After Deadly Shooting at Jewish Museum in Brussels, French Police Arrest Four Jihadists

Three were killed at the museum -- two Israelis and a Frenchwoman. Another was shot and remains in critical condition.

The suspect, 29-year-old Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, who spent a year in Syria with jihadist fighters, was picked up on Friday by customs officials during a search for illicit drugs as he arrived in Marseille on a coach from Amsterdam. On Sunday, the Paris state prosecutor said that weapons and clothing in his possession matched those of the Brussels gunman. Nemmouche's bag contained a camera with a 40-second video which claimed responsibility for the attack, according to officials.

The French president, François Hollande, hailed Nemmouche's arrest by saying that he had been detained "as soon as he set foot in France." But commentators on Monday noted that despite Nemmouche being known to counter-terrorist authorities he had been arrested by chance and it was difficult to track suspected jihadists.

Yes, Nemmouche's arrest was apparently through dumb luck, as he was arrested during a routine customs check.

And he had been known to authorities as an extremist for years.

The four other jihadis who have now been arrested were likely arrested to make up for the fact that they let Nemmouche out of prison to murder people.

Which is pretty much what Obama's just done to secure the liberty of the likely-deserter Bergdahl -- he released some very serious terrorist commanders.

While not as well known as Guantanamo inmates like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Taliban 5 were some of the worst outlaws in the U.S. war on terror. And their release will end up replenishing the diminished leadership ranks of the Afghan Taliban at a moment when the United States is winding down the war there.

“They are undoubtedly among the most dangerous Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo,” said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior editor at the Long War Journal who keeps a close watch on developments concerning the detainees left at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

This may just be a backdoor method of releasing all the prisoners in Guantanamo.

Republicans on Capitol Hill worry that the swap of these Taliban leaders for American hostage Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is a prelude to a bigger move—the emptying out of Guantanamo entirely.

...

“This whole deal may have been a test to see how far the administration can actually push it, and if Congress doesn’t fight back they will feel more empowered to move forward with additional transfers,” said one senior GOP senate aide close to the issue. “They’ve lined up all the dominoes to be able to move a lot more detainees out of Guantanamo and this could be just the beginning.”

...

Now there’s growing concern on Capitol Hill that President Obama intends to bypass Congress to fulfill his promise to close the prison by releasing scores of more Guantanamo prisoners with little public or even private debate. Lawmakers and staffers see the Bergdahl case as only the latest maneuver in a larger plan to cut Congress out of the Guantanamo issue; and they’re not exactly reassured by senior administration officials’ refusal to disclose what steps will be taken to mitigate the risk that these prisoners could become involved again in the Afghan insurgency.

By the way, in order to avoid the charge that we negotiated with a terrorist organization, Jay Carney is now resorting to legitimizing the Taliban as a genuine army, an army that takes prisoners of war, rather than an illegal combatant terrorist organization which takes hostages.

And it gets still worse: the family of a soldier killed by the Taliban during the hunt for the likely-deserter Bergdahl were say they were, get this, lied to by the military about the circumstances of their son's death.

The furious parents of an officer who they claim was killed while searching for freed Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl today said that they have been lied to as part of a ‘cover up just like Benghazi’.

The mother and father of Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews are angry that they have been told different stories about how their son died.

First his commanders said that their son was blown up while hunting a Taliban commander - but only now that Bergdahl has been freed after five years in captivity are they learning the truth.

posted by Ace at 04:20 PM

| Access Comments