Senators press Pentagon on controversial Gitmo transfer

The letter sent Friday expressed concern over whether proper procedures were followed in the Oct. 30 release of Shaker Aamer, a Saudi citizen and British resident.

“Upon reviewing the notification of transfer, we noticed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff was not one of the entities listed as ‘concurring’ and ‘approving’ of the transfer, as is the norm,” the senators, led by Tom Cotton of Arkansas, wrote. Their letters asked Carter and Dunford to provide details of why the Joint Chiefs did not approve of Aamer’s release.

Republicans Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran of Kansas, John Boozman of Arkansas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio and Susan Collins of Maine also signed the letter.

Aamer’s case generated controversy after he became the object of an international campaign to free him. The 46-year-old says he was in Afghanistan with his family doing charity work when he was captured by Afghan bounty hunters in December 2001 and sold to the United States. He has accused U.S. officials of torturing him and sued the British government to discover what it knew about his treatment.

Though his supporters claim he was cleared for release by the Bush administration eight years ago, a case file prepared in November 2007 classified him as a high risk, noting that he was captured in Jalalabad after fighting alongside al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the group’s last Afghan stronghold of Tora Bora.

“Detainee is a member of al-Qaeda tied to the European support network. Detainee is a close associate of Osama bin Laden and has connections to several other senior extremist members. Detainee has traveled internationally on false documents and is associated with al-Qaeda terrorist cells in the US. Detainee is a reported recruiter, financier and facilitator with a history of participating in jihadist combat,” the file said.