1 in 7 Freed Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Finds--i call bullshit

[spanone]

an unreleased report....so how are we reading it's contents????


WASHINGTON — An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.

The conclusion could strengthen the arguments of critics who have warned against the transfer or release of any more detainees as part of President Obama’s plan to shut down the prison by January. Past Pentagon reports on Guantánamo recidivism have been met with skepticism from civil liberties groups and criticized for their lack of detail.

The Pentagon promised in January that the latest report would be released soon, but Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said this week that the findings were still “under review.”

Two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the report was being held up by Defense Department employees fearful of upsetting the White House, at a time when even Congressional Democrats have begun to show misgivings over Mr. Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo.

At the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Obama ran into a different kind of resistance when he met with human rights advocates who told him they would oppose any plan that would hold terrorism suspects without charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21gitmo.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

[Obamanaut]

1. How close is that to the recidivism rate for prisoners in general

following their release? 1 out of 7 is less than 15%, not an unreasonable expectation.

[VWolf]

12. It's about 65% in many prisons in the US, so it's not bad at all n/t

[ellenfl]

2. sounds like the vietcong body count. who's keeping track?

how could anyone possibly know unless he/she follows each released detainee?

ellen fl

[mmonk]

3. The Pentagon comes up with contrasting figures.

A free press could sniff that out.

[spanone]

4. 'unreleased' report so who's leaking it? and what is their agenda?

[mmonk]

5. The agenda is fear based propaganda to continue certain policies.

[DBoon]

6. 6 in 7 freed detainees live ordinary, normal lives

as law abiding citizens.

The crimes here is that the government is detaining many innocent individuals without trial, because a small number may be criminals

The crime is that people are advocating a police state and are willing to eliminate the protections that the innocent have for centuries enjoyed under the Anglo-American logal system

[sinkingfeeling]

7. After years in Gitmo, why wouldn't they hate America even more?

[Tim01]

8. So the 1 in 7 set more bombs, kill more americans, so we have another troop surge.

These guys were not in prison for traffic violations.

And I would guess the other 6 have not been caught doing anything so we have to assume they are not doing anything.
Are we guessing all terrorists get caught every time they set a bomb? No, of course not.

[frylock]

13. where's the proof that they're even engaing in "terrorist" activity to begin with?

a lot of these detainees are rounded up simply because they are 15-55 year old males.

[Tim01]

14. They are sent to gitmo simply because they are male and 15-55 years old?

Are you sure about that?

[frylock]

16. positive..

Day 1: America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men

<snip>

But Akhtiar was no terrorist. American troops had dragged him out of his Afghanistan home in 2003 and held him in Guantanamo for three years in the belief that he was an insurgent involved in rocket attacks on U.S. forces. The Islamic radicals in Guantanamo's Camp Four who hissed "infidel" and spat at Akhtiar, however, knew something his captors didn't: The U.S. government had the wrong guy.

"He was not an enemy of the government, he was a friend of the government," a senior Afghan intelligence officer told McClatchy. Akhtiar was imprisoned at Guantanamo on the basis of false information that local anti-government insurgents fed to U.S. troops, he said.

An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that Akhtiar was one of dozens of men — and, according to several officials, perhaps hundreds — whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.

<more>

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/story/38773.html

[Tim01]

18. "on the basis of false information that local anti-government insurgents fed to U.S. troops"

They thought they had the right guy because someone told them he was the guy.

[frylock]

20. so if i called the cops and told them that you had engaged in illegal activity..

you would be content to serve out your sentence based on the information that i provided, and not on an actual investigation?

the rounding up of "military aged males" occurred in Iraq. these men, despite any lack of evidence, were sent to Abu Ghraib. my apologies for the mix-up.

[Tim01]

21. American people do actually go to jail because of bad info, it happens. Always has.

But if there wasn't even an investigation, then I agree with you.

[EFerrari]

19. They were sold to Rumsfeld by the Northern Alliance

and by others in other venues. But, mostly in Afghanistan by the NA.

[EFerrari]

9. It is BS. This is the third time they've tried to float this number. n/t

[spanone]

11. ....and the timing....suspect

[Echo In Light]

10. Olbermann wisely emphasized the claim's lack of validation repeatedly on CD

[magellan]

15. BS. In January the "return to battlefield" was +-4%

The Defense Dept then confirmed 18 had returned to fighting and 43 were suspected of the same. What they don't say is how they're deriving those numbers (they've changed downward each time there's an update). Their methods of identifying people are even suspect. And former detainees can be classified as "returning to the battlefield" simply by making anti-American statements once back home.

Imagine being held for indefinite periods, sometimes years, and often mistreated, and not having much nice to say about the US to friends and family. What a shocker.

[EFerrari]

17. The Pentagon counted more than one of them as recidivists for

simply talking to the Arab media. It was bullshit last year and it's still bullshit.

[rucky]

22. If they're so sure, why couldn't they convict them when they had 'em?