Gitmo detainees return to battlefield, Pentagon says

Published: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 1:08 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
WASHINGTON — Terror suspects who have been held but released from Guantanamo Bay are increasingly returning to the fight against the United States and its allies, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Sixty-one detainees released from the U.S. Navy base prison in Cuba are believed to have rejoined the fight, said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, citing data from December. That's up from 37 as of March 2008, he said.

The new figures come as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to issue an executive order during his first week in office to close the controversial prison. It's unlikely, however, that the Guantanamo detention facility will be closed anytime soon as Obama weighs what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighter suspects still there.

About 520 Guantanamo detainees have been released from custody or transferred to prisons elsewhere in the world.

A Pentagon tally of the detainees released show that 122 were transferred from Guantanamo in 2007, more than any other year so far.

Story continues below
"There clearly are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America, Americans, and our allies," Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon. "So there will have to be some solution for the likes of them, and that is among the thorny issues that the president-elect and his new team are carefully considering."

Morrell said the new numbers showed a "pretty substantial increase" in detainees returning to terror missions — from 7 percent to 11 percent.

He said intelligence, photographs and forensic evidence such as fingerprints and DNA were used to tie the detainees to terror activity. He did not know where they had been released, or what missions they are now believed to have rejoined.

Human rights activists and defense lawyers for the detainees argue that many Guantanamo prisoners pose no security risk and should be released.

In a recent report, the Brookings Institution examined hundreds of pages of declassified military documents, and ultimately said it couldn't tell whether many of the prisoners held for years without charges are terrorists or innocent.

The Washington think-tank concluded that only 87 of the 250 detainees described having any relationship with al-Qaida, the Taliban or other armed groups considered hostile to the United States.

Recent comments

Did not know where they were what they had done but could tie them...

Kevin | Jan. 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

Of course they will seek out militant groups. Love or hate. Do we...

Anonymous | Jan. 27, 2009 at 4:53 p.m.

Tough decision, Obama has promised to close it down, but now that he...

RedShirt | Jan. 14, 2009 at 12:11 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

BYU says Hall incident resolved

Hall's "classless" comments are an embarrassment to himself, the team, the...

Letters: Therapy for Hall

Agreed. But the Ute fans who assaulted Hall's family should join him, but in...

Mexican consul in SLC dies

Thank you for the corrections to the article.

Being that Max is the face of BYU, hard to believe that they'd look the other...

I can't say utah fans are classless. I'm still open to finding one with...

Max is and will continue to learn from and pay a price for his comments. The...

How is Jason even qualified to make any decisions about our country let alone...

BYU says Hall incident resolved

RE: Ute fan's reaction Thanks! We need to all forgive and forget and...

BYU says Hall incident resolved

Thank you, Max, for shedding light on some of the most revolting acts our...

So let's not keep score either? That is a joke - kids know stats, they know...

Advertisements