January 14, 2009
THE Pentagon says that up to 61 former detainees have returned to terrorism since their release from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a big increase from its last count.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell used the new numbers to highlight the challenges of quickly closing the prison despite reports that US president-elect Barack Obama will move immediately to direct its closure.
“There, clearly, are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America - Americans and our allies. So there will have to be some solution for the likes of them,” he said.
“That is among the thorny issues that the president-elect and his new team are carefully considering.”
He said the Pentagon believed that, as of the end of December, 61 former Guantanamo detainees had returned to the fight, up from 37 the last time the Pentagon provided an estimate, which was in March 2008.
Of those, 18 had been confirmed as once again having become directly involved in “terrorist activities”.
Morrell said such means as “fingerprints, DNA, conclusive photographic match, reliable, verified or well-corroborated intelligence reporting” were used by the Defence Intelligence Agency to confirm those cases, he said.
The other 43 former detainees were suspected of having returned to the fight, he said.
The DIA based its suspicions in those cases on “unverified or single source but plausible reporting” or when “significant reporting indicates a former DoD (Department of Defence) detainee is involved in terrorist activities and analysis indicates the former detainee most likely is associated with a specific former detainees”, he said.
Morrell provided no detail on the specifics of the new cases, so it was difficult to tell whether a new pattern had emerged that might explain the jump.
“It may have been predicated on the fact that we... transferred out of Gitmo more detainees last year than any previous year,” he told reporters.
About 520 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo to other countries to be held or released since the prison was established in 2002 following the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.
Morrell said more than 100 detainees were shipped to other countries from Guantanamo in 2008.
Obama acknowledged in a television interview on Sunday that it would be “a challenge” to close Guantanamo in his first 100 days in office.
But the following day, Obama transition aides were reported to have said that he would issue an executive order on his first full day in office closing the prison.
Morrell said everyone was in agreement that the prison should be closed.
“The challenge, of course, has been, for this president and for this secretary, how do you close it?” he said.
THE Pentagon says that up to 61 former detainees have returned to terrorism since their release from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a big increase from its last count.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell used the new numbers to highlight the challenges of quickly closing the prison despite reports that US president-elect Barack Obama will move immediately to direct its closure.
“There, clearly, are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America - Americans and our allies. So there will have to be some solution for the likes of them,” he said.
“That is among the thorny issues that the president-elect and his new team are carefully considering.”
He said the Pentagon believed that, as of the end of December, 61 former Guantanamo detainees had returned to the fight, up from 37 the last time the Pentagon provided an estimate, which was in March 2008.
Of those, 18 had been confirmed as once again having become directly involved in “terrorist activities”.
Morrell said such means as “fingerprints, DNA, conclusive photographic match, reliable, verified or well-corroborated intelligence reporting” were used by the Defence Intelligence Agency to confirm those cases, he said.
The other 43 former detainees were suspected of having returned to the fight, he said.
The DIA based its suspicions in those cases on “unverified or single source but plausible reporting” or when “significant reporting indicates a former DoD (Department of Defence) detainee is involved in terrorist activities and analysis indicates the former detainee most likely is associated with a specific former detainees”, he said.
Morrell provided no detail on the specifics of the new cases, so it was difficult to tell whether a new pattern had emerged that might explain the jump.
“It may have been predicated on the fact that we... transferred out of Gitmo more detainees last year than any previous year,” he told reporters.
About 520 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo to other countries to be held or released since the prison was established in 2002 following the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.
Morrell said more than 100 detainees were shipped to other countries from Guantanamo in 2008.
Obama acknowledged in a television interview on Sunday that it would be “a challenge” to close Guantanamo in his first 100 days in office.
But the following day, Obama transition aides were reported to have said that he would issue an executive order on his first full day in office closing the prison.
Morrell said everyone was in agreement that the prison should be closed.
“The challenge, of course, has been, for this president and for this secretary, how do you close it?” he said.
Source: The Australian
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