This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3882
February 24, 2009
One in ten freed Guantánamo detainees goes back to terrorism, says Pentagon
Tom Baldwin in Washington and Michael Evans
From The Times (London)
February 24, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5793046.ece
More than one in ten of the Guantánamo detainees sent back to their countries of origin have subsequently become involved in terrorist activities, according to the Pentagon.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman, said that an estimated 62 former inmates had been linked to terrorism again. "That's an 11 per cent recidivist rate," he told The Times.
Said Ali al-Shihri, released to Saudi Arabia in 2007, was put through the kingdom's special rehabilitation programme for Jihadists but subsequently emerged as al-Qaeda's deputy leader in Yemen, Mr Morrell claimed. "The detainees released in the early phases were considered to be the easy ones, in other words they could be released with minimal risk, and yet 11 per cent have returned to terrorism," he said.
"With the remaining detainees, it's increasingly difficult to come to an arrangement because they are considered to pose a greater danger, although not necessarily too dangerous to release to their home countries in the right circumstances."
Of the 243 detainees left in Guantánamo, 100 are Yemenis. The United States is still trying to negotiate a deal with the Yemeni Government about suitable monitoring and rehabilitation before they can be released.
The US says that it is not insisting on their detention in a Yemeni jail but it is seeking a firm assurance that they will be under some form of control and not be "subject to torture or abuse".
Yemen recently released 170 al-Qaeda suspects after receiving promises from the individuals that they would renounce terrorism.
With the closure of Guantánamo less than 12 months away, on the orders of President Obama, the US authorities are trying to find ways of dealing with the remaining detainees.
Dick Cheney, the former US Vice-President, said recently: "If you release the hard-core al-Qaeda terrorists that are held at Guantánamo, I think they go back into the business of trying to kill more Americans and mount further mass-casualty attacks.
"If you turn them loose and they go kill more Americans, who's responsible for that?"
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3882