Did Administration Lie About Sending Gitmo Detainees to Countries That Could Handle Them?

(CNSNews.com) – House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce on Tuesday questioned the truth of administration assertions that Guantanamo Bay detainees have never been knowingly transferred to countries not equipped to minimize the risk that they’ll return to terrorism.

In letters to Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Royce (R-Calif.) cited recent testimony by two key officials, saying it appeared to conflict with classified reports submitted to Congress in line with U.S. law.

Special envoys for Guantanamo closure Paul Lewis (Defense Department) and Lee Wolosky (State Department) were asked during a March 23 committee hearing whether a Guantanamo detainee had ever knowingly been sent “to a country that did not exhibit the ability to substantially mitigate the risk [of recidivism] by maintaining control of that individual.”

Lewis replied “no” and Wolosky said that, while he could not speak for the previous administration, he was unaware of any such case.

But Royce said their replies do not comport with information in classified reports submitted by the Pentagon to Congress in May 2013, July 2014 and August 2015.

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