Guantanamo Inmates Return To Terrorism

Guantanamo Inmates Return To Terrorism

Pentagon: 61 ex-Guantanamo inmates return to terrorism
A U.S. flag flies above a razorwire-topped fence on the ''Camp Six'' detention facility at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay December 10, 2008. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool
WASHINGTON The Pentagon mentioned on Tuesday that sixty one former detainees from its military jail camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appear to have returned to terrorism since their release from custody.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell mentioned 18 former detainees are confirmed as "returning to the combat" and forty three are suspected of having done in a report issued late in December by the Protection Intelligence Agency.
Morrell declined to provide details such because the identification of the previous detainees, why and where they were released or what actions they've taken since leaving U.S. custody.
"That is acts of terrorism. It could possibly be Iraq, Afghanistan, it could be acts of terrorism around the world," he advised reporters.
Morrell mentioned the latest figures, current via December 24, confirmed an eleven p.c recidivism fee, up from 7 p.c in a March 2008 report that counted 37 former detainees as suspected or confirmed energetic militants.
Rights advocates mentioned the shortage of particulars should call the Pentagon's assertions into query.
"Till sufficient info is offered to allow the press and the public to verify these claims, they must be viewed with a wholesome degree of skepticism," mentioned Jennifer Daskal, a Washington-based lawyer for Human Rights Watch.
Rights advocates contend that many Guantanamo detainees have never taken up arms towards the United States and say the Protection Division in the past has described former detainees as rejoining "the combat" as a result of they spoke out towards the U.S. authorities.
"The Protection Division sees that the Guantanamo detention operation has failed and they're trying to launch one other fear mongering marketing campaign to justify the indefinite detention of detainees there," said Jamil Dakwar, human rights director on the American Civil Liberties Union.
President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office next Tuesday, is anticipated to subject an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay jail. Protection Secretary Robert Gates also favors shuttering Guantanamo.
But the prison is unlikely to shut until after U.S. officials settle a myriad of authorized and logistic issues, including a solution on where to deal with its occupants.

About 255 men are still held at the U.S.-run naval base in Cuba, an emblem of aggressive interrogation strategies that uncovered the United States to allegations of torture.
Pentagon officers say that about a hundred and ten detainees should by no means be released because of the potential hazard they pose to U.S. pursuits.
Washington has cleared 50 of the detainees for release but can't return them to their residence nations because of the danger they might be tortured or persecuted there.
The Pentagon mentioned it considers a former detainee's return to terrorism "confirmed" when proof exhibits direct involvement in terrorist activities. U.S. officers see a "suspected" terrorism links when intelligence shows a believable hyperlink with terrorist actions.
"Propaganda doesn't qualify as a terrorist activity," the Pentagon stated in an announcement.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Grey, editing by David Alexander and David Wiessler)
Subsequent In World News
ERBIL/BAGHDAD, Iraq Thousands of Iraqi civilians have fled Tal Afar as Shi'ite paramilitary groups close in across the Islamic State-held town on the highway between Mosul and Raqqa, the primary cities of the militant group's self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
China says it's going to promote trade offers no matter TPP, RCEP path
BEIJING China mentioned it is going to actively take part in bilateral and multilateral trade deals, with the goal of deepening reform and opening up its economic system, whatever the direction the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) might take.
EXTRA FROM REUTERS