Transcripts Give a View of Those at Guantanamo - Los Angeles Times

According to the Pentagon, 490 detainees still are at Guantanamo. The transcripts released Monday detail hearings held by camp officials late last year as part of their first review, to be repeated annually, of whether those still being detained remain a threat to U.S. security or whether they have any intelligence value. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said 120 detainees have been transferred to their home governments as a result of the review process, and another 15 have been released.

Most of those who agreed to appear before the review tribunals — which were made up of mid-level American officers — pleaded their innocence, saying they were in Afghanistan only to teach Arabic, or to look for work, or to help the poor. The findings publicly issued against them by the military are frequently vague or based on inconclusive evidence. Almost all detainees insisted that if released, they would return to their home countries and find a wife, or take care of their families, or look for a job.

"I came to Afghanistan to study the Koran for a whole year; after a year I wanted to go back," said a Yemeni accused of fighting alongside Osama bin Laden, in a typical exchange. "If I go back to Yemen, I [would] like to continue my education, and look for a house and find a wife, get married and live with my family."

Well, I don't see any specifics to the "vague findings" or "based on inconclusive evidence". By whose standards? Is the writer of this article an attorney? Are they a member of JAG? Have they ever even seen a court proceeding?

Of course, all this writing is to inform you of the writers opinion that these men are no longer threats to security or never were and have not received their just rights, therefore, must be released because, you know, their stories are so plausible and the US government, not disclosing every intelligence to the media to judge accordingly, must be lying bastards trying to railroad some poor, defenseless sheep herder for reasons unknown. Or, maybe we know. The government must make some pretense at fighting a war on terror that doesn't exist or is, at a minimum, their own fault for our dastardly foreign policy.

Need ocean front property in Arizona?
Transcripts Give a View of Those at Guantanamo - Los Angeles Times