WASHINGTON: The United States plans to transfer six Yemenis held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba back to their home country, a move that could lead to the release and return of dozens more, The Washington Post reported in its Friday edition.
The release is a significant step toward dealing with the future of the 97 Yemenis at Guantanamo — the largest group of detainees at the prison — and a key element in meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of closing the facility.
Six Yemenis, along with four Afghans, will be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay soon, sources told the Washington Post. The release follows months of meetings between Yemeni and US officials and a visit by a top CIA official to Yemen last week.
The transfer will be monitored — as questions have been raised about Yemen’s security problems and lack of resources. If successful, it could lead to the release of other Yemenis cleared by US officials for release, the Post said. The identities of the detainees were not revealed.
Yemen’s security problems and lack of resources have spawned fears about its ability to monitor and rehabilitate returnees. Critics of the administration charge that returning detainees to Yemen, a country where Al-Qaeda is believed to be thriving, is tantamount to returning terrorists to the battlefield, and where this particular brand of extremism has been fueled for decades.
Conservatives are trying to link the Fort Hood shooting in which Army Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 14 people and wounded dozens with a radical imam in Yemen who allegedly recruits for Al-Qaeda and with whom Maj. Hassan was in e-mail contact.
The release follows months of high-level meetings between the government in Yemen and senior American officials, as well as a visit to the country last week by Stephen R. Kappes, the deputy director of the CIA, sources said. The CIA declined to comment.
The transfer will be closely monitored and, if successful, could lead to the release of other Yemenis who have been cleared to go home by a Justice Department-led interagency review team, which examined the case of each detainee held at Guantanamo Bay.
Obama set up the review process to accelerate the closure of the detention center. Since the detention center in Guantanamo Bay opened in early 2002, 15 Yemenis who were deemed not to be a threat have been repatriated: 14 by the Bush administration and one by the Obama administration.
Rep. Frank R. Wolf, a critic of the administration policy on Guantanamo, said Yemeni detainees pose a particular risk because of the instability of their home country. “These men are dangerous,” Wolf said when asked about the transfer. “I believe they will be involved in terrorism that will cost American lives.”
Closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has proved more difficult than expected. The latest backlash has occurred as Republicans express outrage about the White House plan to buy a vacant prison in Thomson, Ill., to house federal prisoners, including some of the inmates from Guantanamo.
