Yes, our vaunted anti-terrorism intelligence. If the detainees were so dangerous, why are they set free so soon upon returning home? Rhetorical question of course. The bitter truth is a majority of the detainees were not terrorists, were not a threat, were just used as political pawns.
Out of Gitmo, in the clear : Most detainees returned to home countries are set freeThe Pentagon called them “among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth,” sweeping them up after Sept. 11 and hauling them in chains to a U.S. military prison in southeastern Cuba.
Since then, hundreds of the men have been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to other countries, many of them for “continued detention.”
And then set free.
Decisions by more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe and South Asia to release the former Guantanamo detainees raise questions about whether they really were as dangerous as the United States said or whether some of America's staunchest allies have set terrorists and militants free.
...
But through interviews with justice and police officials and detainees and their families, and by using reports from human-rights groups and local news media, The Associated Press was able to track 245 of those formerly held at Guantanamo. The investigation, which spanned 17 countries, found:- Once the detainees arrived in other countries, 205 of the 245 were either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related to their detention at Guantanamo. Forty either stand charged with crimes or continue to be detained.
- Only a tiny fraction of transferred detainees have been put on trial. The AP identified 14 trials, in which eight men were acquitted and six are awaiting verdicts. Two of the cases involving acquittals--one in Kuwait and one in Spain--initially resulted in convictions that were overturned on appeal.
- The Afghan government has freed every one of the more than 83 Afghans sent home. Lawmaker Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, the head of Afghanistan's reconciliation commission, said many were innocent and ended up at Guantanamo because of tribal or personal rivalries.
- At least 67 of 70 repatriated Pakistanis are free after spending a year in Adiala Jail. A senior Pakistani Interior Ministry official said investigators determined that most had been “sold” for bounties to U.S. forces by Afghan warlords who invented links between the men and Al Qaeda. “We consider them innocent,” said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
- All 29 detainees who were repatriated to Britain, Spain, Germany, Russia, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, Bahrain and the Maldives were freed, some within hours after being sent home for “continued detention.”
Some former detainees say they never intended to harm the United States and are bitter.
“I can't wash the three long years of pain, trouble and humiliation from my memory,” said Badarzaman Badar, an Afghan who was freed in Pakistan. “It is like a cancer in my mind that makes me disturbed every time I think of those terrible days.”
entirely too many incidents like:
Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish citizen, also was quickly freed when he was flown to Germany in August, bound hand and foot, after more than four years at Guantanamo.U.S. officials maintained he was a member of Al Qaeda, based on what they said was secret evidence. But his New Jersey-based lawyer, Baher Azmy, said he was shown the classified evidence and was shocked to find how unpersuasive it was.
“It contains five or six statements exonerating him,” Azmy said.
No wonder Bolton was instructed to keep the U.S. out of the International Criminal Court.
Technorati Tags: civil_liberties, terrorism
