NY Times reported claim that 61 Guantánamo detainees have "returned to the fight" without noting DOD made different claim in January
SUMMARY: In a February 7 article, The New York Times reported that Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell "put the number at 61" of former Guantánamo detainees who have "returned to the fight." But the article did not note that Morrell has previously stated that there are only 18 detainees confirmed to have "returned to the fight," with another 43 suspected of having done so. Nor did the Times indicate whether Morrell has stated that DOD has subsequently confirmed that more than 18 detainees have "returned to the fight."
A February 7 New York Times article uncritically reported that "the Pentagon delayed making public its latest report on the released Guantánamo detainees it classifies as having 'returned to the fight' " and added that "[o]n Friday, Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, put the number at 61, but said that the Defense Department was still struggling to provide names and specific examples without compromising intelligence-gathering sources." However, the Times did not note that Morrell previously stated that the Department has confirmed that 18 have "returned to the fight," with another 43 merely suspected of having done so.
As Media Matters for America noted, during a January 13 press conference, Morrell stated: "The new numbers are, we believe, 18 confirmed and 43 suspected of returning to the fight. So 61 in all former Guantánamo detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight." Further, according to a January 23 American Forces Press Service article, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stated, "Of the more than 500 detainees who have been transferred from Defense Department custody, 18 allegedly have resumed terrorist activities and another 43 former detainees are suspected of having resumed their former lives." The Times gave no indication of whether Morrell has stated that the Department of Defense has subsequently confirmed that more than 18 detainees have "returned to the fight."
Moreover, even the Pentagon's claim that it has confirmed that 18 former Guantánamo detainees have "return[ed] to the fight" has been questioned by experts. CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen stated on the January 23 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 that "returning to the fight, in Pentagon terms, could be engaging in anti-American propaganda, something that's not entirely surprising if you have been locked up in a prison camp for several years without charge." Bergen further stated: "[W]hen you really boil it down, the actual number of people whose names we know are about eight out of the 520 that have been released [from Guantánamo], so a little above 1 percent, that we can actually say with certainty have engaged in anti-American terrorism or insurgence activities since they have been released. ... If the Pentagon releases more information about specific people, I think it would be possible to -- to potentially agree with them. But, right now, that information isn't out there."
Additionally, as Media Matters has noted, Seton Hall University School of Law professor Mark Denbeaux -- who has written several reports about Guantánamo detainees, including some challenging the Pentagon's definition of "battlefield" capture and published detainee recidivism rates -- has disputed the Pentagon's figures, asserting: "[The Defense Department's most recent] attempt to enumerate the number of detainees who have returned to the battlefield is false by the Department of Defense's own data and prior reports."
From the February 7 Times article:
The president spoke for about 10 minutes before taking questions and talking individually with the participants, many of whom brought pictures of their loved ones who were killed in the attacks. The meeting was closed; participants described it as intense but civil.
Although some of the family members have disagreed openly with the president's decision to close the prison at Guantánamo, participants said there was no hostility at the meeting.
"It went far better than I had imagined," Kirk Lippold, a retired Navy commander who is a senior military fellow at Military Families United and was the commanding officer of the Cole at the time of the attack in 2000, said Friday evening.
Commander Lippold had been critical of the president's decision to close the prison, but after the meeting said he was pleased with what he called Mr. Obama's commitment to bringing the suspects to justice.
John Clodfelter of Mechanicsville, Va., whose son was among the 17 sailors killed in the Cole bombing, said he arrived at the meeting with apprehension over the decision to close the prison. But after listening to the president and being assured that the terrorism suspects would not be released, Mr. Clodfelter said his opinion changed.
"I did not vote for the man," Mr. Clodfelter said, "but the way he talks to you, you can't help but believe in him. He left me with a very positive feeling that he's going to get this done right."
Mr. Obama's outreach to the families came as the Pentagon delayed making public its latest report on the released Guantánamo detainees it classifies as having "returned to the fight." On Friday, Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, put the number at 61, but said that the Defense Department was still struggling to provide names and specific examples without compromising intelligence-gathering sources.
Mr. Morrell said there had been no concern from the White House about releasing a report that could undermine its argument for closing the prison.
"There is no pressure at all," he said. "This is our own internal process that we are working through as we always do."
Once again, no one will answer the question, WHO FREED THEM????
Bush did. He thought they were a folksy sort of people that you could sit down and have a beer with.
But really, what does that have to do with closing GITMO? They were released under a plan bush put in place, who's to say that putting them through the legal system would realize worse results?
Bush did what? Are you suggesting Bush released 61 terrorists and that allowed them to kill more Americans? Wow, I wonder how many more Americans will be killed when Obama releases 500 more of them. Somehow I think the hypocrosy of snoopy whining about Bush releasing terrorists will be ignored when he starts whining about Obama releasing terrorists. Oh, that's right...he doesn't whine about the evils that Obama does, only the evils that Bush does.
There is no plan to release anyone. There is a plan to close an illegal prison that has become synonymous with torture, and to put illegally detained people through the American justice system, which you obviously think doesn't work, even though the first World Trade Center bombers were caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced by the same system you seem to either hate or know nothing about. If you think that the detainees will just be "released," you are delusional and need to seek help.
Or else you're just lying again. Given your history, I'll just assume you are lying.
what makes the prison illegal? it reminds me of the abu ghraib story. Members of congress wanted it torn down. the iraqis said screw that, what did the building do. libs get so interested in symbolism, but not substance.
Thanks for another edition of "Fractured Fairy Tales" by hisybuff.
Who will ever know for sure, unless the government implanted a tracer chip or such?
Oscar, if I haven't said it lately, thanx for being here.
I just skimmed over the past few days threads. I've been visiting this site for a few years, mainly because it is pretty open to different viewpoints. I don't see Bruce1Ace around much, Tommy & Jeter2 seem to have eloped to reasonable wingnut island. You may be the last sane conservative at this site.
Seriously, between the deranged insults of Philib ( mostly based on his not understanding the topic), AnotherAmerican's whining about name-calling and the unfair pointing out of his regurgitating of low-level propaganda, and Lemoc's just plain drug-addled babbling, there's not much of a conservative presence here.
Funny that you seem to be the con who (like most of the reasonable libs here ) doesn't take himself too seriously.Keep making good points, and having laughs at yourself as well as us moonbats. And if any non-brain-damaged conservatives are lurking and not posting, pipe up. Oscar's carrying quite a burden. (and Bruce when he's here)
"Seriously, between the deranged insults of Philib ( mostly based on his not understanding the topic),"
Way to stay on-topic! I guess this is another one that I don't understand. When did this topic become a love-fest between harlen and oscar? I thought it was on gitmo detainees. But, harlen knows best what is good for mmfa threads. And, apparently, on-topic discussions aren't. Good for you, harlen. You've topped your own best 'on-topic' rant about the evils of conservatism.
You obviously don't understand and don't read too carefully. The Colonel's (assumed) name is "Harlan," not Harlen, as you typed multiple times, so it isn't a typo, it's evidence of ignorance and sloppy reading habits. And, to reply to your off-topic message, your understanding of any topic is limited at best and non-existent at worst, which, unfortunately, is your usual mode of operation.
These fools are just like the "Propagandist from WWII...They either are living in a different world or they are outright LIARS!
How do these people know that ? fter eight years of lying, we now demand truth ( and proof 0. Doesn't make sense if they were released under the Bush.governance.
let me rephrase that. If Bush released them, how can they be terrorrists ?
You're looking for the actions of the bushleaguers and their apologists to make sense at this stage of the game? Did ya have a nice vacation?
Amazing that they rant about their release of 51 detainees some of which went back to terrorism. Just shows you their technique for interviewing the prisoners even though it was so ungodly and so illegal, still it simply did not work. the way they interviewed those people was so stupid many were released to do terror again. If in fact many returned to terrorist activitie. Sooooo, so much for waterboarding, etc. Let us get it straight. The Bush cabal failed in their handling of the detainees no doubt many of them were not even in on 9/11 but for sure, the clunks in the Bush administration just ignored those facts.
I saw a story this morning on MSNBC.com about something like this, and their meaning in it, that releasing these "60 some odd" people who went back to terrorism is somehow an issue if you close Gitmo.
Thing is, I don't think anyone is saying that we'll be releasing the people that we have there already, but that we're going to close the facility. They seem to forget that little fact. When Gitmo gets shut down, we're not just going to open the gates, and let them all go in the streets of America, or other places. How stupid are these folks? See the article link below:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29071536/
How stupid are these folks?
I keep saying this: They're not stupid. They're lazy. They're prepared to just regurgitate whatever officials feed them wthout analysis or context or even needing to understand the topic and then convince themselves that as long as they accurately repeat the latest press release they've done their job.
Time for a great press corp awakening. Its a miracle that we actually have Obermann and Maddow on the television, as well as progressive radio. Even though it's small, it's a start.
Thing is, on another thread somewhere in here, Dawuss was making the claim that Olberman and Maddow were the equivalent of Malkin, Hannity, and Limbaugh (the liberal equivalent), which, most of us know, is not the truth.
Doesn't this have similar parallels from the McCarthy era?
"Rah! I have 54 communists on my list! 18! 100! 75!"
totally ot. I'm trying to sell my house. Just showed it and met a potential buyer. Sean White, worth about 30 mil and only 22. Never heard of him before today.