9/11 kin sees face of terror; condemn plan to shut down Gitmo

Regardless of one's position on Guantanamo Bay it is clear that several ex-inmates have returned to terrorist activities and that many Americans are fearful that released detainees will soon be brought into the United States. Certainly the Obama administration will be struggling to find a location for the detainees and perhaps more detainees may be released to Arab countries. The latest Gitmo ex-inmate who went free has joined Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Losing a loved one to terrorism is a terrible thing. It's unnatural and very cruel. Therefore it is unlikely that families of victims are comforted knowing that inmates, who are gleeful about their involvement with the 9/11 attacks which killed 3,000 innocent Americans, will soon be brought to the United States.

Below is Stephanie Slepian's article from the Staten Island Advance:

It was little more than 24 hours between the time Lorraine Arias-Beliveau boarded a plane and the moment she came face-to-face with the five men accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The former New Springville resident sat in a courtroom at Guantanamo Bay on Jan. 19 with several other family members who lost loved ones in the Twin Towers. They were selected in a lottery to observe pre-trial hearings.

She was stunned by what she heard: The suspects, switching back and forth between Arabic and English, shrugged off potential death sentences and proclaimed they were proud of their role in the attacks.

Their words forced her to step outside of the courtoom for a few minutes.

"It was surreal, it was chilling," said Mrs. Arias-Beliveau, whose brother, Adam Arias, a 37-year-old Dongan Hills resident and vice president of operations for Euro Brokers, was seen standing outside Tower 2 helping firefighters direct New Yorkers away from the building when it collapsed.

"These men were responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people and they stared right at us and laughed. We just stared right back." But what was even more stunning, she said, was what came in the next 24 hours: A day after he was inaugurated, President Barack Obama suspended all terror trials for 120 days -- a cooling-off period to study how to proceed with trials of those suspected of taking part in terrorist attacks against the United States.

Obama also ordered the detention center -- notoriously known as Gitmo -- closed within a year.

"The safest place to have those trials is at Guantanamo Bay," said Mrs. Arias-Beliveau, who now lives in Barnegat, N.J.

"I am very fearful of Gitmo being closed and of bringing these prisoners into the United States," she said, referring to Obama's plans to possibly try terror suspects in traditional military or civil courts here. "We have Homeland Security in place to keep them out and now he's talking about bringing them in."

Originally, she opted not to enter her name into the lottery.

"I thought it would bring up too many feelings and would be a very emotionally draining experience," she said.

But when another brother was selected and asked her to join him on the trip, she changed her mind. She had to go for Adam, the youngest of six, an unassuming, funny guy who loved to sing.

"I was meant to go," she said, simply.

Mrs. Arias-Beliveau, and her brothers, Donald and Andrew Arias, were flown from Washington to Cuba on the evening of Jan. 16 on a commercial airliner that took off from Andrews Air Force Base. Also on board were two fathers who lost their sons, journalists, witnesses and court staff.

When they arrived, they were dropped off at townhouses on the base. Security arrangements were already under way to transport the alleged Sept. 11 co-conspirators, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks, into court.

Separate arrangements were being made for the trial of Canadian Omar Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. serviceman in Afghanistan.

The Sept. 11 families were picked up at 7 a.m. on Monday and were seated in court by 9. They were in court for eight hours that day. There were no proceedings in honor of Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. The trials were put on hold the next morning.

On Thursday, Mrs. Arias-Beliveau boarded a plane back home.

"I don't care if they sentence them to life in prison or to death. I just want to see the trials expedited and I want to see them tried and convicted. My parents are in their 80s. I want them to see justice in their lifetimes."

Posted in: 9/11,Guantanamo Bay,Human Rights,Islamic Terror,Islamo Fascism