" wrote in message
news:SiGOb.17992
LawsonE wrote:
[...]
How do you know that the individuals accused of being Al
Queda or at
least, accused of being part of terrorist attacks on
Americans, were
indeed the people they thought they were?

In the case of those captured by my units, they were quite
proud of the fact that they were Al Qaeda (BTW, only those
suspected of being ranking members or persons having
specific knowledge of terrorist activities or intent were
sent to MCS Guantanamo Bay). Other detainees were turned
over to the interim government of Afghanistan (once it was
formed) by US Forces for disposition by the Afghan
government.

Fair enough.


Additionally, at least some people detained at Gitmo were
NOT captured
during fighting of any kind, but along smuggler's routes
that were
being used by Al Queda forces (along with smugglers and,
according to
the Kuwaiti government, a few Kuwaiti nationals trying to
escape the
Afghan war and return home from visiting relatives).

Do you know this for a fact? Under what circumstances were
they captured and detained? Be very careful in your
answer, my teams were those in Pakhtia province and there
are a fair number that were captured and detained by forces
working with them or by members of the teams. Including
several alleged "smugglers" whose fortifications we breached
and captured along with documents and weapons. Others were
captured subsequent to Operation Anaconda by members of US
forces who also claimed to be "smugglers". Smugglers, armed
with 82mm mortars, RPGs and other weapons who had been
engaged in hostile activity against these US forces.

That may well be the case. Newsweek had a major article about several
Kuwaiti detainees that the Kuwaitee government was attempting to get
released to no avail (at the time of the article).



You're aware that as many as 250 detainees have been
released or are
being processed out in the next month or two after a year
or more of
detention because the US finally decided that they had
nothing to do
with Taliban or Al Queda but were actually turned in by
rival
factions in Afghanistan in order to collect bounty, right?

I would say that it is more likely that they are being
released because after extensive debriefings they were found
not to be leaders or to be as important as they claimed to
have been. Are you aware of the screening process under
which detainees were sent to MCS Guantanamo Bay?


No, I'm not. Which is, I think, part of the problem.

While it is possible that some of those sent there may have
been turned in by various warlords from rival factions, I
rather doubt the majority were.


I hope that you are correct. However, the circumstances under which at least
some were captured aren't very clear, even now.

Snark
OEF, Pakhtia Province Nov. 2001-Apr. 2002

Additionally, there are other clauses in the Geneva
Accords IV that
MAY apply to any and all detainees. Certainly, the clause
that states
that if there is any question as to how a detainee is to
be treated,
they are accorded POW status until a tribunal decides
otherwise. This
was NOT done in the case of several hundred detainees, who
were
handed over to American armed forces for bounty, without
any proof
that they were who the bounty hunters said they were.

Again, are you aware of the screening process for detainees
to be shipped to Guantanamo Bay?

No. Are you aware of the screening process for ALL the detainees? How do you
know?