MSNBC graphic falsely claims Pentagon has asserted as fact that "61 fmr. Gitmo detainees have returned to fight against U.S."
January 23, 2009 12:35 pm ET by Media Matters staff
Media Matters has documented that the 61 figure includes 43 former detainees who the Pentagon says are "suspected" of, but not confirmed as, having "return[ed] to the fight" and that Seton Hall University School of Law professor Mark Denbeaux has disputed the Pentagon's figures.
Not only that but Tamron Hall herself repeated that number during an interview, and I emailed this error as a "tip" to MM's email, so hopefully they will write this up and make Hall aware that 18 former detainees are now "confirmed" by the Pentagon (Geoff Morrell) to be back in the battlefield.
It's like an unstoppable virus, how the MSM keeps spreading and repeating the Pentagon's number without going back and reading spokesman Geoff Morrell's January 13th statement in full. Apparently only Media Matters cares to know the truth: a very small amount of the 700-800 prisoners that have been held or released at Gitmo have come back to the battlefield.