“Former” Enemy Combatants to be Released Friday (10/10/08) into the U.S. (Updated – Stay Issued)

UPDATE 10/13/08: Good news – the detainees have not yet been released into the American public. CFIF reports:

Luckily, this latest detainee disaster was averted — at least temporarily — when an appellate panel issued a stay the following day so that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit could consider the issue before the status quo changed. Nevertheless, the stark and shocking reality of the initial ruling remains.

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ORIGINAL POST, 10/8/08:

I received this today from Curt Levy, of the Committee for Justice:

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina’s order yesterday that 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay be released into the United States – specifically, the Washington, DC area – against the President’s wishes, reminds us of two things:

1. The Supreme Court’s June 2008 Boumediene decision, which bestowed the right of habeas corpus on terror suspects held at Gitmo and was denounced by many critics of judicial activism, has very real consequences for Americans. Just ask those Washington, DC area residents who will soon be living down the block from men that until recently were classified as enemy combatants. We hope that these men pose no danger to the United States, but that’s not really the point. In the wake of Boumediene, unelected judges can overrule the President’s decisions concerning the conduct of the War on Terror, so it’s just a matter of time before Americans pay the price.
2. Whether Barack Obama or John McCain appoints federal judges for the next four years will have a profound impact on the War on Terror. McCain denounced the Boumediene decision, while Obama praised it. But most importantly, as we noted in our October 3 e-mail, Obama has been unabashed about his intention to appoint liberal judicial activists to the federal bench. If Obama has his way, Judge Ricardo Urbina will have plenty of like-minded company. If the result is enemy combatants living down the block, will a president who once palled around with domestic terrorists care?

Here is the White House Response:

We are deeply concerned by, and strongly disagree with, today’s decision by a federal district court ordering the release into the United States — by this Friday morning — of 17 Uighurs currently held at Guantanamo Bay. This decision, we believe, is contrary to our laws, including federal immigration statutes passed by Congress. The Department of Justice intends to seek emergency relief tonight to stay the court’s order and to request a prompt reversal of the order by the Court of Appeals. The district court’s ruling, if allowed to stand, could be used as precedent for other detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including sworn enemies of the United States suspected of planning the attacks of 9/11, who may also seek release into our country.

Consistent with the safety of our citizens and the safety of the Uighurs themselves, the United States will continue working to find a country to which these men could be transferred.

Did you catch that? We can’t find a country that will take these prisoners (either because they would be “tortured” there, or because the countries simply don’t want them living there), so this judge thinks it’s a good idea to just turn them loose to live among us. Keep in mind, these folks have been classified as “enemy combatants.” They aren’t in jail for petty theft, or some white collar crime – we actually have reason to believe they want to kill Americans. Yeah, let’s just turn them loose and see what happens.

Are you KIDDING ME?!