Taliban cook loses bid to get out of Gitmo

Washington Post:

A federal judge today ruled that the government may continue to detain a 29-year-old Yemeni at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said from the bench that the government had met its burden in alleging that Ghaleb al-Bihani was an enemy combatant who supported al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The government relied largely on Bihani's own statements to interrogators over the years, the judge said.

Bihani's attorneys argued that their client was only a cook for the Taliban and never fired a weapon at U.S. forces. But Leon said such allegations were enough to justify Bihani's continued detention. Quoting from Napoleon, Leon said, "An army marches on its stomach."

Shereen J. Charlick and Reuben Camper Cahn, federal public defenders in California who represented Bihani, said they would appeal the ruling. "He's been locked up for seven-plus years on allegations of being a cook," Cahn said. "I don't think he will be happy" with Leon's decision.

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Most losers are not happy. The Taliban could enter into a peace treaty with the US which would require us to return the detainees, but they are stubbornly keeping this cook in custody while the useful idiots of left try to spring him. His problem is the refusal of the Taliban to admit defeat and move on. I don't know why the left does not get this.

The ruling may also cause consternation with the Obama administration which apparently does not recognize the law which gives us the right to continue detaining this guy.