Many At Guantanamo Had Low-Level Or No Terrorism Ties

From The McClatchy Newspapers:

GARDEZ, Afghanistan — The militants crept up behind Mohammed Akhtiar as he squatted at the spigot to wash his hands before evening prayers at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

They shouted "Allahu Akbar" — God is great — as one of them hefted a metal mop squeezer into the air, slammed it into Akhtiar's head and sent thick streams of blood running down his face.

American troops dragged Akhtiar out of his home in Gardez, Afghanistan, in May 2003, flew him to Guantanamo in shackles that July and held him there for more than three years. The tribal leader from eastern Afghanistan belonged to an insurgent group and had taken part in rocket attacks on U.S. forces, American officials said.


Akhtiar was among the more than 770 terrorism suspects who were imprisoned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They are, the Bush administration has said, "the worst of the worst."

The Islamic radicals in Guantanamo's Camp Four who hissed "infidel," spat at Akhtiar and assaulted him, however, knew something his captors didn't: The U.S. government had the wrong guy.

Read more ....

More News On The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp:
McClatchy Launches Massive Study on Wrong Done to Detainees in 'War on Terror' -- Editor And Publisher
Some US terrorism suspects wrongly held: McClatchy -- Reuters
Report: Most Gitmo detainees misidentified -- UPI
Some war on terror detainees can't go home -- Miami Herald

My Comment: This is a big surprise !?!? I have known about this for the past few years. That is why so many of Guantanamo's prisoners have been returned to their country of origin in the past few years. The difference is that the McClatchy Papers are doing a quantitative study of Guantanamo's past and (I presume) present occupants.

But this concern on past prisoners, their treatment, and what to do with the present occupants of Guantanamo, ignores the big picture. The Big Picture is the failure of U.S. Intelligence Agencies on having accurate information and intelligence on the ground. Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? It appears that the people who are fighting our worst enemies do not even know.

This should be no surprise when one looks at how much the American Intelligence Establishment .... being prodded by its civilian and political leaders, has changed since the 1970s. In the past, American Intelligence was primarily based on informants, having people in the territory, and allies on the ground. Todays intelligence is based on electronics, and what our allies are telling us. If the past few years have told us anything .... this is probably not the way to go.