British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay
[Reuters]
By Guy Faulconbridge and Ali Abdelaty
Reuters February 22, 2017

By Guy Faulconbridge and Ali Abdelaty

LONDON/CAIRO (Reuters) - An Islamic State suicide bomber from Britain who blew himself up in an attack on Iraqi forces this week had been given compensation for his detention in the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Western security sources said on Wednesday.

Islamic State militants said Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, a British citizen who was originally known as Ronald Fiddler and then cast himself as Jamal Udeen al-Harith, detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base southwest of Mosul this week.

The militants also published a photograph of the smiling bomber surrounded by wires in the seat of what appeared to be the car in which he blew himself up.

The Islamic State statements could not be independently verified by Reuters but three Western security sources said it was highly likely that Britani was the bomber and now dead.

Originally from the northern English city of Manchester, he converted to Islam in his 20s. He was detained in Afghanistan by U.S. special forces and taken to Guantanamo in 2002.

Britani was freed in 2004 after the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair lobbied for his release and later traveled to Syria to fight with Islamic State.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday the government was not able to verify his identity. "There is no independent confirmation of the identity of this man who is believed to be dead in Mosul," he told reporters.

Asked whether he believed Britani had moved on from Syria he said: "I am not going to comment on intelligence matters". He also said the conflict in Syria meant it was impossible to verify events there.

Britain reached a civil damages settlement with British former Guantanamo Bay inmates in 2010, then-Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke told parliament at the time, but he did not disclose the size of the payouts, citing confidentiality agreements.

The Daily Mail reported that Britani had been awarded $1.25 million by the British government after claiming British agents knew or were complicit in his alleged mistreatment. May's spokesman declined to comment on the details of any payments or whether the government had been monitoring Britani.

Britani's family, in a statement to the BBC, said their son had not received a million pounds in compensation and that they believed that figure was a group settlement, including costs, covering other inmates too.

In a statement posted by his office on Twitter, Blair said the Mail newspaper had led a campaign pushing for Guantanamo detainees' release, and it had been supported by lawmakers from May's Conservatives.

"The fact is that this was always a very difficult situation where any government would have to balance proper concern for civil liberties with desire to protect our security, and we were likely to be attacked whatever course we took," he said.

(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan in London; Editing by Stephen Addison and Dominic Evans)

to balance proper concern for civil liberties

Well aint that so damn nice?
This peaceful, mistreated muslim scum, won compensation. I guess a great liberal reward to go on a spreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee with, before he did exactly as Islam commands- murder in the name or their cult- god-Alllah= Satan..
Yes folks, we should bow to these insane monsters and understand that they have every damn right to hate us and murder us-- so says their stinking appeasers -libs/dems/leftists here in this country!
And so this insane philosophy was promoted by dem party and that traitor obama.-Tyr

[Russ]

Unfortunately, this is the price we pay if we want to feel guilty toward our attackers.

[Gunny]

Unfortunately, this is the price we pay if we want to feel guilty toward our attackers.

i got some compensation !753 fps. Velocity drop is 3 clicks every 200 meters, Then you check your windage. Diplomacy, Gunny style.

[Drummond]

Well aint that so damn nice?
This peaceful, mistreated muslim scum, won compensation. I guess a great liberal reward to go on a spreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee with, before he did exactly as Islam commands- murder in the name or their cult- god-Alllah= Satan..
Yes folks, we should bow to these insane monsters and understand that they have every damn right to hate us and murder us-- so says their stinking appeasers -libs/dems/leftists here in this country!
And so this insane philosophy was promoted by dem party and that traitor obama.-Tyr

I'm sure my reply is entirely predictable.

Yes, our Left (aided & abetted by the BBC --- now a banned media outlet at Trump press conferences, along with Gabby's much-preferred Guardian newspaper ?) did a lot to push the case to say that Gitmo incarcerations were 'unfair' and 'cruel', and that certain British inmates needed to be released, ASAP.

Now, we see an example of where that leads. A supposed 'victim' of Gitmo, having been released -- AND having received COMPENSATION !!! -- turns out to be the terrorist scum he was always said to be. But, what would Obama care ? He wanted Gitmo wound down, to be closed .. not concerned at all that he could be releasing vicious murderers to murder all over again.

I've always taken the view that American military personnel and your intelligence people are NOT berserkers - that you have good reasons for what you do. The Left, of course, would happily release the worst of scum into the world rather than concede that reality.

I don't care that he was British. Vermin is vermin ... end of story.

[Gunny]

I'm sure my reply is entirely predictable.

Yes, our Left (aided & abetted by the BBC --- now a banned media outlet at Trump press conferences, along with Gabby's much-preferred Guardian newspaper ?) did a lot to push the case to say that Gitmo incarcerations were 'unfair' and 'cruel', and that certain British inmates needed to be released, ASAP.

Now, we see an example of where that leads. A supposed 'victim' of Gitmo, having been released -- AND having received COMPENSATION !!! -- turns out to be the terrorist scum he was always said to be. But, what would Obama care ? He wanted Gitmo wound down, to be closed .. not concerned at all that he could be releasing vicious murderers to murder all over again.

I've always taken the view that American military personnel and your intelligence people are NOT berserkers - that you have good reasons for what you do. The Left, of course, would happily release the worst of scum into the world rather than concede that reality.

I don't care that he was British. Vermin is vermin ... end of story.

Very well-stated. sir.

[fj1200]

What terrorism was he involved in prior to going to Gitmo?

Harith was born in the northern-city of Manchester in 1966 and was known as Ronald Fiddler before converting to Islam nearly 30 years ago. According to Department of Defense files released by Wikileaks, Harith was detained by the Taliban in Pakistan in 2001 on suspicion of being a Western spy. He was sent to Afghanistan then transferred to U.S. forces, who sent him to Guantánamo Bay in Feb. 2002 due to his "knowledge of prisoners and interrogation tactics."In September that year, Major General Michael E. Dunlavey recommended Harith's release as he wasn't thought to be "affiliated with Al Qaeda or a Taliban leader." The recommendation was overruled nine months later due to new intelligence, which alleged the "detainee was possible involved in former terrorist attack against the U.S."
He was held without charge in Guantánamo for two years. He later said that he was beaten, held in solitary confinement and forced to take injections of unknown substances at the facility. According to his Guantánamo file, al-Hadith travelled extensively in the Middle East between 1992 and 1996, and traveled to Sudan with a well-known al-Qaeda operative, referred to as Abu Bakr, in 1992, when Osama bin Laden's network was active there.

http://time.com/4680007/jamal-harith...namo-bay-isis/