It is too early to tell, but not too early to be very worried.
Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review Online
3/1/2012
The Arabic-language newspaper al-Arabiya reported on Tuesday that the Obama administration has offered to release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to Egypt. Abdel Rahman is the infamous “Blind Sheikh” who was convicted in 1995 for masterminding a terrorist war against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. According to the late Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s founder, Abdel Rahman is also responsible for the fatwa — the necessary Islamic edict — that green-lighted the 9/11 attacks.
The alleged offer to release Abdel Rahman is said to be an effort to end the impasse over 16 American “civil-society activists” (including the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood) being detained by Egypt’s interim government. The Blind Sheikh, the report says, would be part of a prisoner exchange: 50 Egyptians swapped for the Americans whose organizations are said to have received foreign funding in violation of Egyptian law. (See my post from last week on efforts by senior Republican senators to secure the Americans’ release.) Speculation that a quid pro quo may be in place has intensified because, in recent days, Egyptian authorities suddenly adjourned the trial of the Americans and lifted the travel ban against seven of them, including Sam LaHood — freeing them to return to the U.S…
The article continues at The National Review Online.
H/T Glenn Beck on TheBlaze TV. In tonight’s segment Glenn told his viewers that the transfer is currently in the process and will be finalized after the November election. Beck’s staff has contacted the State Department and were referred to the Department of Justice.
Update: The Blaze article is posted, Source: State Department in Talks to Transfer ‘Blink Sheikh’ to Egypt
Update: From TheBlazeTV, 3 August 2012
Glenn and a panel of experts discuss the revolution being led by Islamic Extremists abroad and in America.
Update: via Instapundit:
JOURNALISM: Obama’s Security Breach In Libya Is Ignored By American Media.
Related: “President Obama Watched A Lot of Football This Weekend.”
From Twitchy: Obama Truth Team tweets out anti-Semitic Dowd column; Politico buries
Weasel Zippers, Report: Obama Regime In Talks To Transfer Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman To Egypt…
Update 2: “Brian Lilley: The MSM is lying about the muslim riots”
Just before the crowd in Cairo, Egypt erupted in violence against the U.S. embassy there, CNN’s cameras were in the capital interviewing protesters who said that the main purpose for their protest was to have Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman (known as the ‘Blind Sheik’) released from a U.S. prison. Yet as soon as the riots began, CNN began to push the false story that the riots were sparked by some low-budget American movie that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad…
Update 3: U.S. State Department Scrubbing Documents from Site?
…if this is true, it’s very damaging. The memo seems designed to put our embassies at ease for 9/11. That would go a long way toward confirming critic’s suspicions – that the Obama administration and Hillary’s State Department do not understand the threat posed by extremists in the Middle-East. It would have been better off to say nothing, than put out what that memo at least appears to represent based upon what we know at this time…
