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Many Gitmo prisoners never saw battle
The majority of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base are not accused of committing hostile acts against the United States or its allies, and only a small percentage were captured by U.S. forces, a review of government documents has found. "The large majority of detainees never participated in any combat against the United States on a battlefield," concluded a report compiled at Seton Hall University's law school, in New Jersey, and given to Reuters on Thursday.
The summaries do not use prisoners' names nor do they include secret evidence the review panels considered. But the analysis provides a picture of who is being held indefinitely at the detention camp the United States set up in Cuba in 2002 to hold suspected terrorists captured in the war against al Qaeda and its Taliban supporters in Afghanistan. The study said 55 percent were not accused in the documents of committing hostile acts against the United States and its coalition allies. Among those where the location of capture was listed, only 5 percent were captured by U.S. forces. The rest were taken by Pakistani forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or by the Northern Alliance, an Afghan militia that helped U.S. forces oust the Taliban. Some were sold to the United States by bounty hunters who then disappeared, making it difficult to verify their claims that the detainee had terrorist connections, the report said. It included copies of leaflets distributed in Afghanistan urging people to "get wealth and power beyond your dreams" by turning in Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. The report said the government documents contained formidable evidence that a few Guantanamo detainees are dangerous men with powerful positions in terrorist groups. Eleven percent had met Osama bin Laden and one participated in al Qaeda meetings discussing the September 11 attacks before they occurred, the report said. Another is a high-ranking Taliban member who tortured, maimed and murdered Afghan citizens in Taliban jails, it said. "The evidence provided for most of the detainees, however, is far less impressive," the report said.
Others were deemed "associates" of terrorist organizations, though half the groups cited are not on U.S. government lists of groups it considers terrorist organizations. The report questions whether associating with the Taliban really makes someone an enemy combatant, since the Taliban government controlled nearly all aspects of Afghan citizens' lives, and conscripted boys as young as 12 to fight. One detainee was considered an enemy combatant because he was conscripted into Taliban forces as a cook's assistant, the report said. Other evidence cited in the documents as proof of enemy combatant status included possessing AK-47 or Kalashnikov rifles, staying at guest houses while traveling through Afghanistan, possessing a Casio watch or wearing olive drab clothing. U.S. officials at Guantanamo have repeatedly said that the detainees provide valuable intelligence information and were carefully selected from among more than 8,000 men taken captive during the Afghanistan war. A few dozen of those who underwent the 2004 enemy combatant reviews have since been released. The population has been whittled down to about 490 through diplomatic negotiations and through an annual review process that continues. Only 10 have been charged with war crimes and Pentagon officials have said only 50 to 75 ever would be charged. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-10 |
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