WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Several prisoners released by the U.S. military from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have rejoined their comrades in arms.
"We've already had instances where we know that people who have been released from our detention have gone back and have become combatants again," Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told UPI.
"I do in fact have specific cases," he said, when pressed for further details, but declined to say more.
A defense official confirmed to UPI several such cases had involved Afghans released from Guantanamo.
"At least five detainees released from Guantanamo have returned to the (Afghan) battlefield," said the defense official, who requested anonymity.
When asked how U.S. authorities could know, the official declined to comment.
Mark Jacobson, a former senior official at the Pentagon who helped put together the policy for detainees at Guantanamo, said every detainee is fingerprinted and photographed.
"We build up pretty extensive biometrics on these guys," he said. "There are a lot of different ways we could know that someone we'd captured or killed had already been in our custody."
