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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Guantanamo detainees named

Andrew Selsky Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Pentagon handed over on Monday the first list of everyone who has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – more than four years after the U.S. began using it as a detention center in its war on terror.

None of the most notorious terrorist suspects was included in the list delivered by the Pentagon, raising questions about where America’s most dangerous prisoners are being held.

The names of some 200 former prisoners have never been disclosed. Officials say 759 detainees have been held at the center since it opened. Of the total listed, more than a quarter – 218 – were Afghans. A total of 131 Saudis also passed through the prison gates at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, perched on an arid slope above the Caribbean.

The hand-over marks the first time that everyone who has been held by the Defense Department at Guantanamo has been identified, according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman.

The names of all detainees held there were previously kept classified because of “the security operation as well as the intelligence operation that takes place down there,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

In a briefing in Washington, he did not explain why – if there was such a security risk – the Pentagon did not contest the Associated Press’s request for the release of the names, as it did with previous Freedom of Information Act requests for prisoner information. Just last month, the Pentagon released 558 names of current and former detainees to AP.

David Tomlin, the AP’s assistant general counsel, said the list “takes us one step closer” to the goal of finding out all the details about those in U.S. military custody in Guantanamo.

The new list, when compared to the one from April, shows the Pentagon released many Afghans who were swept up early in the war. More than 90 were transferred out of Guantanamo between January 2002 and the summer of 2004.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, believes U.S. officials are trying to deflect international criticism of Guantanamo Bay by gradually moving out detainees.

“They are trying to slowly let the air out of the tires as a way to make the problem go away,” Romero said.

The release of the names will help lawyers and other advocates track who has been held at the base and find former detainees to help investigate allegations of abuse, said Priti Patel, an attorney for New York-based Human Rights First.

“There’s still much more in darkness,” she said.