White House downplays Gitmo detainees returning to fight

WASHINGTON

Less than 5 percent of detainees released from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield, the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement closely follows Monday’s release of an intelligence report that claimed the number of released detainees who are suspected of returning to the fight has doubled from six to 12 during the past six months.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest emphasized that the overall confirmed recidivism rate has remained low.

“The fact that that number is below 5 percent for people who have confirmed to reengage is I think is a pretty good indication of how successful those policies have been,” he said.

Regarding those suspected of reengaging in the fight, Earnest added, "the only reason that we can suspect that they've reengaged in the process is because we have a lot of insight into what they're doing, and we're taking a close look, based on those security measures, at their activities and their actions and their engagements with other people."

The biannual report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was released just weeks after President Barack Obama presented Congress with a new plan to close Gitmo.

Republican lawmakers have said that the congressionally mandated plan is “dead on arrival“, jeopardizing Obama's ability to fulfill a campaign pledge he made when he first ran for office in 2008.

WASHINGTON

Less than 5 percent of detainees released from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield, the White House said Tuesday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest emphasized that the overall confirmed recidivism rate has remained low.

“The fact that that number is below 5 percent for people who have confirmed to reengage is I think is a pretty good indication of how successful those policies have been,” he said.

The biannual report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was released just weeks after President Barack Obama presented Congress with a new plan to close Gitmo.

Republican lawmakers have said that the congressionally mandated plan is “dead on arrival“, jeopardizing Obama's ability to fulfill a campaign pledge he made when he first ran for office in 2008.