US Shipping Foreign Fighters to Home Prisons

American officials step up action to empty secret prisons
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2008 3:14 AM CDT
US Shipping Foreign Fighters to Home Prisons
US soldiers stand guard beside a line of detainees at the Camp Cropper detention facility near Baghdad.   (Getty Images)

The US has stepped up efforts to return foreign fighters captured in Iraq and Afghanistan to their homelands, the New York Times reports. More than 200 detainees have been turned over to security services in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries as the military works to empty its controversial secret prisons—and dodge continuing problems at Guantanamo Bay.

"In discussions we agreed that Guantanamo was not working for lots of reasons and that the simplest way to proceed is to send them back home," said a former State Department official. Home countries are often better able to deal with the captured militants, according to officials. But critics have raised concerns about harsh treatment the returning men will face in prisons back home.
(More foreign fighters stories.)

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