Young detainees may leave Guantanamo soon
From CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Plante
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A detainee exercise area at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three "juvenile enemy combatants" being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may be released soon, if the general in command of the prison gets his way, an army spokeswoman has told CNN.
Major General Geoffrey Miller "fully intends to make a recommendation to transfer the enemy combatants to their home countries," said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, spokeswoman for the military's Joint Task Force.
The youths are 13 to 15 years of age and were "taken from the battlefield" in Afghanistan and transferred to the Guantanamo facility in February, Hart said on Saturday.
She said regulations do not allow her to reveal the names or home countries of detainees, but other officials indicated they are native to Afghanistan or Pakistan.
"They definitely demonstrated a willingness to harm U.S. and allied" troops when they were captured in Afghanistan, she said.
She said that during interrogations, it was learned that the three had been "kidnapped and forced into terrorist acts."
Unlike others held in the facility, the three receive counseling, they study daily and exercise with soldiers, Hart said. One senior enlisted soldier assigned to the young detainees "is an eighth-grade teacher back home," Hart said.
The decision to recommend they be repatriated is based on a determination that they are "no longer deemed a threat to the U.S. and our allies" and that all useful intelligence they can provide has already been gleaned, said Hart.
Since arriving at the U.S. Naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, the three have been held in a compound known as Camp Iguana, where they are isolated from adult detainees.
Approximately 660 adult detainees remain imprisoned in the nearby compound called Camp X-Ray, down from a one-time high of about 4,200.
After Miller recommends their release, the cases will be reviewed in Washington by an "inter-agency process" that will require approval from the Pentagon, State Department, Justice Department and the intelligence community, another army officer said.
