61 ex-Guantanamo Inmates Back to Terrorist Ways

Pentagon research has turned up some very disturbing evidence of late, indicating that 61 of the former detainees of the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba appear to have returned to their former terrorist ways since being released. Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesperson, noted that 18 former detainees have been definitively identified as having returned to terrorism, while 43 more are suspected of having done so. Speaking to the press, Morrell noted, "This is acts of terrorism. It could be Iraq, Afghanistan, it could be acts of terrorism around the world."

Detractors and rights advocates, however, note that there are no real clear details to back up such claims and, according to Jennifer Daskal, a Washington lawyers for Human Rights Watch, "Until enough information is provided to allow the press and the public to verify these claims, they need to be viewed with a healthy degree of skepticism." Another rights activist, Jamal Dakwar, notes, "The Defense Department sees that the Guantanamo detention operation has failed and they are trying to launch another fear mongering campaign to justify the indefinite detention of detainees there." Dakwar is the human rights director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Perhaps responding to some of the detractors, the Pentagon, through spokesmen, claimed that they considered a return to terrorism "confirmed" when evidence shows direct involvement in terror activities, while "suspected" terrorists result when gathered intelligence indicates that there is a plausible connection between the individual and terrorist acts or activities. The Pentagon further claimed that "Propaganda does not qualify as a terrorist activity."