Posted on 07/06/2004 1:30:03 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
I think the only thing we can do now is to make it clear that if any of the released detainees are caught in combat against coalition forces, they will be summarily executed...and slathered with pig lard!
The thought of an immediate death may not scare 'em but the pig lard will!
7 ex-Gitmo prisoners return to terror - Ping
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/18/detainee.backsliders.ap/
Pentagon: 7 ex-Gitmo prisoners return to terror
WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least seven former prisoners of the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been involved in terrorist acts, despite gaining their freedom by signing pledges to renounce violence, according to the Pentagon.
At least two are believed to have died in fighting in Afghanistan, and a third was recaptured during a raid of a suspected training camp in Afghanistan, Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman, said last week. Others are at large.
The seven were among 203 detainees released from the prison at the U.S. naval base on Cuba's southeastern tip since it opened in early 2002.
Of those, 146 were let go only after U.S. officials determined they no longer posed threats and had no remaining intelligence value.
The other 57 prisoners were transferred to the custody of their home governments: 29 to Pakistan; seven to Russia; five each to Morocco and Britain; four each to France and Saudi Arabia; and one each to Spain, Sweden and Denmark, the Pentagon said.
About 540 detainees are still being held at Guantanamo Bay and the review process continues. The last release of prisoners occurred on September 22 with the release of 11.
Pentagon officials acknowledged that the release process is imperfect, but they said most of the Guantanamo detainees released have steered clear of Islamic insurgent groups.
The small number returning to the fight demonstrates the delicate balance the United States must strike between minimizing the appearance of holding people unjustly and keeping those who are legitimate long-term threats, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
Human rights groups frequently criticize the Defense Department for holding the hundreds of prisoners at the naval base, largely without charges or legal counsel. Many have been held for more than two years; only a few have been charged.
The Pentagon did not identify the seven detainees believed to have returned to fighting, although a few names have been made public. One released detainee killed a judge leaving a mosque in Afghanistan, Plexico said.
Those who have gone back to fighting come mainly from the upper echelons of suspected militant or terror groups, some allegedly linked to al Qaeda, several counterterrorism officials in the Middle East said.
They gave no details, but one noted a trend that lower-echelon members tend to get on with their lives after they are released.
The former prisoners include Abdullah Mehsud, accused by Pakistani authorities of overseeing the recent kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, one of whom was killed.
On Friday, Pakistani soldiers began a massive search for Mehsud, 28, who returned to Pakistan in March after about two years' detention at Guantanamo. Pakistan officials said he has forged ties with al Qaeda since then.
One of the two former prisoners killed was Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, a senior Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan who was arrested about two months after a U.S.-led coalition drove the militia from power in late 2001.
He was held at Guantanamo for eight months, then released, and was killed about a month ago, on September 26, by Afghan security forces during a raid in Uruzgan province. Afghan leaders said they believed he was leading Taliban forces in the southern province.
Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, the No. 2 commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press this month there was no alternative to releasing prisoners from Guantanamo.
"It's not going to be perfect, so it [the Ghaffar case] has not led to any soul-searching about the release program," Olson said.
Other former detainees have expressed a desire to rejoin the fight, be it against U.N. peacekeepers in Afghanistan, Americans in Iraq or Russian soldiers in Chechnya.
In Denmark, Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane, who was released from Guantanamo in February, said he would go to Chechnya to fight with rebels there against Russia.
"The Muslims are oppressed in Chechnya, and the Russians are carrying out terror against them," the 31-year-old Dane, who has an Algerian father, told Danish television in September.
Abderrahmane, who was never charged in Denmark upon his return, later backtracked.
After being questioned by Danish intelligence agents, he said he would stay in Denmark, hand over his passport and honor his pledge.
In Sweden, intelligence agents are monitoring Mehdi-Muhammed Ghezali, who was released in July after more than two years at the base.
Although Sweden's security police, SAPO, had no official comment, its agents have said Ghezali is not a threat.
Other former Guantanamo prisoners, including Yaser Esam Hamdi of Saudi Arabia, had their releases held up amid fears they would rejoin their comrades.
Hamdi, who was born in Louisiana, spent three years in solitary confinement, first at Guantanamo and then at a Navy brig in South Carolina after he was captured in Afghanistan in 2001.
He was returned to Saudi Arabia on October 11 after agreeing to forfeit his U.S. citizenship.
He also is required to stay in Saudi Arabia for five years, renounce terror and cannot travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan or Syria.
Additionally, Hamdi must notify Saudi officials if he becomes aware of "any planned or executed acts of terrorism."
It is likely that government officials there will monitor Hamdi as much as Ghezali and Abderrahmane have been in northern Europe.
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