Another Friend of the U.S.?

Yemen! Isn’t this supposed to be one of the places the CIA had secret prisons? Or, better yet, I distinctly remember the lefties saying Yemen is one of the places where the U.S. was renditioning “enemy combatants”? Based on THIS alone I would have to say they were all wrong!

A 41 year old American citizen, turned muslim terrorist, wanted by the F.B.I. on terrorism charges just up and walked out of a Yemeni court..untouched. Okay..so..what is so extraordinary about this? How about the fact that he had previously escaped from a maximum security prison after having been tried and found guilty on terrorism charges!

“In February 2006, he and 22 other suspected members of Al Qaeda broke out of a high-security prison in the Yemeni capital. Alarmed, the State Department soon offered $5 million for information leading to his arrest. Yemeni officials said the men tunneled their way from the prison to the bathroom of a neighboring mosque.”

Yeah..but that’s not the kicker…..there’s more….

“Mr. Elbaneh, for instance, surrendered to Yemeni authorities last May after 15 months on the run and a lengthy negotiation. The agreement, like many others of its kind, included a pledge by Mr. Elbaneh not to carry out any terrorist acts in Yemen. In exchange, the authorities promised that he would not be sent back to prison, and would not be sent to the United States, which has sought his extradition since 2002.

Six months later, when Mr. Elbaneh and 31 others were sentenced in connection with another crime — two suicide bombings that took place in 2006 — he apparently was allowed to stay home, under loose house arrest. It is not clear whether he will serve any time on that sentence, which is now being appealed.”

Wow! They took his word that he wouldn’t commit any further crimes and let him out on house arrest. Hmmm..do you think this terrorist asshole honored his word? Hmmm..time will tell. But, here’s the best part about this whole story…

“He added that after his prison escape he surrendered directly to Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who absolved him of any more jail time.”

Wonderful. How’s that for cooperation? The freakin’ President of that shithole country absolves this terrorist scum from any jail time. As mentioned previously, they’ve also promised that he won’t be sent back to the U.S. Did I mention…

“With the judge still sitting speechless, Mr. Elbaneh, who once worked in a cheese factory in Lackawanna, N.Y., then walked out of the courthouse. No one tried to stop him.”

Got that? NO ONE TRIED TO STOP HIM!!!!!!! Other than being tried and convicted as a terrorist having a part in a suicide-bombing attack in 2006

“He is one of a group of Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna who attended a Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2001.”

Right..with friends like these..who needs enemies?

UPDATE

Check this out over here..it looks like Lt. Col Rick Francona Scooped the New York Times on this one..he had it posted a whole week earlier..and with his perspective:

Middle East Perspectives: Yemen – State sponsor of terrorism?

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