Some Gitmo Detainees Sent Home

Sunday, November 4th 2007, 2:55 pm

By: News On 6

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Eleven detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to the custody of their home countries. The Pentagon says they are eight Afghans and three Jordanians.

The men were flown out of the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba after a military review to determine whether they have intelligence value or pose a threat to the U.S.

Roughly 320 detainees remain at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. The Pentagon says 80 have been deemed eligible for transfer or release.

The vast majority of the detainees have been held for years without being charged. A Pentagon statement calls the transfer "a demonstration of the United States' desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary."

About 450 detainees have been released or transferred since the Guantanamo detention center opened in January 2002.