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Press
Releases
04/03/06
Pentagon
releases new Guantanamo Bay transcripts, shedding light on
detainees
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press Writer
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- In 2,733 pages of
declassified documents released Monday to The Associated Press,
men accused of helping terrorist groups or Afghanistan's former
Taliban regime pleaded for freedom while U.S. military officers
often painstakingly tried to find holes in their stories.
The previously classified transcripts were the second batch
of Guantanamo Bay detainee hearings released by the Pentagon
in response to a lawsuit by the AP. They identified more of
the prisoners who have been secretly held without charges
for up to four years while the U.S. military determines how
dangerous they may be.
A review of the documents indicated that they contain no major
revelations about high-profile detainees, but offered more
insight into who has been detained and why they ended up in
the custody of U.S. authorities.
Most of the men said they were innocent and would pose no
threat if set free.
"My conscience is clear," said Algerian detainee
Mohamed Nechla, who was accused of plotting to attack the
U.S. Embassy in Bosnia. "If I left this place my only
concern would be bread on the table for my wife and children."
Zia Ul Shah, a Pakistani accused of being a driver for the
Taliban, said he hated his American captors at first but his
feelings softened after he learned about the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
"In the beginning I did not like Americans at all,"
Shah said. "I had never seen Americans. In the beginning
when I came here the interrogations were tough and I started
hating them more, but then ... someone showed me pictures
from 9/11. Then I realized they have a right to be angry.
My hate towards Americans was gone."
Some 715 prisoners have passed through the cells of the U.S.
military base since it began receiving men captured in the
U.S. war on terror more than four years ago. Pentagon spokesman
Bryan Whitman said 490 of them are now held at the base, which
hugs the arid southeastern shores of Cuba.
Whitman told reporters at the Pentagon that authorities have
gained a wealth of knowledge by interrogating detainees, who
are held in cellblocks behind barbed wire.
"We've learned about al-Qaida's pursuit of WMDs,"
Whitman said, referring to weapons of mass destruction. "We've
learned about their methods of recruitment, location of recruitment
centers. We've learned about their skill sets, their terrorist
skill sets, both general and specialized operative training."
A reading of some of the documents released Monday showed
no such stark admissions, although any records of interrogations
and the classified portions of the hearings were not included
in the transcripts. The hearings -- called Administrative
Review Boards -- were held to determine whether detainees
still posed threats to the United States.
Human rights group Amnesty International, a frequent critic
of U.S. policies in its war on terror, said the transcripts
would most likely reveal information that was insignificant
or had been previously released.
"Nevertheless, Amnesty International welcomes today's
actions, as even the seemingly minor details in these documents
may help shed light on the secrecy surrounding the detainees'
cases," said Eric Olson, the group's acting director
of government relations.
Each of the detainees who faced such a review hearing was
previously determined by other Guantanamo Bay panels -- Combatant
Status Review Tribunals -- to be an "enemy combatant,"
meaning they fought against the U.S. or its allies or provided
support to the Taliban, al-Qaida or "associated forces."
Shah said he felt his testimony at the earlier tribunal had
been ignored.
"Should I consider (you all) the same or should I expect
justice?" he asked.
The presiding U.S. military officer assured Shah all the evidence
would be considered fairly:
"Well, I hope that you would believe that we would do
you justice after we review all the information," said
the officer, whose name was censored from the transcript for
security reasons.
The detainees often pleaded with the military review panels,
seeking not only freedom but also money or help finding a
job back home.
"In case of my release, I would like to say that I am
a poor man and don't have enough money to start a business,
but I will accept any jobs from the Americans or the current
government of Afghanistan," said Abdullah Mujahid, an
Afghan.
As in the previous release of transcripts, the names were
scattered throughout the documents and many detainees were
not identified. There was no indication whether any had been
released.
Some detainees said they had hazy memories as they gave curt
replies to the U.S. military officers presiding over the tribunal.
One unidentified Yemeni said he did not recall when he was
captured in Pakistan, saying it was more than four years ago.
"Was it cold?" asked the presiding officer, trying
to determine if not the date, then the season.
"The weather was medium. It was not hot but it was not
cold," responded the detainee.
Many detainees repeatedly denied having links to Osama bin
Laden, al-Qaida or the Taliban, insisting they were simply
caught up in the war zone. Some were accused of being low-level
members of the Taliban, who imposed strict Islamic rule from
1996 to 2001.
"I don't know bin Laden and I don't know anyone else,"
said an Afghan detainee named Gano Nasorllah Hussain. "I
am a butcher and I have a shop in my village."
In response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the
AP, the Defense Department released some 5,000 pages of transcripts
March 3.
Most of those pages were from the Combatant Status Review
Tribunals. If a detainee is determined by the panel to be
an "enemy combatant," they fall under a classification
that human rights groups complain is vague and confers fewer
legal protections than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
___
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this
report from Washington.
___
On the Net:
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