The 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. Full Story »
Posted by David Patterson
I really appreciate this valuable story. You can see where AP had to do a lot of work to pull it together. It is a shame that it took all this time to recognize the pattern here, of our U.S. government releasing detainees by subterfuge (i.e., knowing full well that they will not be "further detained" in the destination country). I have one criticism, though. The numbers are hard to follow. Near the top is says roughy 360 have been released to 26 countries. Then it says the AP has tracked 245 of them, in 17 countries. Then, that 205 were either freed without charges of cleared of charges. THEN it says, "Overall, about 165 Guantanamo detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo for "continued detention," while about 200 were designated for immediate release. Some 420 detainees remain at the U.S. base in Cuba." That last passage appears to say 200 were intended for release all along--it's not a matter of a mistake or misapplication of instructions by the destination country. So I don't get the math, or really, the meaning of the math.
