Another former Guantanamo detainee returns to terrorism after release

[Caelius]

That's what? Number 65?

I don't think this is going to slow down the closure of the facility at Gitmo in anyway, but I do think it underscores some of the concerns that must be on some official's minds when it comes with what to do with these people.

Source

CAIRO, Egypt – A Saudi man released from Guantanamo after spending nearly six years inside the U.S. prison camp is now the No. 2 of Yemen's al-Qaida branch, according to a purported Internet statement from the terror network.

The announcement, made this week on a Web site commonly used by militants, came as President Barack Obama ordered the detention facility closed within a year. Many of the remaining detainees are from Yemen, which has long posed a vexing terrorism problem for the U.S.

The terror group's Yemen branch — known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" — said the man, identified as Said Ali al-Shihri, returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from Guantanamo about a year ago and from there went to Yemen, which is Osama bin Laden's ancestral home.

The Internet statement, which could not immediately be verified, said al-Shihri was the group's second-in-command in Yemen, and his prisoner number at Guantanamo was 372.

"He managed to leave the land of the two shrines (Saudi Arabia) and join his brothers in al-Qaida," the statement said.

Documents released by the U.S. Defense Department show that al-Shihri was released from the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in November 2007 and transferred to his homeland. The documents confirmed his prisoner number was 372.

Saudi Arabian authorities wouldn't immediately comment on the statement. A Yemeni counterterrorism official would only say that Saudi Arabia had asked Yemen to turn over a number of wanted Saudi suspects who fled the kingdom last year for Yemen, and a man with the same name was among those wanted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the press and would not provide more details.

Yemen is a U.S. ally in the fight against terror, but it also has been the site of numerous high-profile, al-Qaida-linked attacks including the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden, which killed 17 American sailors.

Yemen's government struggles to maintain order. Many areas of the California-size country are beyond government control and Islamic extremism is strong. Nearly 100 Yemeni detainees remain at Guantanamo, making up the biggest group of prisoners.

Al-Shihri's case highlights the complexity of Obama's decision to shut down the detention center within a year despite the absence of rehabilitation programs for ex-prisoners in some countries, including Yemen. The Pentagon also has said more former ex-detainees appear to be returning to the fight against the U.S. after their release.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who heads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence, said the reports about al-Shihri should not slow the Obama administration's determination to quickly close the prison.

"What it tells me is that President Obama has to proceed extremely carefully. But there is really no justification and there was no justification for disappearing people in a place that was located offshore of America so it was outside the reach of U.S. law," she told CBS's "The Early Show."

But Rep. Pete Hoekstra, of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the executive order Obama signed Thursday to close the facility as "very short on specifics."

Interviewed on the same program, he said there are indications that as many as 10 percent of the men released from Guantanamo are "back on the battlefield. They are attacking American troops."

The militant Web statement said al-Shihri's identity was revealed during a recent interview with a Yemeni journalist. That journalist, Abdelela Shayie, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Friday that 35-year-old Saudi man had joined the kingdom's rehabilitation program after his release and got married before leaving for Yemen.

Shayie said al-Shihri told him that several other former Guantanamo detainees had also come to Yemen to join al-Qaida.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is an umbrella group of various cells. Its current leader is Yemen's most wanted fugitive Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi, who was among 23 al-Qaida figures who escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2006.

Since the prison break, al-Qaida managed to regroup. It set up training camps, has attracted hundreds of young men and launched dozens of bloody attacks against Westerners, government institutions and oil facilities. Most recently, gunmen and two vehicles packed with explosives attacked the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in September, killing 17 people, including six militants. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to the Defense Department, al-Shihri was stopped at a Pakistani border crossing in December 2001 with injuries from an airstrike and recuperated at a hospital. Within days of his release, he became one of the first detainees sent to Guantanamo.

Al-Shihri allegedly traveled to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, provided money to other fighters and trained in urban warfare at a camp north of Kabul, according to a summary of the evidence against him from U.S. military review panels at Guantanamo.

He also was accused of meeting extremists in Iran and briefing them on how to enter Afghanistan, according to the documents.

Al-Shihri, however, said he traveled to Iran to buy carpets. He said he felt bin Laden had no business representing Islam, denied any links to terrorism and expressed interest in rejoining his family.

[Roman Rapper]

Undoubtedly these men were originally innocent of all charges, but ended up being radicalized by the torture they suffered while being held by the U.S government.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Undoubtedly these men were originally innocent of all charges, but ended up being radicalized by the torture they suffered while being held by the U.S government.

Probably, kinda like people in regular prison.
If they were innocent when they got in they won't be after they have been released.

[Faramir D'Andunie]

If half of what is beeing said about the torturing employed there is true, no suprise at all that they actually want revenge.

[danzig]

Undoubtedly these men were originally innocent of all charges, but ended up being radicalized by the torture they suffered while being held by the U.S government.

Yeah...no doubt! Love the assumption that everyone arrested was innocent by some, its as dumb as people who think every muslim is guilty.

[Babur]

Yeah...no doubt! Love the assumption that everyone arrested was innocent by some, its as dumb as people who think every muslim is guilty.

but there are people who are like this:



such as Chaigidel,Haakon,Sven88

[Lord Consul]

Yeah...no doubt! Love the assumption that everyone arrested was innocent by some, its as dumb as people who think every muslim is guilty.

Well, it's not as if the US Army Intelligence had not a rather long record of sending completely innocent people to Gitmo.



This young Afghani man, Dilawar, was arrested in Khost while driving his cab around the city. At the time, he had three passengers with him. He was later killed in Bagram.

What does he have to do with Guantanamo, you ask?

"The three passengers in Mr. Dilawar's taxi were sent home from Guantánamo in March 2004, 15 months after their capture, with letters saying they posed "no threat" to American forces."

Army Intelligence sent three people randomly picked up in a cab in a small town in the Afghani hinterland and sent them to Gitmo. How many more suffered the same fate and whose situation we do know about? Possibly hundreds.

[danzig]

Well, it's not as if the US Army Intelligence had not a rather long record of sending completely innocent people to Gitmo.

Oh Im not disputing that, Im simply saying we dont know enough. The fact a man who was in Gitmo and is now a terrorist doesnt automatically mean the military was wrong in their initial detention....as some people in this thread seem to be saying. Its why I brought up 1) about US policy being stupid as one of 3 ways to look at this.

Yeah! Guilty until proven innoc- Wait a second

VROOOOOM....that's the sound of the point going right over your head.

[mrmouth]

My god are you people scary. Im glad to say I just simply don't know any people in my personal life, who think like the majority here. And I live in a fairly liberal city. The lack of common sense here is staggering.

With just a little bit of work, you can find the declassified files on this guy. And hence, make a more informed decision as to whether he decided to kill innocent people because of his time at GITMO, or if that perhaps he might have actually been involved with terrorism before hand. Shocking, I know.

There were two men released and in the video.

The U.S. government’s unclassified files, which were created at Guantánamo and released to the public by the Department of Defense in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Associated Press, reveal a number of details about both al Shihri’s and al Awfi’s careers prior to their detention.


The U.S. government accused both men of working with charities that have been designated as fronts for al Qaeda, including the Saudi-based organization al Wafa. Al Wafa is responsible for shuttling al Qaeda terrorists to and from Afghanistan, and has offices throughout Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


The government’s unclassified files on al Shihri note that he was an "al Qaeda travel facilitator" who would brief "others in Mashhad, Iran on entry procedures into Afghanistan utilizing a certain crossing." In fact, al Shihri is "on a watch list for facilitating travel for Saudis willing to go to Afghanistan through Iran by providing fake passports to those unable to get one."

Al Qaeda’s use of Mashhad and other points in Iran as transit points has long been known to the U.S. government. As Ken Timmerman first reportedWashington Times, senior Bush administration officials were briefed on the Mashhad operation as early as October of 2001. And, as the 9/11 Commission noted, most of the 9/11 hijackers transited Iranian soil en route to their day of terror.



The Long War Journal reviewed thousands of unclassified files released from Guantánamo. The Mashhad-based transit line al Shihri helped run is not the only one al Qaeda operates inside Iran. More than fifty detainees who are either currently held or have been held at Guantánamo are alleged to have had some involvement with Iran. Some of them, like the Taliban’s former governor of the Herat province, were accused of illicit dealings with the Iranian government. The governor, Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, even admitted to setting up at least two meetings between senior Iranian and Taliban officials. At these meetings, Iran and the Taliban, who were one-time enemies, agreed to work together to counter American influence in South and Central Asia.


Dozens of the detainees analyzed by The Long War Journal used al Qaeda’s transit nodes in the Iranian cities of Tayyebat, Zahedan, and Mashhad – all three cities are on Iran’s easternmost border with Afghanistan. Iran’s capital, Tehran, was also identified in the unclassified files as a common transit hub.


These transit hubs were operated by Saudi-based charities that, in reality, acted as fronts for al Qaeda and the Taliban. One of these charities is al Wafa, which has been designated under Executive Order 13224 as a terrorist organization and is briefly mentioned in 9/11 Commission’s report as an al Qaeda front.
Prior to his release, al Shihri was accused of dealing with al Wafa. He had contacts with senior al Wafa officials and one of his aliases and his phone number were "found in the pocket litter of the Karachi, Pakistan manager of" al Wafa. More than 100 Saudis have been repatriated from Guantánamo to Saudi Arabia. In addition to al Shihri, dozens of others are alleged to have worked with al Wafa. Some of them helped run al Wafa’s operations inside Iran and Afghanistan as well.



For example, former Guantánamo detainee Abdul Aziz al Matrafi, is alleged to have worked with the Taliban and al Qaeda at the highest levels while running al Wafa's operations. At Guantánamo, al Matrafi was accused of personally working with both Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden.



Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi is also alleged to have worked with al Wafa. The government alleges that al Awfi was a member of both al Wafa and Jammat al Tablighi, a Pakistani-based Islamic organization that does charity work but also serves as a cover for al Qaeda members traveling around the globe. The government explains al Wafa and al Awfi’s role in the organization thusly:


“Al Wafa claimed to be a charitable organization, but it was common knowledge that al Wafa delivered weapons and supplies to Afghanistan fighters in Tora Bora. Al Wafa provided money of all currencies, including United States Dollars, to those fighters who needed it. [Al Awfi] was identified as one of approximately 400 Arabs who claimed to be members of a subset of al Wafa called Irata. However, these were actually Mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan.”

The government believes that al Awfi was in Tora Bora with other al Qaeda and Taliban members who fled the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

During his combatant status review tribunal at Guantánamo, al Awfi admitted that he associated with Jamaat al Tablighi, but denied all of the government’s other claims. The government alleged that his name (listed as Mohamed Atiq Awayd al Harbi) was found on a list recovered from one of Osama bin Laden’s residences in Kabul, Afghanistan in December of 2001. Al Awfi claimed that his name is a common one and it must have been another Saudi.


The government made a number of other allegations against al Awfi, including that he was trained in Chechnya along with other jihadists and that he also received training at al Qaeda’s al Farouq camp in Afghanistan. Al Awfi was also recognized by an unnamed “senior al Qaeda operative” as having stayed in an al Qaeda guesthouse in Afghanistan in the late 1990’s.
Al Awfi was captured in Pakistan in late 2001 with a large amount of money, including thousands of American Dollars and Saudi Riyals.


During his time at Guantánamo, al Awfi claimed he loved Americans and was even willing to work with the American government once he returned to Saudi Arabia. Given his appearance in a new al Qaeda video, he was clearly more willing to work with al Qaeda, as is his fellow former detainee.


These clowns were released in part because the liberal morons of the world decided to argue for them, despite the evidence. By my count, thats 63 who have since returned to the jihad. not a surprise...

[Ahlerich]

payback time. those six years in gitmo are really good for morals in the terrorists camp. al quida couldnt forge an as motivated killer in six years.

well maybe they could, but not without losing the moral highgroud lol (sarcasm)

[Zephyrus]

Security experts skeptical on Gitmo detainee report

• <LI class=cnnHiliteHeader _extended="true">Story Highlights <LI _extended="true">Questions arise over report 61 Gitmo detainees have returned to terrorist activities
  <LI _extended="true">Pentagon defends report, but says it cannot explain where figure comes from
• President Obama has ordered Guantanamo Bay facility to be closed

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Security experts are questioning information released by the Pentagon last week, saying 61 former detainees from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may have returned to terrorist activities.
President Obama has signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility.





The report, released days before President Obama took office, says 18 former detainees are confirmed to have participated in attacks, and 43 are suspected to have been involved in attacks.
That figure would be about 11 percent of the roughly 520 prisoners that have been released from Guantanamo, which Obama on Thursday ordered be shut down.
On Friday, a Pentagon spokesman defended the integrity of the report, but would not directly answer questions about where the figures come from.
"We don't make these figures up -- they're not done willy-nilly," said spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Pentagon officials have said they would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns that such information could give clues to how U.S. intelligence officers collect their data.
"It is painstakingly done by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and they go over this with great care," Morrell said.
He said evidence of someone being "confirmed" to have returned to terrorism could include fingerprints, a conclusive photograph or "well-corroborated intelligence reporting."
CNN has learned some former Guantanamo detainees have returned to the fight.
An al Qaeda video, viewed by CNN's Nic Robertson, showed militants labeled with their former prisoner numbers. Saeed Shihri, Prisoner No. 372, is believed to have been responsible for an attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen that killed nearly a dozen people last September, barely a year after he was released from Guantanamo.
A U.S. counter-terrorism expert told CNN Shihri is one of al Qaeda's top leaders in Yemen. Watch former Gitmo detainee train with al Qaeda »
Others have included Abdullah Mahsud, who blew himself up to avoid capture by Pakistani forces in July 2007, and Ruslan Anatolivich Odizhev, who was transferred to Russia in March 2004 and killed in a June 2007 gun battle with Russian security forces.
Peter Bergen, a national security expert and CNN analyst, notes that of the 18 people the Pentagon says are confirmed to have engaged in terrorism, only a handful of names have been released.
If one accepts that all 18 on the "confirmed" list have returned to the battlefield, that would be 4 percent of the detainees who have been released, Bergen said.
Bergen also noted Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics data that show the recidivism rate for U.S. state prisoners who have been released is more than 65 percent. Those same numbers show that about half of the released prisoners are returned to prison.
Bergen said some of the prisoners at Guantanamo may not have been terrorists at all, but were singled out by vengeful villagers who told U.S. authorities they were al Qaeda.
"We know that a lot of people who were in Guantanamo don't qualify as being the 'worst of the worst,'" he said, quoting former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's assessment.
Bergen said some of those "suspected" to have returned to terrorism are so categorized because they publicly made anti-American statements -- "something that's not surprising if you've been locked up in a U.S. prison camp for several years."
In a briefing Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates -- an advocate for closing Guantanamo while serving under President Bush and, now, under President Obama -- seemed to downplay the number of former detainees who have returned to fighting.
"It's not as big a number if you're talking about 700 or a thousand or however many have been through Guantanamo," he said.





As the Pentagon begins the work of closing the facility and finding places to send, or release, detainees there, Gates stressed that security will remain his top concern.

"Clearly, the challenge that faces us, and that I've acknowledged before, is figuring out how do we close Guantanamo and, at the same time, safeguard the security of the American people," he said. "That's the challenge that we will continue to face." E-mail to a friend












CNN's Mike Mount at the Pentagon and Brian Todd contributed to this report

The Pentagon has yet to show us concrete proof that this is the case. You can't just accept their word for it, we need to demand evidence.

And if they did? Then that's the fault of the Pentagon.

[rusina]

If I would be held six years innocent in Guantamo Bay, I would want revenge.

[Burnum]

What do you propose America does? Lock them up without charges and keep them indefinitely in the Guantanamo Bay Internment Camp?

It's also understandable why these men would take up arms and fight American Imperialism, I am sure if I spent a few years experiencing America's hospitality as "Guest" in Guantanamo Bay, I would probably hate America too.

[bushbush]

Caelius is our residential propaganda representative sent by the US government lol.

[Roman Rapper]

Caelius is our residential propaganda representative sent by the US government lol.

If that's the case then the government sure infiltrated this site quickly. The guy has been a member here since 2003.

[Zephyrus]

If that's the case then the government sure infiltrated this site quickly. The guy has been a member here since 2003.

Hmm...2 years after bush took office...:hmmm:

so saying anti-american things is enough to categorize some of the former prisoners as joining terrorist activity?

oh wow, i guess we have a lot of terrorists on this forum then.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...ees/index.html

Oh crap, i better get my patriotic pinflag back from the dustbin, apparently simply electing Obama wasn't enough to satisfy the eternally vengeful Mcarthyites!

[Babur]

for the lulz:

[justicar5]

for the lulz:

lol.

Seriously tho, if he wasn't a terrorist before he went in, it's hardly a surprise he became one after he left.

[shadyrome]

lol.

Seriously tho, if he wasn't a terrorist before he went in, it's hardly a surprise he became one after he left.

I know lol, Being Beating, Eletric nippes, balls kicking.

[Ahlerich]

Eletric nippes