More Ex-Detainees Returning to Fight: Pentagon

Classified report puts Guantanamo's recidivism rate at 20%
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 7, 2010 8:18 AM CST
More Ex-Detainees Returning to Fight: Pentagon
This shot from a video on a militant-leaning site shows Said Ali al-Shihri, a Guantanamo detainee released to the Saudi government in 2007. He has resurfaced as a leader of a Yemeni al-Qaeda branch.    (Anonymous)

One in five terror suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison has returned to the fight, according to a classified Pentagon report. Early last year, the Pentagon reported that the rate of released detainees returning to militancy was 11%. In April, it was 14%. The latest figure was 20%, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report remains classified.

Critics of the reports say there is so little information in the assessments that they are nearly impossible to verify independently, and civil rights activists suspect the actual recidivism rate is much lower. A senior administration official says they haven't seen any information indicating that anyone released on Obama's watch has returned to the fight. But Republicans say the rising figures prove that Guantanamo must remain open for business. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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