According to the Pentagon, seventy-four or one out of every seven, ex-Gitmo detainees who were formerly held at the U.S. detention site at Guantanamo Bay are confirmed or suspected of having returned to terrorism. Read more below, see photos and a video.
Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility
Of more than 530 terrorists, enemy combatants, detainees transferred from the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, 27 are confirmed and 47 suspected of “reengaging in terrorist activity,” according to a written Pentagon summary. The total of 74 has more than doubled since May 2007. There are some that believe the various numbers released periodically by the Pentagon of combatants returning to the battlefield is actually much higher then being reported.
As you would expect the leftist human rights groups say the Pentagon is simply making it all up. Most of the Gitmo detainees are just “poor unfortunate souls” who, by no fault of their own, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and now the Pentagon is engaged in fear mongering. Well, if it was all such a terrible misunderstanding you have to wonder why the eternally anemic Europeans are so squeamish about taking released Gitmo detainees. Even with the ineffectual U.N. making appeals for more countries to take in Gitmo detainees, most European nations have declined citing national security concerns.
These numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone, since nothing is done at Guantanamo to disabuse or even rehabilitate these terrorists of their beliefs about the responsibility of Muslims to wage war against and subjugate unbelieving infidels.
In actuality, the Pentagon has provided the names and brief details of 15 former detainees it said had been confirmed as having returned to terrorism and 14 suspected of doing so. It’s a list that includes former Gitmo residents accused or convicted of terrorist offenses in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia.
Among the more recent cases mentioned were two terrorists who were repatriated to Saudi Arabia in 2007. Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shihri and Mazin Salih Musaid al-Alawi al-Awfi announced in a video message that they were leaders of ‘al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’, a new terrorist group.
Also among those accused of the most serious offenses was Said Mohammed Alim Shah, also known as Abdullah Mahsud. This terrorist was repatriated to Afghanistan in 2004, he blew himself up to avoid capture by Pakistani forces in July 2007 but in April of that year, he directed a suicide attack that killed 31 people.
Lest you think that the ghosts of Bush are simply seeing a terrorist behind every corner, the Pentagon said it requires “a preponderance of evidence” such as fingerprints, DNA or photographs, before they confirm that a former Gitmo detainee had been involved in terrorism.
Closing Gitmo; it’s inevitable I suppose. But in my opinion, it’s one of the great lies of our era that Gitmo has been a terrible place. In fact, Gitmo has been a necessary and essentially humane place for some of the foulest human beings who walk the face of the earth. And Barack Obama’s role in closing Gitmo? Completely and utterly feckless.
Ex-Gitmo Detainees Return to Terrorism Photos
Ex-Gitmo Detainees Return to Terrorism Video
May 27th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Fine lets look at the facts, if you hold people in a prison (regardless of conditions) the odds are a % of some of them will return to commit new crimes, this is not isolated to just prisoners from Gitmo.
Now I realise you and many others are terrified and scared but the truth is we still live in a nation thats far safer then many others and theres just no need to turn us into a police state so just relax, calm down and enjoy the morning.
May 27th, 2009 at 4:09 am
All Muslims are potential terrorists.
May 27th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Well, DUH!
First, while I love the strike-out, indicating the semantic shift over time, but the very first label was “suspected” terrorists. “Suspected” was the operative word, ignored both by the Cheney Whitehouse (who was hell-bent on torture in order to obtain false confessions), and the mainstream media.
Secondly, were I to have been “detained” by any country, even the U.S., and regardless of my innocence, tortured for years, do you think I would, upon release, happily forgive all, wave good-by, and say, “thanks for all the fish?” No! They would have made me into a deadly enemy, bent on savage revenge!
This is the legacy of the Cheney Whitehouse. Why should it surprise anyone that many, if not most previously innocent “detainees” seek revenge?
May 27th, 2009 at 4:29 am
listening to Hobbes you might think that he knows what he is talking about, but it is all speculation on his part . I am sure that he never talked to a detainee to determine their innocence. His ignorance in this matter is shown buy his comment. I think all this talk has led to a slowdown of new detainees. Do you think our troops now look at the situation and say to themselves detainee or K.I.A.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Hobbes is a Obama kool-aid drinker. These terrorist want to kill him and the rest of us. He would be the first to give up his own mother if is meant saving his scared butt.
Like blaming Bush is going to change anything. We now have a novice in the WH. Barry and Hobbes think if we are nice to the mean terrorist, they will like us and leave us alone.
I find it insulting to our troops that there are Americans that think that all they do is torture people. Lam brain liberals don’t understand that we are in a war with people that think dying for their cause gets thme to heaven. And they want to take as many of us out as possible while they can.
I would rather be in a foxhole with Bush or Cheney the Barry or Joe.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I’ve already heard several men, who talk like some posters here, say they would like to kill Obama. From their speech, it was obvious they were southerners. Since they want Obama assassinated, they are a clear and present danger to our president. Shall we torture all southerners until they admit they want to assassinate Obama?
Torture only works if you are looking for a particular answer. If you want to invade an country like, say, Iraq, you simply torture Iraqis and others until they give you the “intelligence” you want. It works only if you want a false confession.
Since we prosecuted Japanese for doing exactly what we were doing, we have become our enemies. Of course, the right wing loves it. You need an enemy–someone to hate. You don’t want to lead by example, but by force.
This is the banana republic mentality, which led the Whitehouse for the past 8 years, and it is obvious they still have a following who possess the same mentality. No honor, just hatred. You guys are the problem, not the solution. And, I’d bet that you call yourselves “Christians.”
May 27th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hob,
You are a bit crazy it seems. I have not heard anyone here calling for that. We simply diagree with Obama.
It sounds like to me you are the typical angry liberal. You are for free speech until someone disagrees with you and then you turn into an angry person full of hate. And just make stuff up.
Believe me, I do not want Joe Biden President.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Wow, breaking news: criminals released from jail are prone to recidivism. That never happens in our domestic prisons.
And to think that even waterboarding, stress positioning, sleep deprivation, other psychological quasi-torture, and a complete lack of legal transparency didn’t turn these guys around. I know I would love Americans after a stay in that paradise.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Stop it Rhayader.
These are not garden variety crminals and please spare us the false pretense that waterboarding is what should of set them straight.
And it is not a “COMPLETE” lack of transparency.
Stop floating lies.
Arent you aware of the briefings that are held by the CIA and other agencies that inform the congressional members on the security council of what, where, when, how, and why these methods are going to be used ?
Yea, thats right, the ones that Pelosi doesnt want to talk about anymore.
Those memos from those briefings that show exactly what we got out of those methods and the intelligence they rendered are the ones Obama doesnt want out there.
Until the left and Obama is willing to release the memos that show the results of those methods all of you and none of you nay sayers have an argument other than to get on your self righteous narcissistic pulpit and bang your chests for people who could care less if you lived or were REALLY TORTURED !!
All you who are crying for transparency cant have it both ways.
Oh yeah, we’ll be transparent if it helps to convict the previous administration, but not if it exonerates them ?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Why are so many so quick to blame America for this? They hated us before we put them at Gitmo. We could have held hands and sang campfire songs, and when they left, they still would hated us.
Why can’t you understand that?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Micky, this issues is not about waterboarding though, as for the memos to pelosi lets not limit it to cherry picked ones, lets have all the memos, k?
I mean I for one would like the real scoop on happened with all those WMDs, who screwed up and why, dont you want to know?
So what do you say Mickey,lets have those memos…….as well as some independant investigators to check this all out to decide who should or should not be prosecuted, agree?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am
” lets have all the memos, k?”
Stop playing games CD.
I asked first and so has Dick Cheney only after the memos casting doubt were released.Thats the point.
And what has the answer been to that so far ? HUH?
The evidence against Pelosi is already pretty damning when we have two people on Obamas administration saying these techniques work and Panneta coming out and basically saying Nancys full of sh*t.
Not releasing the memos showing the results is says volumes about this administration being pretty damn corrupt and non transparent already.
All of a sudden now the morons who opened this can of worms are discovering that a significant amount of thoise worms are democrats and they’re not so quick to go forward with these truth commisions and investigations.
Dont ask me to have investigations bub.
The ball is in the dems court. Its up to them to bring them forward.
Nice try.
No one will be prosecuted.
No one will go to jail.
Lives were saved.
Waterboarding was legal in 2001-02-03 and everyone of the congressional delegates on the security commision knew it. They were briefed on it, told what where when how and why it was being done. Almost everyone there says they had no problem with it ans obviously it got metioned because individuals like Harmon heard enough to file a concern.
Nuff of this crap already
May 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Moonbats might want to think twice about closing Gitmo.
Anyone whos ever done time can plainly see the damn place is an oasis compared to the supermax or any high security installation.
Closing Gitmo serves no purpose other than for liberals to get off on their mental jerk off that they somehow are serving a purpose.
“A stain on our reputation “?
What ? Because we capture the enemy during war ?
How freakin dumb is that ?
Gee, I wish only 1 out of 7 criminals in our country returned to crime.
On the other hand, not even one “TERRORIST” should be allowed to return to ANYTHING
May 27th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Oh yeah, we’ll be transparent if it helps to convict the previous administration, but not if it exonerates them ?
Micky, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not approaching this with an eye toward helping or hurting any particular politicians? Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, whoever else; that gossipy crap is the last thing I care about.
Besides, my point here wasn’t even to criticize our treatment of Gitmo prisoners. I was just pointing out that we can’t exactly be surprised with the recidivism discussed in this article.
Everybody, I’ll do you a favor: Micky reads these posts, so you all better stop “floating lies”, “playing games”, “crying for transparency”, or doing anything else to get him angry.
“Nuff of this crap already.”
May 27th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Actually, I suspect Dick has an ulterior motive there micky, he’s been pushing for the whitehouse to release memos he claims shows that torture did help in revealing some information that supposedly helped prevent further attacks.
My reply to him on that is the same to you which basically is, “Fine, all I ask is that you be fair and honest and release all the other memos as well.”
Oh and for the record I dont care if pelosi were to be removed, never cared for her nor reid for that matter so if these memos were to remove them I’d kinda smile.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
“Shall we torture all southerners until they admit they want to assassinate Obama?”
we already make them live in georgia, there is a geneva convention
May 27th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
“Micky, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not approaching this with an eye toward helping or hurting any particular politicians? Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, whoever else; that gossipy crap is the last thing I care about.”
There’s no way we can avoid being seen as looking at one side or the other here and have a relevant conversation.
This is about politics and the politicians who all brought these issues to surface.
When it comes right down to it if were going to get the results we want as Americans were going to have to defend one politician or the other.
I a defending the Bush administration which is under attack from the present admin. who seems to think that everything done for the last 7 1/2 years of Bush’s admin was wrong.
When you speak out as an advocate for the closing of Gitmo or against interrogations that have been proven to work you are essentially speaking on behalf of the democratic party.
If you want transparency Rhayader I suggest you take it up with the administration that said it would be the most transparent and revealing ever. Only so far to be one of the most vague, obfuscating and secretive I’ve ever seen.
Why would Dick Cheney ask for the release of memos if they would put him in a bad light ?
He wants to prove that these methods yielded results that saved lives and as a result of that revelation it might be in Obamas best interest to not take these methods completely off the table.
As far as the recidivism goes, I addressed that by saying that if we had this rate of recidivism in our American criminals it would be outstanding.
BUT !!!
That rate of recidivism in terrorists is not acceptable seeing as how 100% of them are murderers or complicit in the act and intention.
They are a more than just criminals otherwise this whole war would be treated as such. Its an attack on the entire country and western civilization as we know it.
CD.
I’m pretty sure only the biggest blundering idiot in the world (or the NYTs) would release every single memo. We do have to maintain some element of secrecy. I’m sure any level headed person could agree to that.
In all fairness, if Obama wants to release select cherry picked memos that cast a bad light on the techniques then those performing or responsible for conducting those techniques should be allowed to divulge the memos that show the results of the same techniques Obama is lambasting.
Our justice system is set up this way. You cant make an accusation without giving the same evidence the chance to mitigate the defense.
If you say the techniques don’t work you have to prove it. You cannot hide the evidence that is exculpatory. Failure to disclose exculpatory evidence results in the dismissal of any case. As it stands the ball is in Obamas court and he needs to show the other half of the evidence or remain looking like a cheap a$$ witch hunter.
PERIOD.
The discussion with Gitmo is dumb.
It serves no purpose to close Gitmo.
Congress has already made it abundantly clear that these guys cant be let go. They’ve also made it abundantly clear that what used to be “freedom fighters” are now in a different light, saying (according to Reid )” no detainees would be allowed on U.S. soil”.
I guess that puts the supermax or any American prison out of the question if Obama wants funding, huh ?
As far as ulterior motives go I’m sure everyone has a few just as we can find as many who say they’re against waterboarding/torture as we can find those who say it works as those who say Gitmo is a disgrace as those who say its perfect.
I’m likely to believe that while every politician has many angles with many motives in Cheney’s case I only see him defending Bush and the safety of the country. He stands to win very little for his personal self besides keeping the status quo and stands to lose nothing if he’s wrong. No one is going to jail for what was legal and made apparent to all the right authorities in 2001-02-03.
I don’t know, is there a book deal coming up like there was with Scott McClellan ?
Nope, I dont think so.
—————————
“Shall we torture all southerners until they admit they want to assassinate Obama?”
Only if they’ve all already done it once before ?
moron
May 27th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Oh I’m very much aware that they cant release every single memo and or minutes from meetings, theres stuff that do need to keep secret for good reason however they should start releasing more of them that don’t have anything that still needs to be classified.
I’m still frankly surprised that so many people (both democrat and real small government republican) have not pushed for more information on the whitehouse memos to bee released.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
“Wow, breaking news: criminals released from jail are prone to recidivism. That never happens in our domestic prisons.” Rhayader
this reveals a basic problem
they are NOT criminals
they are terrorists. they themselves would absolutely reject the notion that they are criminals. they are not after profit. they are not insane.
they simply wish to kill you.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:04 am
We’ve let the Left talk about our “negative image around the world” because of Guantanamo, which is just a fabrication. It’s a prison, and there has been no abuse there. This issue is not about prisoner rights, it’s about creating chaos in America.
It’s amazing how the left talks about the Bush spending era, but now wants to abandon this multi-million dollar facility which was upgraded solely for the compassionate needs of the terrorists. Most countries would have put these people in a dark hole, had they lived long enough to get them there.
May 28th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Right Maggie.
Also, as I’ve mentioned eleswhere (spaced out and forgot where) I’ve been to more prisons than I’d care to brag about. Just from the news clips I’ve seen of Gitmo I can tell you that its an absolute PARADISE compared to any hole I’ve ever seen.
Closing Gitmo will not change the worlds perception launched by the left that we abuse and torture every single prisoner we “abduct”.
The fact of the matter is that the only three detainees have been waterboarded, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Nashiri which did not take place at Gitmo but rather at overseas locations.
Yeah, now were looking for 8 million to tear down a 20 million dollar facility.
I thought we were broke ?
September 4th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Pay the first, the local growshop?Heat of the, brands all over.This was taken, explained below As.Entail If how to get revenge on an ex, Carrie provided some such thing If.Childs feeling toward, anyone would starve.,