemy combatants can be held indefinitely under the laws of war.
Posted by: bgates | February 23, 2009, 6:37 pm 6:37 pm
“May be if their child is whisked off the street and sent to Morrocoo and Afganistan for some horrific torture and held without charge for 7 years”
False premises – No American citizen has been so treated – with the possible exception until he came stateside of Marin County Taliban – Johnny Walker Lindh – cause he got himself stuck in an Afghan prison until the riot that killed our CIA guy and a lot of our allies.
I almost could believe those who are soft on Gitmo terrorists as flower children, navel gazing pacifists until they want some of OURS to undergo what they don’t want terrorists to “suffer” – when captured jihadi combatants expect no less in our attempts to extract operational information.
Posted by: robert b | February 23, 2009, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
“What would become of the world if someone could be held in jail indefinitely based upon the belief that that person could possibly be thinking of commiting a crime?”
Here’s a bulletin for you, Johnny Lee: a person can indeed be held indefinitely (“until the cessation of hostilities”) for that very reason, and thousands are being so held at this moment by the Obama administration. This is entirely consistent with US and international law.
In the case of this particular jihadist, the belief that he was contemplating unlawful warfare is quite well-founded, inasmuch as he had repeatedly declared himself to be an unlawful combatant. Off to confinement such persons go, and in jail they may rot. The decision to release him was entirely a British one, and they intend to keep him under surveillance nonetheless–and for very good reason.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | February 23, 2009, 7:58 pm 7:58 pm
May be if their child is whisked off the street and sent to Morrocoo and Afganistan for some horrific torture and held without charge for 7 years they would change their mind. Is this why our loved ones are on the frontlines?
==========
Military families’ loved ones on the front lines face horrific consequences when they are caught, regardless of how we treat the prisoners we hold. This has been true as long as we’ve had a military.
Posted by: MayBee | February 23, 2009, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm
Binyam Mohamed was not captured “on the battlefield” and therefore is not an “enemy combatant”.
Binyam Mohamed was arrested by Pakistani immigration officials when he intended to travel to the UK, where he lived.
All the “evidence” gathered against Binyam Mohamed was that he had been in Aghanistan. All the other allegations were obtained by torture in Morocco and Afghanistan. In October 2008, the US dropped all charges against Binyam Mohamed.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | February 23, 2009, 8:28 pm 8:28 pm
May be if their child is whisked off the street and sent to Morrocoo and Afganistan for some horrific torture and held without charge for 7 years they would change their mind. Is this why our loved ones are on the frontlines?
==========
Military families’ loved ones on the front lines face horrific consequences when they are caught, regardless of how we treat the prisoners we hold. This has been true as long as we’ve had a military.
======================
Maybee:
And your point is …????? Two wrongs make a right???
Posted by: Zazu | February 23, 2009, 8:33 pm 8:33 pm
Lets consider neither fearing or pitying this fool but deriding and mocking dear Benji, excuse me now the Brits’ dear Benji.
First, he chose this life of jihad – that is incontrovertible.
So for him to get silly activist lawyers to sue airplane companies to get them to release national security information (Mohammed vs Jeppesen) was an unexpected pleasure to what I admit has been a stressful time for him. After all he wanted to become a martyr – boom boom and you’re gone. So now our little Benji travels home, though it can’t be really be home.
He has been a hunger striker,but will he go back to eating now that he can get bangers and mash with a side of black pudding??!!
Posted by: robert b | February 23, 2009, 8:34 pm 8:34 pm
Jake–this blog seems to me like advocacy of this group’s position.
Yesterday, you wrote that “hundreds, if not thousands” of calls were made to the White House, based only on the statement of their director.
But you printed that claim as if it were fact without indicating this was merely a claim until the 9th paragraph of your blog. That was very misleading, biased reporting.
Why not just say the group claims to have made hundreds or thousands of calls? What’s wrong with that? Maybe it wasn’t a forceful enough lead?
Earlier today you revised the number of the calls down to “many,” though again with no sourcing. But other than the group’s statements, you provided no proof that any calls were made, actually. And you haven’t been open about that fact.
Yesterday you printed major sections of their “email action alert,” and today you linked to their ad and to their petition.
Uncritically.
I do respect the fact that yesterday you mentioned the Bush administration dropped all terrorism-related charges in 2007.
But I think if you’re doing journalism, and not advocacy, it would be essential to do some research on the basis on which Bush and Cheney dropped the charges.
Did you follow up with the Justice Department, as GIbbs suggested?
Posted by: Danny | February 23, 2009, 8:36 pm 8:36 pm
Military families’ loved ones on the front lines face horrific consequences when they are caught, regardless of how we treat the prisoners we hold. This has been true as long as we’ve had a military.
Posted by: MayBee
===============================================
The treatment of prisoners by the US has been a huge motivator for Islamic men and women, especially young ones, to join extremist islamic groups.
And another factor: several regimes who are known to engage in torture now laugh at the West when we criticize them for their abuse: “it’s okay when the US does it, but not when others do it?”.
We have lost all moral and ethical authority on this issue and that is a HUGE loss. It will take decades to regain our standing on this issue.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | February 23, 2009, 8:38 pm 8:38 pm
First, he chose this life of jihad – that is incontrovertible.
Posted by: robert b
==========================================
Prove it.
Without using torture.
There was no proof: the US dropped the charges.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | February 23, 2009, 8:40 pm 8:40 pm
the belief that he was contemplating unlawful warfare is quite well-founded, inasmuch as he had repeatedly declared himself to be an unlawful combatant.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena
=============================================
You omitted the fact that he “declared” this under torture.
The US dropped the charges. When charges are dropped, you are declared innocent.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | February 23, 2009, 8:45 pm 8:45 pm
I almost could believe those who are soft on Gitmo terrorists as flower children, [blablabla]
Posted by: robert b
===========================================
This man was cleared of the charges, ergo he is NOT a terrorist. How on earth is that being “soft” on terrorist?
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | February 23, 2009, 8:49 pm 8:49 pm
It’s interesting that their ad doesn’t have the words “2007: All terrorism charges against Mohamed dropped by Bush administration”.
If I were them, I’d want to know why all charges were dropped, rightly or wrongly.
Wouldn’t you?
Posted by: Lisa | February 23, 2009, 8:50 pm 8:50 pm
And why do you keep printing without question the press releases of this group?
Posted by: Lisa | February 23, 2009, 8:56 pm 8:56 pm
I wonder what his ‘funders’ at Al Queda thought when he was found with a ticket back to Britian after they ‘had given him money to fly to the United States’?
Snark
What a joke these people are. Apparently, you can always find a tool at ABC to give you a little exposure though.
Posted by: Flash Override | February 23, 2009, 9:02 pm 9:02 pm
The treatment of prisoners by the US has been a huge motivator for Islamic men and women, especially young ones, to join extremist islamic groups.
==============
They can join all the extremist Islamic groups they want, as long as they don’t decide to do things like bomb the WTC, fly planes into the WTC, bomb the USS Cole, cut off journalist’s heads, bomb Spanish train stations, bomb British buses, or bomb our embassies in Africa.
Those things were all done before prisoner abuse became the excuse of the day.
Posted by: MayBee | February 23, 2009, 9:13 pm 9:13 pm
A little late isn’t it?
Posted by: Thinking | February 23, 2009, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
“This man was cleared of the charges, ergo he is NOT a terrorist.”
Statements like that one, which seem to appear here with depressing regularity, cause informed and sensible people to wonder just how stupid some of the correspondents on this site are capable of being.
Do you all understand the difference between being an unlawful enemy combatant and being someone who has committed a crime? The fact that this man–or any of thousands of others now in the custody of the Obama administration–has not been charged with a crime, or has been “cleared” of such charges (quite different from merely having them dismissed, as is the case here), has nothing whatsoever to do with whether he can and should be detained indefinitely as an unlawful combatant, a.k.a. a terrorist.
“A little late isn’t it?” Late for what? Since the bastards murdered a bunch of your fellow citizens and the Bush administration got very tough with them, they haven’t done a damn thing except lose a war in Iraq, in which we defeated them in a most humiliating fashion. If that makes some of you pathetic saps a bit queasy, so much the better.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | February 23, 2009, 10:49 pm 10:49 pm
“And why do you keep printing without question the press releases of this group?”
Why does anyone accept without question the claims of admitted unlawful combatants that they have been tortured?
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | February 23, 2009, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm
‘This man was cleared of the charges, ergo he is NOT a terrorist.’
“Statements like that one, which seem to appear here with depressing regularity, cause informed and sensible people to wonder just how stupid some of the correspondents on this site are capable of being.”
Hyena, you are making me giggle. Thank you for saying what many of us are thinking… This place feels like bizarro world sometimes.
Posted by: HyenaFan | February 23, 2009, 11:00 pm 11:00 pm
Without being directly involved in the case, I don’t know if we’ll ever have access to the evidence we’d need to evaluate Binyam Mohamed’s terrorism charges or enemy combatant status.
But here’s a quote about the legal proceedings against Binyam Mohamed and four other detainees which sheds light on how the Bush administration handled his legal case (NYT, 10/21/08):
“The Pentagon’s decision to dismiss the cases comes after the former prosecutor, Colonel Vandeveld, said in a military commission filing that he had ethics questions about prosecution procedures for notifying the defense about information favorable to detainees. He called the procedures ‘appalling’ and ‘incomplete and unreliable.’”
By the way, I came across the fact that Bush released numerous detainees after their enemy combatant status was overturned. It would be interesting to know if Mohamed’s enemy combatant status was reversed under Obama.
Posted by: Danny | February 24, 2009, 2:11 am 2:11 am
If he doesn’t terrorize us, others will, it’s like a backwards crusade. We cannot lock up all these insaniacs.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | February 24, 2009, 7:57 am 7:57 am
Bravo did you say Good for them? Yes it’s good for them since no one had whisked away their children around the world and sliced their private parts for 18 months. In those conditions even Bush would have become an enemy combatant in the first 48 Hrs. Pleeeaaase!
Posted by: elmo | February 24, 2009, 10:53 am 10:53 am
Elmo – still don’t have names right!!? Who is Bravo?
Anyhow as to “whisking” away “children”(Children? Children!! Benji was Jihadi trainee from AQ Afghan camps to Waziristan and then Britain bound for what? until we took and broke him. Hopefully he’s no good as a terrorist anymore) —
But as it applies to Americans
It remains false premises – No American citizen has been so treated – with the possible exception until he came stateside of Marin County Taliban – Johnny Walker Lindh – cause he got himself stuck in an Afghan prison until the riot that killed our CIA guy and a lot of our allies.
I almost could believe those who are soft on Gitmo terrorists as flower children, navel gazing pacifists UNTIL they express their deep desire to have some of OURS to undergo what they don’t want terrorists to “suffer” – AMAZING since captured jihadi combatants expect no less in our attempts to extract operational information.
Posted by: robert b | February 24, 2009, 2:08 pm 2:08 pm
“Bush would have become an enemy combatant”
Another liberal glitch in study of logic.
Yes, he would be an enemy, and even enemy combatant (well TX Air Guard) to our enemies, he would not have to “become” it.
It’s a tautological reciprocity – my enemy considers me his enemy. See how it works, I hope??
Posted by: robert b | February 24, 2009, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
Actually Obama as well as Bush are “enemy combatants” to anyone opposing the US in a violent fashion, it’s in the job description – Commander in Chief
Posted by: robert b | February 24, 2009, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
Your third story in three days promoting the right-wing hit group, “Military Families” United.
Posted by: Nell | February 24, 2009, 6:36 pm 6:36 pm
Your third story in three days promoting the right-wing hit group, “Military Families” United.
———————
Somebody’s asleep at the switch
Well, you MoveOn guys better get a “move on” and put out another General BetrayUs, then huh??
Posted by: robert b | February 24, 2009, 6:56 pm 6:56 pm
OBAMA DONT CARE ABOUT THE MILITARY HE CARE ABOUT THE TERRORISTS ONLY
Posted by: MARY | February 25, 2009, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm