THE GITMO POPULATION DROPS JUST A LITTLE MORE…. The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay still has plenty of detainees — by most estimates, about 210 — but the population is poised to drop by four more.
The Department of Justice announced today that four more detainees from Guantanamo Bay have been transferred: one to Hungary, one to France, and two to Italy.
The detainee headed for Hungary is identified only as being “from the West Bank.” The Justice Department said that the government of Hungary wanted his identity withheld for security and privacy purposes.
The detainee transferred to France is Sabir Lahmar, a native of Algeria. In November 2008 Lahmar won his petition for habeas corpus in a federal court, which ruled that he could no longer be lawfully detained and ordered the government to arrange for his release.
The two detainees transferred to Italy are Abel Ben Mabrouk bin Hamida Boughanmi and Mohammed Tahir Riyadh Nasseri, both of Tunisia. Both were cleared for release by the government’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. Both are the subject of outstanding arrest warrants in Italy, where they will be prosecuted.
I don’t pay too close attention to the internal, day-to-day politics of Hungary, France, and Italy, but I am curious about something. Are there conservative Hungarian, French, and Italian politicians throwing tantrums right now, running off to the domestic cable networks, whining incessantly about the inevitable al Qaeda threat posed by these detainees’ mere presence on their soil?
Or are our conservative Republicans the biggest, most irrational cowards literally in the world?
