Safe To Release? A new Pentagon report may complicate Obama's plans for Gitmo.

[babylonsister]

Safe To Release?

A new Pentagon report may complicate Obama's plans for Gitmo.
By Michael Isikoff | NEWSWEEK
Published Jan 24, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jan 24, 2009


The Pentagon is preparing to declassify portions of a secret report on Guantanamo detainees that could further complicate President Obama's plans to shut down the detention facility.

The report, which could be released within the next few days, will provide fresh details about 62 detainees who have been released from Guantanamo and are believed by U.S. intelligence officials to have returned to terrorist activities, according to two Pentagon officials who asked not to be identified talking about a document that is not yet public. One such example, involving a Saudi detainee named Said Ali Al-Shihri, who was released in 2007, received widespread attention Friday when Pentagon officials publicly confirmed that he has recently reemerged as a deputy commander of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Al-Shihri, once known publicly only as Guantanamo detainee No. 372, is suspected of involvement in a thwarted attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen last September.

The decision to release additional case studies from the report is in effect a warning shot to the new president from officials at the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies who are skeptical about some of his plans. Some Pentagon officials, including ones sympathetic to Obama's goals, note the political outcry would be deafening should another example like Al-Shihri become public six months from now—and it turns out be a Guantanamo detainee released under Obama's watch rather than by the Bush administration. "The last thing Obama wants is for one of these guys to get released and return to killing Americans," said one senior Defense Department official who asked not to be identified because of the political sensitivities.

Some counter-terrorism experts have raised questions about the significance of the Pentagon's figures, noting that the number of so-called "recidivist" detainees represents only a small portion, about 12 percent, of the approximately 520 detainees who have been released from Guantanamo since the detention facility was opened in January 2002. This compares with recidivism rates of as high as 67 percent in state prisons in the United States, according to Justice Department figures. There have also been concerns that Bush administration holdovers were deliberately playing up the cases in recent weeks in an effort to undercut Obama. One former senior U.S. counter-terrorism official noted to NEWSWEEK that the Pentagon waited until the day after Obama signed his executive order mandating the closure of Guantanamo to confirm Al-Shihri's renewed Al Qaeda ties.

more...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/181453

[bigtree]

1. the timing of the release of these 'reports' stinks

If it's so crucial that we see these now, why didn't we know about them during the Bush term?

[EFerrari]

8. Let's keep track of the outlets who spam this sh!t. It's baloney.

It's one of those pushes of propaganda that we see every so often when the puppeteers care about something and it's obvious as hell.

[dbonds]

2. I fail to see how this effects shutting Gitmo down

This happened while Gitmo was in full operation and is only a reflection of the process that led to these detainees release; not the process that will happen when Obama shuts down Gitmo. We all realize Gitmo creates terrorist, both those inside and outside. It has to be shutdown to stop that process. We will have to be careful how we handle the detainees that are there though.

[sandnsea]

3. Fire Gates

He either gets his agency in order, or out he goes. This is bullshit. Where was this info when Bush was actually releasing people.

[napi21]

4. I don't see a big problem closing Gitmo. Obviously there are some

people at the Pentagon who would have their ego crushed if they lose this battle, and they're going to fight with all they have to keep Gitmo open, but I think they just might be out of their league this time. They are assuming that Obama is as easily intimidated as most other Dems are...and they're wrong! Certainly it's important make sure all detainee cases are carefully reviewed, and those who should be tried are tried, and those who can't be, due to lack of evidence or whatever other reason be dealt with appropriately, but the RW BS needs to stop! As Obama said in the meeting the other day..."I won!"

[bluestateguy]

5. Some little neo-con at the Pentagon who didn't get the memo that a new sheriff is in town

This is why all the civilian neo-cons put there by Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz need to be cleaned out.

In any event, Obama is the Commander Guy, the Decider and what he says goes.

[Middle finga]

6. This is really a stupid argument....if true those people went back

to terrorism while gitmo was open

[EFerrari]

7. Whoever publishes this bs concocted by CHENEY, we know they either

don't care about the story or they are on the payroll because this information has already been shown to be false.