Pentagon reveals information on Guantanamo terrorism suspects

The two Sept. 11 plotters weren't on the list.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- After years of secrecy, the Pentagon has disclosed the names, ages and home countries of everyone held at the isolated Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in southeastern Cuba as a suspect in the U.S.-led war on terror.
None of the most notorious terrorist suspects was included in the list, raising questions about their whereabouts.
The U.S. says it has held 759 males, ranging from teenagers to older than 70, from more than 40 countries, according to the list released late Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.
The list includes some 200 previously undisclosed names. They are of former Guantanamo detainees who were moved out before the military began hearings in the summer of 2004 to determine whether detainees were properly classified as "enemy combatants."
Names left off
Though the list includes the 10 detainees who have been charged with crimes, it doesn't include alleged Sept. 11 plotters Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh -- whose whereabouts remain secret.
"There's still much more in darkness," said Priti Patel, a lawyer with New York-based Human Rights First who has monitored legal proceedings at Guantanamo.
Lawyers and other advocates will be able to use the new list to track who has been held at the base and find former detainees to help investigate allegations of abuse, Patel said.
The Pentagon released the list while denying the AP access to other information about the detainees, most of whom were held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The handover marks the first time that everyone who has been held by the Defense Department at Guantanamo Bay has been identified, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman.
Last month, the military released the names of 558 detainees, also in response to an AP lawsuit.
The names of all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay were previously classified because of "the security operation as well as the intelligence operation that takes place down there," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The new list, when compared with the one from April, shows the Pentagon released many Afghans who were swept up early in the war.
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