The US government criticized on Monday the decision of international media outlets to publish Guantanamo Bay detention camp detainee profiles leaked by the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy organization, claiming it could harm US security interests. The cache of sensitive intelliegence documents contains nearly all of the 779 people who been detained at the Guantanamo Bay
prison in Cuba.
Citing the
New York Times specifically, as well as "other news organizations," the US statement said that "These documents contain classified information about current and former Guantanamo detainees, and we strongly condemn the leaking of this sensitive information."
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'WikiLeaks': Syria aimed chemical weapons at Israel The statement went on to specify that the leaked Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs) were recorded between 2002 and 2009, and that a Guantanamo Review Task Force, established early 2009, reviewed each profile and came to a variety of conclusions based on the new considerations of evidence. These DABs, drafted since 2009, were not leaked via WikiLeaks.
The statement also said that the release of these documents "could be damaging" to efforts to provide security to America's citizens.
The collection of prisoner briefs contain specific detainee assessments based on a survey of the prisoners' personal backgrounds and activity in organizations, plans, or military efforts defined as a risk against he US, its interests, or its allies.
One detainee, born in Saudi Arabia but defined as being of Palestinian
descent, was incarcerated under charges of being "an al-Qaida member,
operational planner, trainer and participant in hostilities against the
US."
Abu Zabaydah was described as being an adherent to militant jihad because he was "inspired by the Palestinian cause." He received
military training shortly after his arrival in Afghanistan, and became
the head of a training camp. According to the document, Zabaydah never
fully became an al-Qaida member because he refused to pledge unless al-Qaida staged attacks against Israel and worked to free Sheikh Omar
Abdel-Rahman, currently serving life imprisonment in the US.
Since the training camp he ran closed down, Zabaydah moved to Saudi
Arabia to work on collecting money for attacks against Israel. In 2002
Zabaydah sought to obtain false Belgian passports, but failed. In 2002, the
detainee left Afghanistan for Pakistan, where he settled in a safe house
in Faisalabad. He was apprehended by Pakistani authorities during raids
of two safe houses in which 15 suspected al-Qaida operatives were
seized, and immediately transferred to the US.
Among his personal property was an al-Qaida military artillery manual, a
diary, 16 ID papers and seven passports for different persons, mobile
phones, computers with over three dozen discs, and a poem in Arabic.
According to the US government statement published by the
New York Times, "The previous Administration transferred 537 detainees; to date, the current Administration has transferred 67."
"...The U.S. and other countries and to work toward the ultimate closure of
the Guantanamo detention facility, consistent with good security
practices and our values as a nation," the statement said. President Barack Obama pledged two years ago to close the
prison at US naval base in Cuba but it remains in legal
limbo.
Reuters contributed to this report.