Were Chinese agents at Gitmo?

[jimmy olsen]

Fucking Chinese.
And what the hell was the Pentagon thinking. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31962209/ns/politics-cq_politics/

Were Chinese agents at Gitmo?
Some lawmakers unhappy Pentagon won't publicly comment

WASHINGTON - A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Jay Alan Liotta, principal director of the Defense Department office responsible for detainee policy, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that he would not publicly comment on whether officials from China or any other nation were granted access to foreign citizens held at the detention facility.

He offered to release that information to the committee during a closed, classified session.

Lawmakers weren't happy about his answer.

Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., said he would introduce an amendment to strip funding for Liotta's office if the Defense Department does not disclose, in open session, whether a Chinese delegation was allowed to question Guantanamo detainees who are members of a Muslim minority in China called the Uighurs.

"Unless we get a full and accurate answer, I intend to offer an amendment to defund that office, and I intend to go as high as we need to go," Moran said. "To not allow members of Congress to have communication with detainees, but you allow foreign intelligence agents ... that is an absolute insult to the U.S. Congress."

Members of Congress have been routinely denied access to the Guantanamo detainees.

"The American people have a right, without compromising national security, to understand what happened at Guantanamo, particularly in this case of the Uighurs," said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee that conducted the hearing. "The answer that it should be in a classified setting is absurd."

Ranking Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California agreed, saying he recently was denied access to terrorism detainees.

"Elected officials with oversight responsibilities have every right to talk to federal prisoners of any kind, and we thought with the change in administrations there would be a change in attitude," Rohrabacher said.

The dispute over disclosure isn't partisan, he said: "It's about protecting the constitutional balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government."

Three former Uighur detainees submitted testimony through legal counsel on Thursday alleging that all 22 detainees of the Chinese Muslim minority group were interrogated by Chinese government officials during a seven- to 10-day visit in 2002.

CQ © 2009 All Rights Reserved |

[Neil]

Let's be fair:  The US Congress deserves nothing but contempt.

[saskganesh]

professional exchange. they needed chinese torture tips.

[Caliga]

OMG OBAMA = HITLAR

[jimmy olsen]

OMG OBAMA = HITLAR

Obama was in charge in 2002? 

[Razgovory]

What a strange story.

[jimmy olsen]

What a strange story.

Could you be more specific?

[CountDeMoney]

What a strange story.

Not really.  Remember, Dubya was all about uniting the world against Them EvilDoers(tm) back in the day (even sharing intel with Putin), and considering how much Chinese cock the GOP sucks on behalf of its business constituency, I am not the least bit surprised.

[The Brain]

Makes sense. Why pay Israel when they can go directly to the source?

[Hansmeister]

What's wrong with that?  We should just return the chinese Al Qaeda members to China anyway for a hanging.  All this kvetching over this for the last few years has been rather silly.

[Caliga]

OMG OBAMA = HITLAR

Obama was in charge in 2002? 

Ranking Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California agreed, saying he recently was denied access to terrorism detainees.

"Elected officials with oversight responsibilities have every right to talk to federal prisoners of any kind, and we thought with the change in administrations there would be a change in attitude," Rohrabacher said.

[Razgovory]

What a strange story.

Could you be more specific?

I dunno.  Seems odd that Chinese military personal just wander around our restricted areas.

American: "And here is where we keep suspected terrorists we captured all over the world.  Not all of this is public knowledge so keep it under your hat"

Chinese:  Ah so.  Would you mind if I used your computer to send an email to my wife?

American:  Sure, go ahead!

Chinese:  What's the password?

American: Password.

Chinese:  Ah so.

[Razgovory]

OMG OBAMA = HITLAR

Obama was in charge in 2002? 

Ranking Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California agreed, saying he recently was denied access to terrorism detainees.

“Elected officials with oversight responsibilities have every right to talk to federal prisoners of any kind, and we thought with the change in administrations there would be a change in attitude,” Rohrabacher said.

Well it's nice to see Republicans starting to take an interest in oversight.

[DontSayBanana]

You know, for as much as republicans claim to be about small government, the ones on Capitol Hill sure seem to want to micromanage as many aspects of the running of the country as possible.

I'm pretty sure that they want it classified because if Chinese were granted access for intelligence-gathering, it didn't come without some kind of compensation toward our own.

[Alatriste]

What's wrong with that?  We should just return the chinese Al Qaeda members to China anyway for a hanging.  All this kvetching over this for the last few years has been rather silly.

Oh, yeah, I can already hear you cheering and applauding Obama if he does such a thing...