U.S. general warns Australia on Gitmo

CANBERRA, Australia, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A retired U.S. general involved with the controversial military commissions at Guantanamo warned Australia Friday against accepting detainees.

Maj. Gen. John Altenburg told The Australian that many of the detainees freed from the detention center have become involved in terrorist activities.

"About 30 of them have been captured or killed or are known to be back on the battlefield," he said. "These are people who were released because they thought they weren't dangerous. To me, it's a fair comment to say, 'we don't want these people. Now we've got the burden of watching them and we don't know whether they're dangerous or not.'"

Altenburg, a lawyer who spent more than 20 years in the Judge Advocate's Group, was named the appointing authority to the military commissions by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Australia is one of 100 countries the Bush administration has approached about resettling detainees who have been found to be at no risk of terrorism. At least 60 men are in legal limbo because they face persecution in their home countries.

Julia Gillard, the acting Australian prime minister, said Thursday that any detainees would be considered "case by case." She later suggested that the country is unlikely to make any firm decision until U.S. President George W. Bush has been replaced by Barack Obama.