A federal judge in Washington recently ruled that a man suspected of advising 9/11 terrorists must be set free from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Because the judge did not explain the reasoning behind his two-sentence order, we are left to wonder what the consequences of his ruling could be.
What we know is that both U.S. and German intelligence agents are convinced that four men got information from the detainee, Mohamedou Ould Salahi, 10 years ago on how they might go to Afghanistan and train for so-called “holy war.” Of those four, three helped hijack planes on 9/11. The fourth is accused of helping plan the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
But what we do not know is highly troubling: Does U.S. District Judge James Robertson, who issued the release order, have information about Salahi to which neither U.S. nor German intelligence agencies are privy? Does he have some way to be certain that Salahi will not commit future terrorist acts, as many others freed from Gitmo have done?
For the moment, Salahi remains at Gitmo while a search is conducted for a country willing to take him in.
But the Supreme Court was not only wrong but unwise when it ruled 5-4 in 2008 that suspected enemy combatants at Gitmo may challenge their detention in civilian courts on U.S. soil.