Hannity falsely claimed NI director plans to "release ... enemy combatants on American soil"
SUMMARY: Sean Hannity falsely claimed DNI Dennis Blair plans to "release ... enemy combatants on American soil." In fact, Blair has outlined a "process" to determine whether and how to release detainees who are not "too dangerous to let out" and have not "committed offenses that merit punishment."
On the March 27 edition of his Fox News program, Sean Hannity stated that "[t]he director of national intelligence says Gitmo detainees will be released right here in the U.S.," and later alleged: "So we're going to release these enemy combatants on American soil, OK?" Hannity also referred to the detainees that "we're going to release" as "Gitmo combatants." In fact, in the comments to which Hannity referred, National Intelligence director Dennis Blair was not proposing that the United States release "enemy combatants on American soil"; rather, during a March 26 press conference, Blair outlined the "process" by which the government would determine whether and how to release detainees into the United States who are not "too dangerous to let out" and have not "committed offenses that merit punishment."
Indeed, Blair was answering a specific question about detainees belonging to the Uighur ethnic group from western China. As Media Matters for America has noted, the Bush administration told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in September 2008 that the 17 Uighur detainees "will be treated as if they are no longer enemy combatants."
As Media Matters noted, Hannity also falsely claimed during the same Fox News segment that "we actually have from the Pentagon 61 people that we released from Gitmo. Sixty-one have gone back to the battlefield."
From Blair's March 26 press conference:
QUESTION: On the disposition of the prisoners at Gitmo, you've got some options, and none of them are really great. You give them to governments overseas who may jail them or release them, and we've seen some of what's happened there. There's some talk about releasing, or putting some in U.S. jails.
BLAIR: Right.
QUESTION: Possibly releasing some inside the United States, the Justice Department talked a little bit about perhaps releasing the Uighurs in the U.S., or at least some of them. What criteria are you using to make those determinations, and what -- if anyone is released into the U.S., what kind of follow-up will you do with them for security and what kind of assistance would you give them to sort of get them started in our country?
BLAIR: I probably couldn't describe the process any better than you just did. We are building dossiers on each of the detainees in Guantanamo that puts together all of the information we have about them. We're developing a process to make an evaluation of what can be done with them, given the options that we have.
And in the case of each of those -- each of the, those options, we are in fact thinking through the additional measures that have to be taken, some of which you cited. If they are sent to another country, we have to be sure that that country will treat them in a humane fashion. So that's part of the -- that's part of the consideration. If they are to be detained in the United States after some sort of process that determines that they are too dangerous to let out, or have committed offenses that merit punishment, we have to worry about where they're put and what the effect is on the -- what that effect might be on the place where they're placed.
If we are to release them in the United States, you can't just sort of, as you said, put them on the street and there, but we need some sort of assistance to them to start a new life and not return to some of the conditions that may have inspired them in the first place. So all that is a work in progress. It's under intense timeline because a year is not a very long time to go through that complexity. So all that's in process.
From the March 27 edition of Fox News' Hannity:
HANNITY: The director of national intelligence says Gitmo detainees will be released right here in the U.S. And guess what? Given federal assistance to start a new life. You've got to be kidding me. What's next? Straight ahead.
[...]
HANNITY: All right. So I'm going to start with you, considering we were battling this morning.
JAY THOMAS (radio host): Sure.
HANNITY: We'll pick it right up where we left it.
THOMAS: I don't know if we were battling, but --
HANNITY: Nah, I'm just teasing. It was fun -- you were fun. So we're going to release these enemy combatants on American soil, OK?
THOMAS: Yeah.
HANNITY: You know, I don't know if it includes Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9-11, but we're going to release these guys --
THOMAS: There's only 20 of them we're releasing, though.
HANNITY: All right, but they're going to be released.
THOMAS: But aren't they Chinese guys? Aren't they, like --
BETSY McCAUGHEY (former New York lieutenant governor): Twenty? One could do deadly damage.
THOMAS: I understand. They could --
HANNITY: She's -- I think he was kidding at this point.
THOMAS: You make me want to have a handy wipe. I know you're into the -- whatever.
But it's 20 guys. Seventeen are Chinese. And if they go back to China -- they're from a Muslim section or whatever -- they may be killed. And who's -- and they've proven or said that they weren't enemy combatants.
Wouldn't you love them just to open the gate at Guantánamo and let them just stay in Cuba?
HANNITY: Just go -- in Cuba.
THOMAS: And do the -- what is it, the Mariel -- the boat lift that we hated so much? But I have to tell you, I'm pro-choice on this. I think you give them a choice. They either go back to their country of origin -- they go into -- they can go into Cuba if they want, or we release them into any number of Chinatowns in the United States. I mean, what else --
HANNITY: Where -- where you think they would be --
THOMAS: They would be welcome. They would be welcome. They --
HANNITY: Well, look --
THOMAS: But they didn't do anything. Now, remember now --
HANNITY: But here's -- but here's the other side of this.
THOMAS: -- it's a democracy. We said they didn't do anything.
HANNITY: But we're going to release them, Betsy, and then we're going to give them money. I mean --
McCAUGHEY: This is --
HANNITY: -- we're going to bail out --
THOMAS: Well --
HANNITY: -- we're going to bail out the Gitmo combatants. This is, you know --
McCAUGHEY: Right. This is -- the president's action toward these military tribunals has been an outrage, especially to the families who lost someone on 9-11 or with the attack of the USS Cole.
THOMAS: But these people didn't kill anybody in 9-11.
McCAUGHEY: But --
SOPHIA NELSON (attorney): Let her finish.
THOMAS: They were in China.
McCAUGHEY: The -- the standard of proof is --
HANNITY: Some -- some. We don't know exactly who specifically --
THOMAS: Seventeen are Chinese and three --
McCAUGHEY: -- is too high.
THOMAS: -- are Middle Eastern.
McCAUGHEY: We know that -- we know that one of the Gitmo detainees who was released because he said that he wanted to go back to his family and farm his land --
HANNITY: Yeah.
McCAUGHEY: -- is now leading the Taliban effort in southern Afghanistan.
HANNITY: No, that's true. But as a matter of fact --
McCAUGHEY: So --
HANNITY: No, we actually have from the Pentagon 61 people that we released from Gitmo. Sixty-one have gone back to the battlefield. So, I'm not -- I don't even know if I necessarily have the confidence that the government is releasing people that are truly and completely innocent.
McCAUGHEY: Our major obligation --
NELSON: I think we're -- look --
McCAUGHEY: -- is to the safety of our citizens --
HANNITY: And I agree with you.
MCCAUGHEY: -- not to these Gitmo detainees.
HANNITY: And this is a war.
NELSON: Picking up on Betsy's point -- and it's very important. This is a serious issue. This isn't something we ought to be joking about. We're setting a very dangerous precedent here, releasing people -- terrorists -- and I really get annoyed when people talk about democracy. They're not in a democracy. This is a democracy for American citizens, not terrorists who come here to harm us or do our people harm. I don't think they have any rights.
THOMAS: If you held me for seven years --
NELSON: I think that --
THOMAS: -- and I didn't do anything --
NELSON: Too bad. Well, you know what?
THOMAS: -- I would be really mad.
NELSON: The bottom line is --
THOMAS: Well, I'm sorry. They --
NELSON: -- those rights of due process --
THOMAS: They have said that --
NELSON: -- apply to American citizens --
THOMAS: -- they didn't do anything.
NELSON: -- I don't think they ought to apply to terrorist citizens.
HANNITY: You know, I gotta tell you --
THOMAS: There's only 20 that they say they didn't do anything.
HANNITY: There's a hard -- this is a hard question, because, you know what? I'm sort of leaning -- I've been so pro-death penalty my whole life -- but the Innocence Project, you know, by Barry Scheck, has kind of made me question, as a pro-life guy, that maybe that's not a good idea. We've made too many mistakes.
THOMAS: What about the money it costs to put someone to death? It's much more expensive.
HANNITY: I don't care how expensive it is. If you rape a child or kill somebody, and it's on video -- now, my standard is increasing. If you're on video, and we've got, you know, 1,000 percent proof, I have no problem. You go.
But the only point is, is if we make mistakes, these are people that are going to go out there, they think God is inspiring them with 72 virgins in heaven to kill Americans. And I -- this is a time of war. They declared war on us. Some of them were picked up on the battlefield. I'm just -- I'm worried we make a mistake, and America pays the price.
THOMAS: Why do you think that these 20 are guilty, if we say they're not guilty? Why do you think these 20 -- there's 246. Twenty may be released into the United States.
McCAUGHEY: You're confusing the standard of proof.
NELSON: Exactly.
McCAUGHEY: They may not be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but we cannot afford to expose our nation to the risk that they may be -- mal-intended.
THOMAS: Then send them home to wherever they came from, and that's it.
HANNITY: Don't release them in the U.S., and certainly don't give them --
McCAUGHEY: That's right.
THOMAS: Send them home.
Actually, if people are worried about these 20 detainees, aren't we in a better position to keep an eye on them here in America rather than if they are released in a foreign country where they can associate freely with AlQaeda elements? Look what happened to the 61 detainees who were released in foreign countries and who have allegedly "returned" to the battlefield. Apparently someone wasn't watching them closely enough.
I amazes me how these nincompoops sit around the table waiting to talk without even listening to the person speaking before them. How many times does it need repeated that these Chinese did nothing compared to how many times this person actually heard the words? No, words don't matter, only what is in their brain ready to come out. And SeannieTheSissyBoy is a prime example that someone can be successful without having an ounce of intelligence. And the woman was dumber.
In the world of the blind a one-eyed man is king...Well, on Fox, a 60 IQ is genius(unless you got the boobs and the legs)
and your blonde dont forget about that too
why is Betsy McCaughey even speaking about this? i mean seriously. thought she was supposed to be an "expert" on healthcare. i say that in quotes since she is a shill for the hudson institute.
and now we have a new level to the mannity's paranoia.
Annie Baby is too busy at the moment defending herself against attacks by Christian conservatives for not being anti-abortion enough...
http://coloradoindependent.com/25233/ann-coulter-bushwacked-on-radio-by-conservative-christian-abortion-foes
Awwwww...poor Annie. LOL...
'In typical Coulter fashion, she calls the critics “crazy Romney froofers,” “fanatics” and “on the order of 9-11 conspiracy theorists” before hanging up.'
You know for once I sort of agree with Ms. Adamsapple.
Hannity, what a loon.
If, and I've said this before, we are trying to prove that our system is justice is the best in the world, which I think it is (it's not perfect, but it's not too bad), then we should try everyone in Gitmo in American courts. Not in military tribunals. I like how they throw out the USS Cole, remember people, Clinton caught those people, and had them imprisoned. All of the terrorists on 9/11 were killed, and we still haven't caught Bin Laden who was the major planner on that one.
Now, if these 20 are innocent, release them. You cannot send them back to China, because the Chinese oppress all religion in their country, and there is a good chance, just getting sent back to China, they disappear into their prison systems for the rest of their lives for having the gall to practice a religion.
And I like how they're calling these 20 terrorists, even though, you know, they haven't done anything.
Hannity and his cohorts are laughable, and dangerous.
MAGNOLIA ,you are right. If they are innocent ,then they deserve to be released and HANNITY is nothing but a right wing fool.
Exactly, and if they are guilty, I would be just as happy to have them rot in jail for the rest of their lives.
but rightwingers want them all killed up front so God can sort them out.
First off, at what point to prisoners of war get US Citizen standing in our courts? Also, since there was no CSI on scene gathering evidence, no police giving Moranda rights on the battlefields of Afghanistan, I guess we have reasonable doubt for all cases and we should just them walk. That's a grand plan. I'm glad I don't live in a major metro area (a.k.a. prime target).
It is funny, too, how you congratulate Clinton for because he "had them imprisoned". Odd how I don't remember those trials on US soil.
When they are brought onto American soil. The Constitution does not refer to "citizens" it says "all people" have rights. As soon as they were brought to Guantanimo, they had all the rights due them by the fact that they were on American soil.
You're correct, but only because there si no such thing as "Moranda rights."
Congratulations, you have given birth to yet another bouncing baby straw man. I hope you and the scarecrow are resting comfortably.
Amnesia really isn't a defense. What is odd is that you don't remember. The trials took place in New York, the first bombers of the World trade Center were convicted and imprisoned.
Try again when you have even the slightest clue what you are talking about, because your post is laughably inept.
1) The phrase "all people" does not appear anywhere in the constitution. "All persons" appears twice, once in the 12th ammendment, once in the 14th. Neither have anything to do with this discussion.
2) Sorry for my misspelling. Miranda, Moranda, whatever. The point I was trying to make is that in no war, ever, have compatants been given civil standing in the court system of the country that took them prisoner. It has always been handled in one way or another by the military. For instance, when al Qada takes soldiers prisoner, they behead them, sometimes posting the "sentence" on the internet.
3) A strawman argument is when someone claims something has actually been done by a non-exist someone. For instance when Obama said, "they say he has a funny name, and oh yeah, he's black", that's a strawmen argument because nobody could ever produce the "they". He was just projecting prejudice on his political rivals. Again, to stay on topic, the point I was making was that the ones left at Gitmo are generally the worst of the lot. The rest have already been released. Releasing these people in the US is asking for trouble no matter how you look at it. If you want to bury your head in the sand, I guess that's up to you.
4) The trial of the USS Cole terrorists (which is what you were congratulating Bill for) took place in San'a Yemen.
Why is it that libs ALWAYS resort to name-calling? Is there no such thing as civility on the left?
It wouldn't be a matter o sending them back to China. They were not captured in China. They were captured in Afghanistan. If they have been cleared then I say release them, but one can't help but to wonder what 17 Muslim men were doing hanging out in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Perhaps they were there spreading the love filled interpretation of Islam?
In any event, it seems stupid to release 17 men who were detained for 5 years after being found innocent. Ya think they might be a little P1$$ed? I have read that officials in Munich have offered to take them. Sounds good to me, but don't set them in my community near my family and I'm guessing that you don't want 17 Muslims who are likely mad at our government in your neighborhood. Or do you?
USS Cole, remember people, Clinton caught those people, and had them imprisoned
A little revisionist history there Mag? I know you people believe the Philanderer in Chief clinton was the greatest crime fighter since Underdog, but come on...
USS Cole mastermind charged
Check those dates mag...they dont pan out for Slick Willy
Why were we refueling ships in Yemen anyway? That is the question the caped crusader clinton should be/have been asked. Especially in light that the USS The Sullivans attempted bombing was foiled there in Yemen. Clinton is squareley to blame for the USS Cole bombing. There is no reason that ship should have been in port there.
Listen to Hannity's radio show and try to keep track of how many times he says he's "terrified" at some action by Obama, or that he's "frightened" or "stunned" or "shocked" or "terrified" by something Obama either wants to do, or is just accused by Hannity of wanting to do.
When was Hannity ever "stunned" or "frightened" or "shocked" or "terrified" by illegal wiretaps by the Bush Administration? When did Hannity ever accuse Bush of expanding government power? Yet, everything Obama does just floors this clown.
Hannity is terrified ? More like getting richer ( and more portly ).
If that were a drinking game, he wouldn't have any coherent listeners after 20 minutes. SORRY, how foolish of me, he has NO coherent listeners at the beginning of the show.
jjame2880, Dont forget SEANNIE BOYS first job is to extole the virtues of the NEO-CONSERVATIVE wing of theREPUBLICAN PARTY and trash everyhting and everyone else.
ive read the articles, and hannity is simply lying. Blair never once said he was going to have them released on US soil. ie.the continental US. i think if anything he would have them sent to China and let the Chinese take care of them
FISHEYGIRL, It's not hatred of SEAN HANNITY ,its that most of us believe he is a liar and mouthpiece for the REPUBLICAN PARTY. We know tht there is nothing,fair or balanced or objective about him.
i wonder when michelle bachmann's next "report from behind enemy lines" is going to come out on the mannity's show or radio
This is just insane. None of the participants know a lick about the Gitmo Uyghurs and their situation. I don't know why I read this stuff, as it only makes me mad.
regeramy6160,
I know a little about the Uyghurs. they come from Central Asia and I know if they are returned to China they will be executed without haste. The Chinese have warned any country not to give asylum to these 18 men. You know in China any form of religion or speaking against communism is a no- no. However, they were caught in aterrorist training camp with al-quaeda and taliban present in the camp when it was bombed in 2001. I'm sure they are not sheep lost in the wilderness.