SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Pentagon handed over on Monday the first list of everyone who has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — more than four years after the U.S. began using it as a detention center in its war on terror.
None of the most notorious terrorist suspects was included in the list, delivered to The Associated Press, raising questions about where America's most dangerous prisoners are being held.
The names of some 200 former prisoners have never been disclosed. Officials say 759 detainees have been held at the center since it opened. Of the total listed, more than a quarter — 218 — were Afghans. A total of 131 Saudis also passed through the prison gates at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
The handover marks the first time that everyone who has been held by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo has been identified, according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman.
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In a briefing in Washington, another Pentagon spokesman did not explain why, if there was such a security risk, the Pentagon did not contest the AP's request for the release of the names, as it did with previous Freedom of Information Act requests for prisoner information. The Pentagon released 558 names of current and former detainees last month.
The new list, when compared to the one from April, shows the Pentagon released many Afghans who were swept up early in the war. More than 90 were transferred out of Guantanamo between January 2002 and the summer of 2004.
Jumana Musa, an official with Amnesty International's Washington office, said there were rumors the CIA had a secret prison at Guantanamo Bay, an isolated base which Cuba granted to Washington by treaty a century ago.
Peppler, in an e-mail to the AP, said no such facility exists but did not address whether there was one in the past.
"Absolutely not," Peppler said. "There are no other detention facilities other than those under DOD control in Guantanamo Bay."
The AP sought the names, photos, medical info and other details of current and former Guantanamo Bay detainees through a Freedom of Information Act request on Jan. 18.
The Pentagon has refused to release that information, arguing that medical records are private and that releasing photos of current detainees would damage U.S. intelligence gathering and make it easier for al-Qaida to retaliate against detainees suspected of cooperating with interrogators.
