[Krusty]

Here's yet another tragic case of a falsely held Gitmo detainee. All tolled, just shy of 5 years detention starting in October 2001. It was KNOWN by early 2002 that they case against him was very thin but the process of getting him released just took that long -- the last 18 months being after he was ruled innocent and was waiting on the US gov't to appeal his release. He's 24 now and lost 5 of the best years of his life in addition to most likely being scarred for life. Despite tons of evidence to the contrary, he was held based on a single unsubstantiated report from a US official.

The knee-jerk policies undertaken by the Bush administration and rubber stamped by our Congress after Sept 11th are now coming home to roost in all their ugly glory. IMHO, we really need to get back to the core principles of fairness, assumption of innocence, and due process/speedy trial. However tempting it may be to veer from them, in the long run those poison seeds are bearing bad fruit.

Kurnaz was detained in Pakistan in October 2001 and taken to Guantanamo a few months later on suspicion that he was a supporter of al-Qaeda. But records in his case show that the evidence against him was thin from the start.

By early 2002, U.S. military intelligence and German law enforcement authorities had largely concluded there was no information linking Kurnaz to al-Qaeda or terrorist activities, according to declassified records in his case that were made public last year.

A military tribunal at Guantanamo nevertheless concluded that he should remain in prison, citing a single unsubstantiated report from an unnamed U.S. government official alleging that Kurnaz was an al-Qaeda member who had been trying to reach Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces.

In January 2005, U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green criticized the military for ignoring evidence in Kurnaz's favor and ruled that his detention was illegal. Her ruling was stayed while the government appealed.

Although Kurnaz grew up in Germany and was a legal resident here at the time of his capture, the German government at first declined to intercede in his behalf, saying he was not entitled to its help because he was not a citizen. But Germany changed its position last year and Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the case in meetings with President Bush, which led to a diplomatic agreement to release Kurnaz, German officials said.

Kurnaz's lawyers said U.S. officials had asked Germany to place Kurnaz under surveillance and open a criminal investigation of him as a condition of his release, but relented in the end. "There will be no criminal charges, no criminal investigation," said Azmy, the defense counsel. "He's a completely free man."

[Dork.]

Krusy, Why do you hate America so much? If President Bush says we need a place like Gitmo to hold enemy combatants, then questioning that judgement is treasnous, and you should be strung up!

Think of all the bad guys we've had to torture over the past five-or-so years. With so many people out to harm us, of course one or two innocent people would get swept up in it! Consider this young man as having sacrificed five years in the prime of his life to making sure that Freedom is On the March, just like our troops. You do support our troops, right?

After all, don't you remember that famous saying about our legal system: "It's better to condemn and innocent man than let a thousand guilty men go free, (if they're brown and not Christian)." I think that's how it goes, anyway. If it's a choice between keeping this man in jail or releasing 1000 airplane-bombing crazies, I know which I'd choose.