According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, German citizen Gholam Ghaus Z., 41, had been held since January in Afghanistan after he tried to buy a shaver in a U.S. military supermarket. The four-months of confinement that followed has not been justified by the U.S. government and has become a matter of tensions between the two countries. This follows the case of German Turk Murat Kurnaz who spent almost five years in US military camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay despite a lack of evidence of terrorism, in the view of the Germans. The Bush Administration, however, is holding the line it appears at keeping our shavers out of the hands of Al Qaeda to avoid an escalation to nose clippers and that quintessentially American product, the Thigh Master.
The newspaper reports that the only suspicious thing cited about this man is that he was carrying money from different countries — not a strange occurrence in this part of the world.
Once again, despite the Bush Administration’s concerted effort to avoid review of real judges and courts, these cases show the value of such procedures — if nothing else, to stop our officials from committing uniquely stupid acts that further isolate and embarrass the country. If the military has incriminating evidence against this man, beside a desire to be clean shaven, four months should be enough to release it.
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After reading through the web for that Mister Z., Gholam Ghaus, buying shavers in Afghanistan, I still dont know what to think. I am trying not to be angry, though.
This 41 year old man is in early retirement as of mental problems here in Germany. Besides that he travels London, Afghanistan, Pakistan(?) and Iran, the latter to sell old mobile phones. Probably with success, how then could he afford all the traveling.
So the check up of that person by German authorities sums up in a ‘That person is all clean’. I hope this is more in respect of his activities in terrorim. Fur his more than questionable social status: That is ‘all ok’ in Germany. He probably gets paid a rent by the state on his mental illness.
I would suggest this guy is just out for business in Afghanistan. I do not think he is so stupid not to be informed about the entry regulations for that special market inside the US army camp. Quite probably he had a fake ID – entry is there only for merchants. The US investigators accuse him of having used a fake ID. Whatever. Mister Z says he just showed the German passport and they let him in.
A thing is sure: If this person, which I dont like, would just do a normal job in Germany, the US and German institutions would not have to spend millions on that affair. There would be less angst and confussion about terrist threats. The US-German relationship would not be possibly strained by this.
Hello.. interesting comments. I doubt he was going to build an explosive razor for gosh sakes. (sigh) I do know that he has some mental problems, he’s a gentle sweet man, and Bagram will destroy him. I think the best thing we can do is get his name back in the news. It was there for what, 12 seconds? 🙁
I have a profile of him, with a photo at http://freedetainees.org I just sent it around a bunch of yahoo groups a week or so ago. I don’t do many forums because of my terrible connection.
Take care, good to see this post!
Until we have further evidence, I think it’s safe to say Niblet suffers from a hyperactive imagination.
Right now, Niblet is indeed just GUESSING, and that’s a flimsy pretext to justify bashing folks, Nibby.
Der Spiegel is a fine publication. I’d believe it before I’d believe a Murdoch publication.
Dagnabbit, you probably could have been a staffer for Cheney, Nibs.
As an American who lives in Germany and I can tell you that Der Spiegel is the most wideread, serious magazine in Germany. I might bring this topic up in at work at the uni…
Der Spiegal reporting this makes the whole thing unbelievable.
I would guess that in time we will find out this person was casing the facility with an intent to cause harm to US Soldiers.
No doubt if this person had been able to buy an electric razor, put a bomb in it, and then return it under some pretext and it had gone off you would be calling the military totally devoid of intelligence for not catching him…
Get a clue. Your bias again shows.