US speaks out after Guantanamo prison documents leak
The US believes that WikiLeaks' disclosure of classified documents related to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay could negatively impact the goal of protecting its citizens.
The US Department of Defense has condemned the leak of classified documents related to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, revealed by WikiLeaks and published by several major US and UK newspapers on April 24, saying that this move could have a negative impact on the goal of protecting US citizens.
The US Department of Defense statement on April 25 emphasized: "It is regrettable that some news agencies have decided to publish some documents illegally obtained by Wikileaks.
Outside the prison in Guantanamo Bay. Source: AFP/TTXVN
Both the Obama administration and his predecessor, George W. Bush, have made protecting American citizens a top priority, and we are concerned that the release of these documents could undermine that effort."
The documents mentioned above by the US Department of Defense are secret documents about prisoners at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay that have just been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR) and several other US and British media outlets.
The documents describe the US Department of Defense's assessment of prisoners at the prison between February 2002 and January 2009, and show how the prison was primarily designed to gather intelligence rather than control dangerous terrorists.
According to the US press, thousands of pages of documents show that US intelligence agencies have determined that one-third of the prisoners transferred from Guantanamo prison were listed as "high risk" before they were released or returned to foreign governments.
In 2007, the US military designated Pakistan's Intelligence Service as a terrorist organization and stated that prisoners associated with the agency had either supported al-Qaeda and the Taliban terrorist networks, or had participated in activities against US and coalition forces.
Documents released by WikiLeaks also said that 172 prisoners are still being held at Guantanamo, and it is still unclear whether many of them will be prosecuted or released after years of imprisonment.
Among the prisoners were two elderly men, aged 89 and 70, and a 14-year-old boy who was a victim of a kidnapping. After concluding that "there was no reason to transfer these prisoners to Guantanamo," these special prisoners were released after several months of "serving time."
American newspapers also reported that about a quarter of the more than 600 prisoners transferred out of Guantanamo prison since 2002 are innocent.
President Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay prison upon taking office in 2009. However, in early April, the US government announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and four others would be tried in a military court.
This decision, along with congressional efforts to block any transfer of prisoners from the prison to US soil, suggests that the commitment to close Guantanamo Bay may not be realized as soon as promised.
According to VNA
