Family Life

05.21.09 | FL News Team

A Pentagon report says out of the 534 prisoners who have been released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center, one in seven has gone back to work as a terrorist or is involved in militant activity. The "New York Times" reports the roughly 14-percent recidivism rate could lend strength to arguments that closing the prison could be very dangerous indeed.

The report has not been made public and Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman says the numbers are still "under review." The report is something of a hot-potato. A Pentagon spokesperson who asked not to be named says if the report is held "then everybody claims it's political and you're protecting the Obama administration." The official says "if we let it go, then everybody says you're undermining Obama."  

Fear that terrorists could be relocated to less secure prisons in the United States are among the reasons the Senate voted 90-to-6 Wednesday to axe 80-million dollars from a spending plan earmarked for closing Gitmo. President Obama is expected to address the issue publicly later today.