Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu and his Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah group are terrorists according to the U.S. Department of State. Bin Qumu and Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah appear to have been leading figures in the September 11, 2012 attack on U.S. personnel and installations in Benghazi. But aside from the obvious implications of the State Department designating bin Qumu and Ansar al-Sharia as terrorists, their designation is a reminder of how a growing number of individuals and groups, along with the U.S. government, support enemies even as they attack law-abiding American citizens.
The U.S. government had captured and held bin Qumu at Guantanamo Bay until 2007 when it released him. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) helped play a role in defending him. The CCR issued a press release about Guantanamo Bay in 2011 and had this to say (HT: Michelle Malkin):
News organizations around the world have covered the leaks of allegations against men currently and formerly detained at Guantánamo, but the New York Times is most notable for its unfiltered recycling of out of date and long-discredited DOD claims and its sensationalizing of inflated risk assessments over revelations of abuses committed by the U.S. For example, the Times lists five Russian men as being recidivists when not even the DOD continues to include them since they were tortured on their return to Russia (as documented by Human Rights Watch). A Center for Constitutional Rights client, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu, is also listed as a recidivist, when in fact he was jailed on his return to Libya and is now allegedly fighting with the U.S.-supported rebels, as is made clear in another article in the same paper. . . .
Like the Defense Department’s assessments of “recidivism,” the risk assessments in the files are based on patently unreliable information, much of it the product of other interrogations at Guantánamo. The files are years out of date and repeat inaccurate Bush administration allegations long since put to rest. . . .
CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last nine years – sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the first attorney to meet with an individual transferred from CIA “ghost detention” to Guantanamo. CCR has been responsible for organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country to represent the men at Guantanamo, ensuring that nearly all have the option of legal representation. . . .
The CCR comment about bin Qumu fighting with “U.S.-supported rebels” in Libya was referencing how the U.S. helped Islamic jihadists overthrow Moammar Qaddafi—someone the U.S. had previously worked with to fight terrorism. “Libyan, Once a Detainee, Is Now a U.S. Ally of Sorts” (New York Times, April 24, 2011) provides more detail on this (HT: Breitbart):
Today, Mr. Qumu, 51, is a notable figure in the Libyan rebels’ fight to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, reportedly a leader of a ragtag band of fighters known as the Darnah Brigade for his birthplace, this shabby port town of 100,000 people in northeast Libya. The former enemy and prisoner of the United States is now an ally of sorts, a remarkable turnabout resulting from shifting American policies rather than any obvious change in Mr. Qumu.
Indeed, bin Qumu did not change as he proved in Benghazi in 2012.
But even as the CCR defends those at Guantanamo Bay and the U.S. government releases them, they both go after law-abiding Americans.
The CCR helped file a lawsuit against Scott Lively because he supports marriage. The lawsuit seeks to get the United States government to rule Lively guilty of “crimes against humanity” for doing so. Lively wanted the lawsuit dismissed but a federal judge has allowed it to proceed.
Such incidents are increasingly common.
The Obama administration recently commuted the sentences of drug offenders but U.S. troops remain incarcerated for having supposedly violated the law of land warfare when they killed enemies in war.
Amnesty for illegal alien invaders remains the priority of both political parties in Washington. Meanwhile, law-abiding Americans wanting to form nonprofit organizations have been targeted by the IRS.
And while the Obama administration participates in human trafficking without much in the way of consequence, bakers who won’t do business with sodomites face possible prison time.
There are still some good people in the U.S. fighting for what is right. Even some in the American government are doing positive things. But a growing number of other people, along with an increasing portion of the U.S. government, appear to be doing the opposite. They appear to be actively supporting enemies and fighting against law-abiding American citizens.
Image: Courtesy of: http://viewpointsofasagittarian.blogspot.com/2013/08/passport-links-muslim-brotherhood-to.html
Paul Hair honorably served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a non-commissioned officer; he is veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has worked as a civilian in both the government and private sectors. His writings have appeared at various websites. Paul now runs The Security and Culture Intelligencer website (http://scintelligencer.blogspot.com/) and is an independent consultant for Wikistrat, a strategic analysis and forecasting network. Connect with him at the S&CI website and on Twitter at @PaulHair1.
