This Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council will vote on a resolution to invite Gitmo detainees to relocate there.
It’s part of their program to invite to Berkeley “the kind of people you’d like to have living next door to you or dating your cousin.”
The Pentagon’s most recent study on Gitmo recidivism concluded that 20 percent of detainees have either been confirmed as, or are suspected of, returning to terrorism.
SFGate reported:
On Tuesday, on the recommendation of its Peace and Justice Commission, the Berkeley City Council is set to vote on a resolution to invite “one or two cleared” Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in Berkeley.
Peace and Justice Commissioner Rita Maran told me that the idea was to invite to Berkeley “the kind of people you’d like to have living next door to you or dating your cousin.”
While the resolution doesn’t name the one or two detainees, her panel presented material that cites two – Russian-born Ravil Mingazov and Algerian-born Djamel Ameziane – whom it claims have been “cleared.” The resolution also asserts that “cleared” detainees have been determined to “pose no threat to the United States.” Where they got that information, I do not know.
Given that the Director of National Intelligence reported in December that 25 percent of released Gitmo detainees have been confirmed or suspected of engaging in terrorism, the commission’s assertion would not be reassuring, if it were true.
