78 yo Gitmo detainee allowed home

[intaglio]

Report from "The Guardian" http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1878415,00.html

78 years old, has cataracts, needs a walker.

On aircraft home blindfolded, with legs chained to the floor

snip/ It's hard to picture Haji Nasrat Khan as an international terrorist. For a start, the grey-bearded Afghan can barely walk, shuffling along on a three-wheeled walking frame. His sight is terrible - he squints through milky eyes that sometimes roll towards the heavens - while his helpers have to shout to make themselves heard. And as for his age - nobody knows for sure, not even Nasrat himself. "I think I am 78, or maybe 79," he ventures uncertainly, pausing over a cup of green tea.

I will not comment further. I do not wich to start ranting

[razors edge]

1. Bush is afriad of everything and everyone isn't he.

[rodeodance]

2. says he was told over a year ago that he was innocent.

Nasrat insisted it was all eyewash, the weapons had been gathered for decommissioning; and he fought the Soviets under a different commander. The accusations probably came from an Afghan enemy feeding misinformation to the Americans, he said. "You people do not realise who is an enemy and who is a friend," he told his captors, according to US military documents. "The people that hated you were very few but you just grabbed people like me."

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, his son Abdul Wahid was fully embracing America's democratic vision. Last October the 27-year-old was elected to Kabul's provincial council. He went to the Americans. "I told them several times my father was innocent," he said.

Last month Nasrat returned to his home in Yakhdan, a remote village at the end of a windswept rutted road, to a hero's welcome. Wellwishers streamed in from all around to Nasrat's house - a fortress-like compound that dominates the village, with high battlements, thick walls and a rose garden bordered with spent shell casings. Nasir Khan, 30, walked five hours from neighbouring Kapisa province with a Kalashnikov under his arm. "I have come to give my warm regards to Haji. He is my close friend," he said. "I have very good memories of him from the jihad."

Some foreign visitors came too, including US officers from the base in nearby Sarobi. Nasrat welcomed them as warmly as everyone else. "They said they were sorry," he said afterwards. "I told them I have forgiven you for what you have done." But days later he fell sick with fever, and his reconciliatory spirit wore thin. He wanted compensation, he said, but more importantly he sought justice. "They told me one year ago I was innocent. So why did they only release me now?" he asked.

[magellan]

3. So Bush** and the Repugs are scared of a 78-year-old blind, deaf cripple??

That poor man!! WHY was he detained and WHY for so long??? :cry: :cry:

I am TIRED of this bullshit!! Why can't the people in charge distinguish between threat and non-threat? Or is it just a quota they're after? Warm bodies, soon to grow cold??

"LOOK, AMERICA!! WE CAPTURED AND HELD WITHOUT REASON AN OLD MAN JUST SO YOU COULD FEEL SAFE!! WE SHACKLED HIM TO THE FLOOR AND INTERROGATED HIM FOR OVER A YEAR, THEN WE LET HIM GO BECAUSE WE HAD NOTHING ON HIM!!

"NEXT!!"

GOD DAMMIT, I hate the monsters in our government who are behind this unnecessary SUFFERING!!!

[Bucky]

4. Are they crazy? Letting this terrorist menace out on the streets to kill?

Hide!