Guantanamo files may star in next Wikileaks release
US: WiliLeaks’ next assault on Washington may highlight U.S.
government reports on suspected militants held at Guantanamo Bay, which
some U.S. officials worry could show certain detainees were freed
despite intelligence assessments they were still dangerous.
The leaks could be an embarrassment to President Barack Obama’s
administration, already angered over Wikileaks document dumps of U.S.
State Department cables, as it seeks to fulfill a 2-year-old pledge to
close the prison and either release the foreign terrorism suspects or
move them elsewhere.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, jailed in Britain this week, has
told media contacts he has a large cache of U.S. government reports
about inmates at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, known
as GITMO, the last of four major tranches of U.S. government documents
which Wikileaks had acquired and at some point would make public.
“He’s got the personal files of every prisoner in GITMO,” said one
person who was in contact with Assange earlier this year.
Officials at the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies had no
immediate comment.
People familiar with Assange’s dealings with the media said they had
no indication he had already given journalists access to the Guantanamo
material. In the past, large document dumps by Wikileaks were made
available initially to a small group of media.
Several U.S. government sources said there was concern Assange’s
material could include highly sensitive “threat assessments” by U.S.
intelligence agencies gauging the likelihood that specific inmates would
return to militant activities if set free.
These assessments, if published, could prove damaging in a number of
ways, including revelations that could theoretically put in jeopardy
U.S. intelligence sources and methods.
They could further embarrassment the U.S. government if they show
that detainees deemed likely to return to terrorism were released and
subsequently involved in anti-U.S. violence.
It is unclear what time period may be covered by the Guantanamo
documents believed to be in Wikileaks’ possession.
Washington, Thursday, Reuters |
