07 Mar 2006

Guantanamo Transcripts, Section 40, Case 2

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ISN# 055 – 10 pages – Detainee: M (Saudi)

Reasons for Detention:

Detainee traveled from his home in Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, via Kuwait and Pakistan, in March 2001. He was trained at the Al Farouq camp in the use of the AK-47 and rocket propelled grenades. Detainee carried a rifle, and engaged in military operations against both the Northern Alliance and US forces. Detainee retreated from the battlefield to Pakistan, where he surrendered as part of a group of thirty men to Pakistani forces.

Detainee’s position:

Detainee says he was at Al Farouq and trained with rifle and pistol, but not RPG. He says that he had been recruited in Saudi Arabia by Saleh al Harbi to be trained at Al Farouq. His intention, he says, was to fight in Chechnya. He denies fighting against both the US and the Northern Alliance. He says he left Al Farouq, prior to September 11, 2001, because of a quarrel with a trainer named Abu Haruya. He says he went to Kabul, and did not participate in the war, then left Kabul to travel to Pakistan via Khost in the company of fellow residents of the same house in Kabul. He denies membership in Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

JDZ Conclusions:

After reading a few of these, one senses a pattern. An effort is made to deny being a combatant against US or Coalition forces, but many of these detainees still fail to deny travelling to Afghanistan for training at the Al Qaeda facility ar Al Farouq. This detainee simply claims that he had made a personal farewell to arms conveniently just in time to avoid incurring responsibility for participating in the fighting against the US or its allies. The circumstances of his surrender in Pakistan contradict his story that he was travelling with a random group of housemates. It would have needed to have been a large house to accomodate 30 insurgents. We do not have a detailed account of the arrest of his group in Pakistan, but the US record states that the group of 30 surrendered to Pakistani forces. The use of the term “surrender” suggests strongly that the group was carrying arms. Mere post-defeat-and-capture claims of innocence of hostile intentions toward the United States are insufficient to exculpate known attendance at a terrorist training camp.  I would not release him.

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