More ex-Guantanamo detainees joining militants -US

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - An increasing number of detainees released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay are joining insurgent groups, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The disclosure came amid revelations that former detainees were playing a leadership role in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- a Yemen-based group believed to be behind a failed plot to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.

President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday that the United States was suspending the transfer of additional detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, citing the deteriorating security situation there.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said that the latest figure -- which was still classified -- showed a continued increase from April 2009, when the department disclosed that 14 percent of former detainees had joined or were suspected of joining insurgent groups.

...

"This is an inexact science. You know, we are making subjective calls based upon judgment, intelligence. And so there is no foolproof answer in this realm. That's what makes this so difficult."

But he added: "There needs to be a better accounting of detainees."

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06418353.htm

[EFerrari]

1. Morrell is a serial liar, afaik. I'd wait to see what watchdog Seton Hall says.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. The Rude Pundit said everything that needs to be said about the subject.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2010/01/it-shouldnt-surprise-us-that-some-ex.html

[Soylent Brice]

3. agreed.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Yup. Must be part of the plan,

since, surely, not even Gringos could be that stoopid.

Surely.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Noteably un-rude for the Rude Pundit -

but spot on. I've been saying the same thing for years. OF COURSE they join up when they get out. Wouldn't YOU, if YOU were treated the same way?

[bemildred]

5. No gratitude at all, eh? nt

[Newsjock]

7. Pentagon: More return to fight after leaving Gitmo

Source: Associated Press

One in five terror suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison has returned to the fight, according to a classified Pentagon report expected to stoke an already fierce debate over President Barack Obama's plan to close the military prison.

The finding reflects an upward trend on the recidivism rate, although human rights activists who advocate closing the prison have questioned the validity of such numbers.

Early last year, the Pentagon reported that the rate of released detainees returning to militancy was 11 percent. In April, it was 14 percent. The latest figure was 20 percent, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report had not been declassified and released.

Critics of the reports say there is so little information in the assessments that they are nearly impossible to verify independently. Civil rights advocates say the number of fighters suspected of or confirmed as returning to the battlefield is likely to be much smaller.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_guantanamo_repeaters

[babylonsister]

8. Sounds like a damned fine reason to close Gitmo to me, and to

release those people who have no charges against them.

[Crowman1979]

9. Who wrote this classified Pentagon report anyway, Blackwater?!?!

Or some other company promising a cushy job to a pentagon official if they keep Gitmo open?

[Downwinder]

10. What is the US Army retention rate? n/t

[SlingBlade]

11. Gee, I can't even imagine why that would be

:sarcasm: Idiots !

[Wizard777]

12. You can't kill them in Gitmo. Can't say that about the battlefield.

[Javaman]

16. Put this in the, "NO DUH", file. nt

[buckrogers1965]

13. Rejoining or Joining for the first time?

You know, if a country swept me off the street as I was minding my own business and tortured me for the better part of a decade, then released me because they never had any evidence against me, you had better believe that they had just made an enemy for life.

[AlienGirl]

14. In one of our better moments, the US brought POWs to the States and turned many into Americans

Back in WWII, many POWs from the European theater were brought to prisons in the US. They were treated with respect, educated, fed adequately, and often integrated into local communities. Many stayed and became citizens. Others, after the war was over, went home and became supporters of the US.

Where'd the country go that did that?

Tucker

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Albedo, ma'am, albedo. -nt

[struggle4progress]

17. The Fundamental Unreliablity of America's Media (Glenn Greenwald)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x509885