Questions Over Who's Leaving Guantanamo

Pentagon Files Show Inconsistencies; 2 Dozen Transferred Despite Being Labeled Threat

(AP)  Two dozen prisoners were cleared for transfer from Guantanamo Bay last year even though U.S. military panels found they still posed a threat to the United States and its allies.

Dozens more were cleared even though they didn't show up for their hearings. One Saudi arrested in Afghanistan was approved for release after offering a peculiar account that he had gone to the Taliban-controlled country to lose weight.

Pentagon documents obtained by The Associated Press show seemingly inconsistent decisions to release men declared by the Bush administration to be among America's most-hardened enemies. Coupled with accusations that some detainees have been held for years on little evidence, the decisions raise questions about whether they were arbitrary.

Human rights groups contend the documents show the military panels, known as Administrative Review Boards, often are overridden by political expediency at Guantanamo, where about 340 men are still held.

"What it says on your passport is more important than what it says in your ARB," said Ben Wizner, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, noting that European citizens at Guantanamo were among the first to get out amid intense lobbying by their countries. "It's all about diplomatic pressure."

The Pentagon created the Administrative Review Board process in 2004 as the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was filling up with men captured around the world in the war on terrorist groups. It said the boards would "help ensure no one is detained any longer than is warranted, and that no one is released who remains a threat to our nation's security."

The boards hold sessions in an air-conditioned trailer, hearing testimony from shackled detainees and making recommendations on whether to transfer, release or continue to hold the men. The final decisions are made by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, who is not bound by the recommendations, but who officials say usually follows them.

The Pentagon, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from AP, released transcripts and memos last month from last year's hearings.

Based on those sessions, England ordered 273 inmates kept at Guantanamo and 55 transferred to authorities in other nations. He didn't order any outright releases, but most detainees transferred from Guantanamo have been freed soon after arriving home.

The heavily censored documents indicate testimony before the panels often had little effect on the outcome. Of the 55 detainees cleared for transfer to their homelands or countries of residence, only 14 participated in their hearings. And 24 found to still pose a threat were ordered transferred by England anyway.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a military spokesman, said "a great majority of detainees who left Guantanamo have been a threat," but added that many factors are considered in deciding their fate.

"There are mitigating factors that the deputy secretary of defense can take into account in deciding whether to approve a transfer of a detainee," Gordon said by phone from the Pentagon.

U.S. officials say those include whether the receiving country can confiscate the detainee's passport and monitor or detain him.

The military has kept secret much of the case files, so there is no way for the public to judge the quality of the evidence against each detainee. But defense attorneys say that while classified evidence is often used to justify holding a detainee, it rarely comes into play in decisions to let people go from Guantanamo.

Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, an Army reservist who served as a liaison between Guantanamo tribunals and intelligence agencies, criticized the process used to decide which detainees are sent home.

"The decisions are not orderly nor analytic and only rational if you accept the premise that they are made for political and not legal reasons," Abraham said in an e-mail to AP.

One of the men who was transferred was Mohammad Akhtiar, an Afghan who told the panel he had worked for the U.S.-allied Karzai government in Afghanistan and that he was steadfastly opposed to the Taliban. He listed several senior Afghan officials, including the minister for refugees and repatriation, who he said could vouch for him.

In December, Akhtiar was flown to Afghanistan and immediately released, said his U.S. lawyer, Dicky Grigg. Grigg considered it a happy ending, saying: "I believed that Mohammed Akhtiar was not a terrorist."

But some of the Administrative Review Board results were murkier.

Abdul Rahman Mohammed Hussein Khowlan, a Saudi, said he went to Afghanistan to lose weight and to find the Prophet Muhammad's clothing - even though the founder of Islam had never been in that country.

A board member asked Khowlan to explain the search, but the detainee, who allegedly was carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle when he was captured, responded: "There's nothing to add."

England ordered Khowlan sent home to Saudi Arabia, whose government is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

During the Administrative Review Board hearings, the transcripts show, military officers painstakingly questioned detainees to gauge the truth of their accounts. The panel's recommendations are censored from the Pentagon memos, however, meaning only England's final decisions are publicly known. But the military said those decisions differed from the panels' recommendations only occasionally.

Human rights groups say the documents bolster their suspicions the review board hearings are window dressing and that the panels aren't really the mechanism for determining who gets out of Guantanamo and who stays.

"The findings suggest the transfer and release determinations were made independently based on security risks, relations with other countries and other factors that are independent of the ARB process, and that the ARB process may be for show," said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch.

Lawyers said lobbying by detainees' home countries is a major factor in release decisions. Of the 55 men slated for transfer last year, 30 were from Saudi Arabia, which has a reintegration program that provides former detainees with guidance from psychiatrists, clerics and sociologists.

Wizner, the ACLU attorney, said he did not feel dangerous men were being released from Guantanamo, but rather that the Pentagon was labeling them as threats to avoid accusations it had imprisoned innocent men.

One lawyer said the U.S. even sent away two detainees who "failed" their hearings. England determined last year that both Isa al-Murbati and Jumah al-Dossari should continue to be held, but both got out of Guantanamo this summer, said their New York attorney, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan.

Navy Capt. Lana Hampton, a military spokeswoman, said England on occasion "may change his decision, based on the receipt of additional information or for other reasons," even without another hearing.

Colangelo-Bryan said al-Murbati was released upon arrival in his native Bahrain, an island state in the Persian Gulf that is home to the U.S. 5th Fleet. Al-Dossari, who holds dual Bahraini-Saudi citizenship, is in the Saudi reintegration program and will be home soon, the lawyer said.

"If a government is on good terms with the United States and presses for a detainee's release, the release will happen regardless of the ARB findings," Colangelo-Bryan said. "I believe that is what happened with Isa and Jumah."

[j-whitman]

speakinup,,,, Figure it out girl --- You & Walking Liar Bush claim everyone who don''t suport him are terrorists, many in GITMO never where.

If the people in GITMO can''t figure who''s a terrorist & who''s not ,,,,,,, Bush & Cheney should be locked up, not in GITMO though -- Someplace Cold Dark & Damp for eternity

[hideronpaul]

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[lars008-2009]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 04:20 PM : Oct 03, 2007

hahahaha

try to exercise some of your constitutional freedoms in russia, n korea, china, any fascist nazi terrorislam country, lol

hahaha

[lars008-2009]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 03:22 PM : Oct 03, 2007

the usa does not rule the world,,, the constitution is only valid in the usa,,,

[speakinup]

rafterman1 - do us all a favor - get so sick of it that you drop dead.

I have never seen anyone go to such lengths to bash Bush in my whole life. You tell me that every war prisoner now has the rights to a trial. We need to have all combat troops wear cameras and give testamony in order to hold POWs. And, I don''t care what ANYONE says, president or not, these people are POWs.

"oh- but they are innocent people..." *********! Most of them were taken off the BATTLEFIELD or from the Prison in Afghanstan where they rioted and killed an intrepreter.

By the way, I believe the consitiution only applies to individuals on US soil, not those necessarily "under our control" - so keep your fuggin liberal moveon.org attitude outta my world

or

Just get sick like you said you do, and die...

[speakinup]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:07 PM : Oct 03, 2007

note to self,,, leave them on the battlefield,,,

Posted by lars008

With bullet in brain.

[lars008-2009]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:07 PM : Oct 03, 2007

note to self,,, leave them on the battlefield,,,

[lars008-2009]

Posted by mcdazz at 10:04 AM : Oct 03, 2007

like the cia agents dont know that is part of the job,,,

[notblue]

Rafterman, the constitution doesn''t apply to jihadists captured on the battle field or terrorists captured here in America trying to kill innocent civilians on a grand scale, so get over it and deal with the fact that these jihadists don''t deserve the protection and support you feel they somehow deserve.

[notblue]

Typical here at these leftwing central blogs, bash Ameerican policies, defend the evil jihadists confined there who''s treatment is infinitely better than those captured by Islamic militants, those poor souls are tortured with elctricity, portable drills and eventually beheaded and dumped on the streets. But why condemn your brothers in jihad while you can blame the greatest most generous country on the face ofthe earth who''s goal is peace, freedom and democracy. I guess that doesn''t fit into the 6th century equation of theocracy, barbarism, zero civil rights and freedom for the populace these Jihadists are attempting to enforce on all middle eastern countries and the greater world in general. It makes me sick to read the majority of these posts, what bunch of ingrates!

[drummer94]

You are a moron mcdazz. Me like loony-toon? LMFAO Sounds like you know all about what goes on in prisons. Once again LMFAO

[glossypan]

hungry1968....thank you for your correction. I should of cited FM27-10, The Law Of Land Warfare as the proper authority from our government on justice for foreign prisoners.

[hungry1968]

If the internees are prisoners of war, their disposition is covered by the UCMJ and various conventions. If they are not, they must be tried or released immediately. Allowing one person to usurp the powers delegated to Congress and the courts turns our democracy into a dictatorship. We are either a nation of laws or a nation of Imperial decree.
Posted by glossypan at 10:13 AM : Oct 03, 2007


The Uniform Code of Military Justice covers the rules and laws governing members of our military - not POW''s.

The Geneva Convention and other UN resolutions cover the treatment and laws regarding POW''s.

But I do agree 100% with your post.

[glossypan]

Article 3 Section 2 of the United States Constitution:

"The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed."

If the internees are prisoners of war, their disposition is covered by the UCMJ and various conventions. If they are not, they must be tried or released immediately. Allowing one person to usurp the powers delegated to Congress and the courts turns our democracy into a dictatorship. We are either a nation of laws or a nation of Imperial decree.

[hungry1968]

mbcsmith


No response to my two posts? No disagreement from you, must mean that you agree then, huh?

[hungry1968]

Tell me, exactly what uniform is it that the CIA wears?

Are you telling me they should all be shot as spies as well?

Posted by mcdazz at 10:04 AM : Oct 03, 2007



Please don''t confuse lars with an intelligent argument - he''s only going to "spam bomb" this board with all of his unrelated, stupid, copy-and-paste messages.

lars008 wrote:

"no uniform???

they should all be shot as spies,"

Tell me, exactly what uniform is it that the CIA wears?

Are you telling me they should all be shot as spies as well?

drummer94 wrote:

"Ya know they will make their way to some battlefied. A tiger doesn''''t change his stripes."

So we are in agreement - GW Bush is still an alcoholic, cocaine sniffing, cowardly piece of sh|t.

No wonder you like him so much - you have so much in common.

drummer94 wrote:

"What, I offend a bleeding-heart, or a lawyer. I don''''t give a shiit where these pow''''s are from. Take em into your mud hut. I don''''t care. And I did my time buddy-boy. You say the same? Maggot."

You did your time? Prison time and being the prison b|tch doesn''t count.

[hungry1968]

What''s the solution rafterman1? Turn ''em loose to their home country''s so they can become combatants, again?! Ya know they will make their way to some battlefied. A tiger doesn''t change his stripes.
Posted by drummer94 at 09:44 AM : Oct 03, 2007


If the argument is changing, AGAIN, that these are now considered POW''s, then they should be held in accordance with the UN resolutions and Geneva Conventions regarding POW''s.

They should be allowed to meet with the ambassador of their country to Cuba (ex. The Egyptian ambassador to Cuba), they should be able to meet with the International Red Cross, and they should also be allowed to meet with legal representation to make their case, if they believe they did nothing wrong.

All three of these basic POW rights have been denied to these "prisoners".