SEPTEMBER 5, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
September 5 is … Be Late for Something Day
Now today must have been designated for Glenn.
HAPPY LABOR DAY, the unofficial end of summer. I hope you have had an enjoyable summertime. Don’t be late.
Thank God President failed to follow through with this campaign promise and is late in closing Gitmo.
NATO and Afghan forces have killed a former Guantanamo detainee who returned to Afghanistan to become a key al-Qaida ally, international officials said Saturday.
The militant's death was a reminder of the risks of trying to end a controversial detention system without letting loose people who will launch attacks on Americans.
Sabar Lal Melma, who was released from Guantanamo in 2007, had been organizing attacks in eastern Kunar province and funding insurgent operations, NATO spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said.
A NATO statement described Melma as a "key affiliate of the al-Qaida network" who was in contact with senior al-Qaida members in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another former detainee who joined the al-Qaida franchise in Yemen was killed in a recent U.S. airstrike there.
About 520 Guantanamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world. There are 171 inmates still held at the facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2009 just after taking office asking for it to be shut down within the year, but it has remained open as the administration has worked to find ways to deal with the inmates.
After the fall of the Taliban, Melma, 49, was given the rank of brigadier general in the Afghan National Army and placed in charge of approximately 600 border security troops in Kunar, according to a file made public by WikiLeaks.
But he was suspected of still helping carry out rocket attacks against U.S. troops, and he was captured in August 2002 while attending a meeting with U.S. military officials in Asadabad and transferred to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in October that year. While imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. determined he was a "probable facilitator for al-Qaida members" and was also thought to have links to Pakistan's intelligence service. In 2005, he was described as a "medium risk" to the United States. He was sent back to Afghanistan in September 2007.
NATO said in a statement that coalition forces have captured or killed more than 40 al-Qaida insurgents in eastern Afghanistan this year.
Why would we ever release our enemy to fight against us? Why not put several thousand people to work building a high security prison at a military facility, try these combatants, release the not guilty ones by putting them on a small power boat in the Mediterranean Sea and imprison the guilty ones for life. We could then keep track of who has contact with them as a lead to other terrorists.
On a happier note, life sometimes imitates art. Free at last. The wayward emperor penguin dubbed "Happy Feet" is back in the ocean south of New Zealand. The penguin was released from the research vessel Tangaroa on Sunday morning about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of remote Campbell Island in water about 935 feet (285 meters) deep.
Wellington Zoo veterinarian Lisa Argilla said Happy Feet needed some "gentle encouragement" to leave the purpose-built crate that had been his home on the boat for six days. He slid down a makeshift ramp backward and then took off.
The bird was discovered June 20 on a New Zealand beach far from his Antarctic feeding grounds. He became sick from eating sand and was transferred to the Wellington Zoo. His story has captured the imagination of people around the world.
If you go to the website below, you can track the journey of Happy Feet on his way home. He has a tracking device glued to him. Good luck buddy.
http://www.nzemperor.com/#mapt
Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should too or at least think about.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
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Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools." - Alice Walker
