A diplomatic row has erupted between the US and the Netherlands over its rejection of two terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. It exposes why the West is at a loss how to deal with the Islamic concepts of the State, Rights and Holy War.
Osama bin Laden's Body Guard Goes Free - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/us/politics/us-repatriates-a-saudi-detainee-from-guantanamo.html?_r=0
Osama bin Laden's Body Guard Goes Free. (H/t Saving Grace FB page)
A diplomatic row is emerging between the US and the Dutch Government. The official foreign policy of the Netherlands since the end of the Second World War has been staunchly progressively internationalist. The product of this policy is the infamous annual Bilderberg conference (link), the silent implementation of the UN's Agenda 21, The Hague as the seat of the International Court of Law and the International Criminal Court and the country's legal innovation of voluntarily subjecting national law to international treaties.
This is why the rejection to accept two detainees from the US terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay comes as somewhat of a shock.
The Dutch rejection may have an impact on hopes to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council next year. An explanation for the Dutch stance could be found in the nature of the current Government, a coalition of the Conservative Liberal Party and the Social Democrat Labor Party.
Foreign Secretary Bert Koenders presented the official line:
The Netherlands will only consider a US request to take in two detainees from Guantanamo Bay once Washington has taken "meaningful steps" to close the notorious military jail (...) The Netherlands has always maintained that the prison (..) was "contrary to international law" and has called for it to "be closed as quickly as possible," Koenders told MPs. (Source)
One source in The Hague said Koenders had given up trying to persuade the senior coalition partner VVD to accept the plan, but "had not informed the US". One might have thought the Liberal Conservatives had ethical qualms, setting two motivated terrorists loose on society; but apparently that's not at all what bothers them:
@Kassandra_Troy Graag gedaan. Het recht op een eerlijk proces is echter wel een mensenrecht. Verder doen we daarover geen uitspraken. ^R
— VVD (@VVD) September 23, 2015
Translation: "A fair trial is a human right. That's all we care to comment".
Just under half of the remaining detainees have been cleared to leave, but have yet to be resettled or repatriated. Since Obama came to power in January 2009 vowing to close down the jail, Washington has been sending Guantanamo prisoners back to their home countries or to third countries. But most of those now cleared for release are from Yemen, which is mired in a civil war. (Source)
The Bush administration correctly held that terrorism is warfare, not crime. Prisoners of war historically are taken off the battle field for the duration of the war. But this principle is lost on Obama as well as most Europeans. This is why the West is at a loss how to deal with Jihadists travelling to and from Syria, battle hardened and bent on killing Westerners as we speak.
Obama is now stuck with another 116 confirmed terrorists that are looking forward to rejoin the Jihad against the West on shortest possible notice.
Related
- THE ISLAMIC STATE IS BASED ON A SINGLE LIE
- Chart: Good and Bad Counter Jihadism
- Losing the War Against Islam