WASHINGTON, 23 December 2002 — The United States is holding dozens of prisoners at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have no “meaningful connection” to Al-Qaeda or the Taleban, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
Citing military sources, the paper said that many of the prisoners at the base were sent there over the objections of intelligence officers in Afghanistan who had recommended them for release. At least 59 detainees — nearly 10 percent of the prison population — were deemed to be of no intelligence value after repeated interrogations in Afghanistan, the paper said.
It added they were all placed on “recommended for repatriation” lists well before they were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, a facility meant for hardened suspects. The United States began shipping prisoners to the base on the southeast tip of Cuba in January this year and the prison currently holds more than 600 prisoners from over 40 nations. Most were captured in Afghanistan during the US military action against Al-Qaeda group, blamed for last year’s Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and its Taleban protectors .
Washington, which does not recognize the detainees as prisoners of war but calls them enemy combatants, came under sharp criticism from rights groups and some foreign allies when it began the transfers of prisoners. Earlier this month Amnesty International urged the government to free war prisoners unless they were to be charged.
The Los Angeles Times said dozens of the detainees were Afghan and Pakistani nationals described in classified intelligence reports as farmers, taxi drivers, cobblers and laborers. Some were low-level fighters conscripted by the Taleban in the weeks before they lost power in Afghanistan.
It added that none of the 59 deemed of no intelligence value met US screening criteria for determining which prisoners should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. But they were transferred anyway, sources said.
The paper quoted sources as saying that Maj. Gen. Michael E. Dunlavey, the operational commander at Guantanamo Bay until October, went to Afghanistan in the spring to complain that too many “Mickey Mouse” detainees were being sent to the facility.
The paper said Pentagon officials declined to discuss individual cases, but insisted that the US has reasonable grounds for holding all the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier this month that the detainees were being held because they are linked to Al-Qaeda or terrorism in some way. Some will face US charges, while others will be turned over to other countries to face charges.
The United States sent four prisoners home to Afghanistan and Pakistan in October, saying they posed no threat and had no useful intelligence information, but it has not said how long it will hold the others. (R)
