WASHINGTON — At least eight inmates released from detention at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have returned to the battlefield against U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, prompting complaints inside the Pentagon that international pressure had undermined the U.S. effort to fight Islamic fundamentalism.
The most recent case is that of Abdullah Mehsud, a former Taliban commander released from the detention facility in March, who masterminded the recent kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan. One of the engineers was killed during an Oct. 14 rescue attempt by the Pakistani military.
The Mehsud case and incidents involving at least seven other former detainees demonstrate that mounting international pressure to either file charges against the prisoners or release them has led to inevitable mistakes, officials say.
"I think it's time to question whether we are releasing too many of them," said a senior Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The sheer number of people we are seeing on the battlefield is cause for concern."
With the fading memory of the Sept. 11 attacks, officials say, international sympathy and legal support have gradually increased for about 550 inmates currently at the Guantanamo facility. Many have been held without charges or court hearings.
Since late 2002, the Pentagon has released 202 detainees from Guantanamo, 146 of whom have been freed outright and 56 who have been handed over to the government of their homelands.
Officials were also alarmed that Mehsud, a Pakistani national, may have hidden his true identity from U.S. interrogators during his 25 months in captivity. Recently, he has bragged to Pakistani reporters that he convinced his U.S. captors he was of Afghan descent.
"If he fibbed, we've said from the beginning that these guys are masters of deception," said Maj. Mike Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman.
Aftab Khan Sherpao, Pakistan's minister of the interior, confirmed that Mehsud was not on the list of Pakistani detainees who had been held at Guantanamo Bay.
After the U.S. military released him into Afghanistan in March, Mehsud traveled over the country's eastern border and entered the tribal areas of Pakistan, where senior Al Qaeda leaders were believed to be hiding. U.S. officials believe he has built ties with Al Qaeda militants since his release from Guantanamo Bay.
