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Who's Still at Guantanamo?

A significant portion of the final 110 have combat, recruiting experience

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 30, 2008 1:21 PM CST

(Newser) – Before he can close Guantanamo, Barack Obama must decide what to do with the 250 detainees still there. About 80 are scheduled to be tried and will serve their sentences in their home countries, USA Today reports. The Pentagon has approved the release of 60 more, but has not found countries to accept them. That leaves 110 alleged terrorists deemed too dangerous to be let out.

Of the “Gitmo 110,” analysis by terrorism experts found that 46% fought in Afghanistan or elsewhere, 48% participated in the al-Qaeda recruiting network, and 72% have attended a training camp. But while some are experienced terrorists, other members of the Gitmo 110 are lower-level but "committed" operatives from Yemen, whose government the Pentagon says will not monitor them.

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Canadian-born accused terrorist Omar Khadr, left, attends a pre-trial session seated next to a member of his defense team at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool)

A US flag flies above a razor wire topped fence at the Camp Six detention facility on the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Mandel Ngan, Pool)

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You have some guys who are a first-order threat.
- Thomas Joscelyn, terrorism analyst and senior editor of The Long War Journal

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Who's Still at Guantanamo?