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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (28493)	10/11/2004 11:25:56 AM
From: James Calladine	Respond to of 173976

U.S.-Born 'Enemy Combatant' Flown Home to Saudi Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:46 AM ET By Dominic Evans RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States flew long-held accused enemy combatant Yaser Hamdi to Saudi Arabia after a 10-day delay caused by worries in Riyadh about his release deal, U.S. officials said on Monday. The transfer of American-born, Saudi-raised Hamdi ends a case that led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Americans held in the United States as "enemy combatants" must be able to contest their detention. Hamdi had been in U.S. military custody since he was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan in November 2001 and accused of fighting for the Taliban militia that had harbored Osama bin Laden. No charges were brought against him. "He came home," his father Esam Hamdi told Reuters by telephone. "He just arrived and we are happy to see him." The United States agreed in September to free Hamdi by the end of the month but Saudi officials complained they were told too little about the deal struck with his lawyers and held up the departure until Sunday, according to an official who asked not to be identified. In a case that has caused some friction between the two traditional allies, U.S. officials said the Saudis also raised questions about how to enforce terms such as the ban on Hamdi leaving the kingdom for five years. The U.S. citizen was kept in solitary confinement and had no access to the legal system until the Supreme Court ruling in June, which was one of a series this year that limited President Bush's war on terrorism. Instead of Hamdi having his day in court, the U.S. government negotiated a deal in which he also gave up American citizenship and agreed not to travel to the United States for 10 years and to tell the U.S. embassy of plans to travel outside Saudi Arabia for 15 years. The State Department spent two weeks seeking to assure Saudi Arabia it was not responsible for enforcing the deal. Still, the length of the delay may indicate Saudi Arabia wanted to signal its irritation over being excluded from negotiations. After the transfer, the United States issued a short statement with a nod to such Saudi sensitivity. "The United States appreciates the cooperation of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in facilitating this transfer," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington were not immediately available to comment on Hamdi's transfer from a U.S. Navy base in Charleston, South Carolina. Relations between the two countries have been tense since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers. (Additional reporting by Saul Hudson in Washington) olympics.reuters.com