Conservative Congressman decries mild-Gitmo-style actions

[JollyRoger]

Peter King on detention without charges in 2009:

HAVING just re turned from leading a con gressional delegation to the terrorist-detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, I am more convinced than ever that President Obama's executive order to close Gitmo by next Jan. 22 is wrong and misguided and, if fully implemented, will threaten American security at home and abroad.

To be fair, the president deserves much credit for a series of key decisions he has made in the war against terrorism: 1) launching predator missiles against Taliban and al Qaeda locations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater; 2) detaining, without trial, enemy combatants captured and imprisoned overseas, and 3) invoking the "state secrets" privilege to block a lawsuit on CIA renditions (the practice of allowing other nations to interrogate non-US citizen terror detainees).

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_0LeDqc9IFeGJ6weqIZrMSO;jsessionid=6B9BA2902F1967905EF1669DC1D97675

Peter King on detention without charges in 2011:

Three security contractors including two Americans were released by Iraqi Army forces Tuesday after they were held for more than two weeks, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security announced as he demanded a full report on the episode.

King said they were working for a security firm when Iraqi Ministry of Defense officials rejected paperwork prepared on their behalf by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and began holding them on Dec. 9.

The men weren’t charged with any crimes and King said it appeared that the men were not injured.

“We’re going to have thousands of contractors over there, including many Americans. Can the Iraqis just take them off the street and hold them? This is a terrible precedent. We have to get to the bottom of this,” he said.

The New York congressman said he was concerned that U.S. military authorities had not been notified by the U.S. embassy that the men were being held and that embassy representatives had not visited the men when he learned about it from Antiohos’ wife last week.

“This should be a bit of a wake-up call as to whether the situation really is deteriorating in Iraq,” he added. “Iraq was supposed to be an ally. We liberated Iraq. Yet they hold these men for 18 days. ... It’s inexcusable that they were treated this way by a supposed ally.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ny-congressman-king-iraq-releases-3-security-contractors-held-by-government-since-dec-9/2011/12/27/gIQA3M9RLP_story.html?wprss=rss_national

What is Peter King's problem? Nationals from a country that has been at war with Iraq for almost a decade cannot produce adequate paperwork, so they get detained for a bit. It seems that Iraq has adopted some aspects of GOP policy. Is he claiming patent infringment?

 

[Silurian]

The contractors can leave if they want.

but from OP

when Iraqi Ministry of Defense officials rejected paperwork prepared on their behalf by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior

it looks like they are pawns in a dispute between Ministries.