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[The claim that around thirty of the detainees released from Guantanamo
have "returned to the battlefield" has become a regressive-rightist
talking point, endlessly repeated. Justice Scalia, for instance,
repeated the claim in his recent dissenting opinion on habeas corpus:
"At least 30 detainees who have been released from the
Guantanamo Bay detention facility have since returned to waging war
against the United States and its allies." The evidence for the claim
provided by the Defense Department, however, reveals that most of these
thirty have never been on a battlefield, either before or after they
were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.--DC]
http://tinyurl.com/5nz6m2
The "Returned to the Battlefield" Myth
Category: Politics
June 23, 2008 9:23 AM
by Ed Brayton
Along with the myth that all the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were
"captured on the battlefield" there is another myth being repeated over
and over again by Bush administration apologists: the myth that 30 men
released from Guantanamo Bay "returned to the battlefield" to fight
against the United States. It can most prominently be found in Justice
Scalia's dissent in Boumediene, where he claimed that "at least 30 of
those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to
the battlefield."
A new study
[http://law.shu.edu/center_policyresearch/re****ts/urban_legend_final_61608.pdf
] out of Seton Hall Law School debunks this myth quite thoroughly by
tracing it to the source and showing how the Defense Department's own
re****ts show it to be false. For instance:
"The July 2007 press release issued by the Department of Defense raised
serious questions about the claims of recidivism made by the
Department's own Principal Deputy General Counsel and Minority Views.5
Although it did repeat the number 30, the Press Release made clear that
that number included not only those former detainees who could have in
any sense been said to have engaged in combat against the United States
or its allies but also those who returned 'to militant activities,
participat[ed] in anti-US propaganda or other activities through
intelligence gathering and media re****ts.'
"In short, while Principal Deputy General Counsel Dell'Orto and the
Minority Views publicly insisted that some 30 former Guantánamo
detainees have 'returned to waging war against the United States and its
allies,' the Department's July 2007 News Release flatly contradicted
this claim. Rather than thirty supposed recidivists waging war, the
Press Release described at most fifteen (15) possible recidivists. Even
more surprising, only seven (7) of these individuals are identified by
name and were alleged to have returned to any battlefield or any combat.
The other eight (8) of the fifteen (15) individuals alleged by the
Government to have "returned to the fight" are accused of nothing more
than speaking critically of the Government's detention policies."
That last part is very im****tant: they included in those figures people
who had criticized their own detention at Guantanamo Bay -- criticizing
their own unjustified detention was classified as "returning to the
battlefield against the US and its allies." Seriously:
"As we developed in detail in The Meaning of 'Battlefield,' these other
'recidivists' included the Tipton Three (who recounted their Guantánamo
experiences for Michael Winterbottom's commercial film, The Road to
Guantánamo) whose speech was apparently viewed as problematic and five
(5) Uighur's who remained detained in a refugee camp in Albania but who
had an editorial submitted on their behalf which was critical of the US
Guantánamo policy."
The study also points to testimony from the Defense Department in front
of a Congressional subcommittee on May 20, 2008 -- three weeks before
the court ruling came down -- which contradicted that July 2007 press
release and claimed only 12 had been caught fighting against the US
after their release. But even of those 12, there is reason to doubt the
accuracy of this claim:
"Of the twelve, five (5) are listed as 'killed' (one of whom is ISN 220,
a Kuwaiti national whose story is spelled out below), and one is listed
as 'at large.' There are five more listed as 'arrested' and only one
listed as 'captured.' It is not clear what the distinction is, but it
may indicate where the apprehension occurred -- 'on the battlefield' or
elsewhere. The 'arrested individuals' included two Moroccans, two
Russians, and one Turkish national, all of whom were arrested in their
home country. There is no information about the charges filed, nor any
information that these individuals attacked or plan to attack America.
Further, it is not clear that actions against Morocco, Russia, and
Turkey can be fairly characterized as 'return[ing] to the fight.'"
The study also points out that not a single one of the detainees they
claim returned to the battlefield were released as a result of a court
hearing, even the military tribunals at Gitmo, but were released by
order of political appointees at the Pentagon -- often over the
objections of the military:
"While Justice Scalia is clearly wrong about the number of detainee
recidivists, his larger point seems to be that the Government, not the
courts, should be trusted with separating the sheep from the goats.
However, one of the greatest ironies of the whole recidivism debate is
that not a single detainee has been released as a result of habeas
corpus. All recidivists have been released by the Department of Defense,
which has never explained why it released such individuals to 'return to
waging war' against us. Any *****sment of the relative strengths of
judicial and political processes should be made with full awareness of
the story of ISN 220, who 'returned to the fight' not as the result of
any judicial ruling but rather because of a decision made by the
political appointees at the Department of Defense who released him
despite the objections of the military . . .
"While the do***ents which have been released strongly suggest that ISN
220 should still be detained, there are no available records indicating
why he was released or who is responsible for the release. The only
thing that can be said with assurance is that, Justice Scalia to the
contrary notwithstanding, no federal judge is responsible. Perhaps if
the process were more transparent, such a grave mistake would not have
been made."
Another myth bites the dust.
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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