Monday, December 21, 2009

Binyam Mohamed and Sub-Standard Journalism.

The Sub-Standard really is a uniquely horrible little rag, with the latest edition featuring William Kristol questioning whether or not Obama's healthcare reform will prove to be "a Pyrrhic victory", whilst also admitting that he couldn't really remember who Pyrrhus was.

It's rare that someone admits their ignorance of a subject whilst using that very subject to make their point.

However, in one of his links, I found this amongst a complaint that Obama was releasing too many Guantanamo Bay detainees:

But the Obama administration went the opposite direction. Having promised to shutter the detention facility at Guantánamo within one year, the administration has lowered the threshold for detainees eligible to be shipped out and is expediting the procedures for transferring or releasing them.

A total of 31 Guantánamo detainees have been transferred or released since Obama took office.

Among them are several men who acknowledged -receiving training in al Qaeda's notorious "al Farouq" camp. One, Binyam Mohamed, was slated to participate in the next wave of al Qaeda attacks on American soil in 2002.

Regular readers will know how much I have covered the case of Binyam Mohamed and the fact that the British government are going to extraordinary lengths to cover the fact that they might have been complicit in his torture.

The Sub-Standard offer no proof, not even a link, to substantiate their outrageous claim.

But, speaking as someone who has been following his case with interest, I have never heard any proof to substantiate that accusation.

Indeed, Binyam Mohamed was released the moment he entered British soil. That would hardly have happened if there was any proof that he had been, "slated to participate in the next wave of al Qaeda attacks on American soil in 2002."

This right wing lie has been perpetrated before by Liz Cheney:

L. CHENEY: And instead we are releasing terrorists, like Binyam Mohammed, who planned attacks against the United States. He's now been released and lives freely in London.

Let's be clear; Binyam Mohamed has never been found guilty of any terrorist activity by any court of law. And yet these right wing loons continue to besmirch his name, safe in the knowledge that most Americans don't know who the Hell it is that they are talking about.

The British court system, and even American courts, are all acknowledging that a dreadful wrong was done to this man.

But the Sub-Standard continues to print appalling right wing lies. Republicans really do live within a different reality than the rest of us. And it would appear to be one devoid of all facts.

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