This photo downloaded from a known Islamic extremist Web site on Thursday, May 8, 2008, shows, according to a relative of the man, Abdallah Salih al Ajmi, a Kuwaiti freed from Guantanamo Bay who according to the U.S. military took part in one of three suicide bomb attacks in 2008 that targeted Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
bout one-fourth of all released Guantánamo detainees have been confirmed or suspected of engaging in terrorism or insurgency activity, the vast majority of them freed in the Bush years, according to a new U.S. intelligence report.
The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, included the figure in a report filed with Congress on Tuesday that was required by the 2010 U.S. intelligence funding bill.
The 150 former Guantánamo detainees who turned to terrorism or may have done so include 83 men who are at large, 54 who are now in custody and 13 who have been confirmed dead.
In all, the U.S. has released some 600 captives from Guantánamo. Some have been repatriated to their home nations, others resettled in third countries and six were sent home after their deaths -- five of them apparent suicides.
The report said 81 men -- 13.5 percent of those released -- were confirmed to have gone on to plan, fund, conduct or recruit for attacks or suicide bombings on U.S. coalition forces or civilians.
In one of the most notorious confirmed cases, Kuwaiti Abdullah al Ajmi, 29, blew himself up in a truck bombing at Iraqi Army headquarters in Mosul in March 2008. He had spent three years at Guantánamo as Detainee No. 220 and was released through a Bush administration review process in 2005.
The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, included the figure in a report filed with Congress on Tuesday that was required by the 2010 U.S. intelligence funding bill.
The 150 former Guantánamo detainees who turned to terrorism or may have done so include 83 men who are at large, 54 who are now in custody and 13 who have been confirmed dead.
In all, the U.S. has released some 600 captives from Guantánamo. Some have been repatriated to their home nations, others resettled in third countries and six were sent home after their deaths -- five of them apparent suicides.
The report said 81 men -- 13.5 percent of those released -- were confirmed to have gone on to plan, fund, conduct or recruit for attacks or suicide bombings on U.S. coalition forces or civilians.
In one of the most notorious confirmed cases, Kuwaiti Abdullah al Ajmi, 29, blew himself up in a truck bombing at Iraqi Army headquarters in Mosul in March 2008. He had spent three years at Guantánamo as Detainee No. 220 and was released through a Bush administration review process in 2005.
Another 11.5 percent, or 65 men once held at Guantánamo, are suspected in terror attacks. Those suspicions were based on a single report or ``plausible but unverified'' information, according to the intelligence directorate.
Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, of the intelligence committee, used the occasion of the report to urge the White House to stop detainee releases from Guantánamo.
The prison camp census stood at 174 Wednesday. Only three of those held have been convicted of war crimes. They include confessed teen terrorist Omar Khadr who is slated to return to his native Canada next year under a plea agreement. Only one captive is currently facing trial by military commission.
``It is unacceptable to continue transferring these dangerous detainees when we know that one in four are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight,'' Bond said in a statement that accused President Obama of trying to fulfill a campaign promise to close the facility rather than ``protecting Americans from terrorists.''
At the White House, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes replied, ``We take any incidence of recidivism very seriously. We will deal with recidivists the way we deal with any individual who threatens our national security: by working to bring them to justice.''
Tuesday's report provided none of the recidivist captives' names or nationalities. It did distinguish between Bush-era releases and those during the current Obama administration, which established a Task Force Review of each captive file in a failed bid to empty the prison camps in southeast Cuba by
Miami Herald
Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, of the intelligence committee, used the occasion of the report to urge the White House to stop detainee releases from Guantánamo.
The prison camp census stood at 174 Wednesday. Only three of those held have been convicted of war crimes. They include confessed teen terrorist Omar Khadr who is slated to return to his native Canada next year under a plea agreement. Only one captive is currently facing trial by military commission.
``It is unacceptable to continue transferring these dangerous detainees when we know that one in four are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight,'' Bond said in a statement that accused President Obama of trying to fulfill a campaign promise to close the facility rather than ``protecting Americans from terrorists.''
At the White House, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes replied, ``We take any incidence of recidivism very seriously. We will deal with recidivists the way we deal with any individual who threatens our national security: by working to bring them to justice.''
Tuesday's report provided none of the recidivist captives' names or nationalities. It did distinguish between Bush-era releases and those during the current Obama administration, which established a Task Force Review of each captive file in a failed bid to empty the prison camps in southeast Cuba by
Miami Herald
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