Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KUWAIT755
2009-07-30 14:47:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

INTERAGENCY GTMO TEAM HAS SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO

Tags:  PTER PREL PGOV PINR KDRG PHUM KU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0334
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #0755/01 2111447
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 301447Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3744
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000755 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, NEA/RA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2019
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PINR KDRG PHUM KU
SUBJECT: INTERAGENCY GTMO TEAM HAS SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO
KUWAIT

REF: KUWAIT 613

Classified By: DCM Tom Williams for reasons 1.4 b and d

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000755

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, NEA/RA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2019
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PINR KDRG PHUM KU
SUBJECT: INTERAGENCY GTMO TEAM HAS SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO
KUWAIT

REF: KUWAIT 613

Classified By: DCM Tom Williams for reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (S/NF) An interagency team representing DoD, State, DoJ,
and GRPO visited Kuwait July 26-27 to discuss GOK
preparations in the event that any or all of Kuwait's
remaining four GTMO detainees should be transferred, and to
tour the purpose-built "Al-Salam Center" rehabilitation
facility and review its comprehensive program to deradicalize
extremists. Key Points:

-- (S) The interagency group found the Salam center 99
percent complete -- hewing to the schedule previewed with the
Ambassador during her June visit (reftel) -- and staffed with
two psychiatrists, a psychologist, a medical doctor and a
non-radical Salafist imam. The physical facilities and
planning for the deradicalization program are impressive and
were characterized by one USG team member as "far and above"
what has been done in Saudi Arabia.

-- (S) GOK officials clearly stated that they recognize
that the remaining four GTMO detainees are likely more
radicalized and consequently will represent a greater threat
and require greater oversight than earlier returnees.
Individual programs tailored to the specific requirements of
each returnee would be implemented, to include work with
families to promote social reintegration as feasible.

-- (S) New discretionary authorities will enable greater
oversight of detainees even in the absence of new laws -- for
example, the Minister of Interior may withhold or revoke
passports and invasive surveillance may be authorized through
application to the Attorney-General (without reference to the
courts).

-- (S) USG team members helped manage GOK expectations by
making clear that a deliberative process is underway and that
near-term releases are not anticipated. First, the cases of
the four Kuwaiti detainees have not yet been fully reviewed
by the U.S. Attorney General's team as now required by
Executive Order, and second, the observations of the team

will need to be factored into the decision-making process.

-- (S) GOK officials warmly welcomed an invitation by the
interagency group to have an imam and psychiatric officials
visit Guantanamo Bay to review the medical and
psychological/psychiatric records of the four Kuwaitis --
such information would be invaluable in structuring
individual deradicalization/rehabilitation programs, Kuwaiti
officials observed. (Note: The Minister of Interior had
earlier suggested to the Ambassador that such an exchange
would be useful. End Note.)

Al-Salam Rehabilitation Center
--------------


2. (S/NF) An interagency team comprising Alan Liotta (DOD),
Karen Sasahara (DOS),Kimberley Raleigh (DOJ),Terry Carrilio
(GRPO),Gail Ospedale (GRPO),and Seth Hagaman (GRPO) visited
Kuwait July 26-27 for discussions with GOK officials on GTMO
detainees. During a July 27 tour, the team found the
Al-Salam (Arabic: peace) Center, housed in Kuwait's Central
Prison, to be 99 percent complete -- in keeping with the
schedule previewed with the Ambassador during her June 18
visit (reftel). What remains is the
installation of cameras (including audio) in each of the
rooms; a contract for these services has been signed and is
due for completion in mid-August. The residents of the
center -- currently laid out to accommodate four beds in one
room -- will have access to a library of Islamic texts,
computers, exercise equipment and other amenities, as well as
soccer and basketball during their free time. Isolation
rooms are available should circumstances require. The center
was characterized by one USG team member as "far and above"
the Saudi model upon which it was based. GOK officials
indicated that that the concept for the center was developed
in coordination with relevant Kuwaiti ministries, and by a
board which includes two trained psychiatrists, a
psychologist, a medical doctor, an imam and COL Khalid
al-Awda, the father of one of the remaining detainees.


3. (S) Al-Salam staff expect that tending to the four
remaining detainees, when and if they are transferred, will
present new challenges; they recognize fully that these four
are more hardened and may present a greater threat than the
previous eight. (Note: In March 2008, the four refused to
meet with GOK officials who traveled to the Guantanamo

KUWAIT 00000755 002 OF 003


Detention Center. End note.) In reforming the detainees,
the Al-Salam staff said their approach would be focused on
gaining trust and correcting "misguided thinking." Tactics
will include reorienting detainees through working with
families and friends as well as regular counseling, although
individual programs will be developed based upon specific
needs. Also available, according to Al-Salam board members,
are the seven other former detainees who currently conduct
interventions and "straight talk" discussions with youth
vulnerable to recruitment by jihadists (much of this
apparently done online). Consequently, the Al-Salam board
responded positively to suggestions by the USG delegation
that the center also be expanded to house and rebilitate
non-GTMO extremists.

Checking all the boxes
--------------


4. (S) GOK officials indicated that they had developed
administrative procedures operating within the bounds of
existing law to facilitate oversight and control of any
future GTMO returnees. MFA's Follow-Up and Coordination
Director Ambassador Khaled al-Mugames told the US delegation
that the Minister of Interior now has additional
discretionary authority over the issuance of passports and
can even revoke passports once issued if he deems that
necessary for public security.


5. (S) Once released from the center, according to
Ambassador Mugames, the individuals would be subjected to
ongoing monitoring and travel prohibition. Such monitoring
would include physical surveillance by Kuwait State Security
(KSS) teams and also invasive technical surveillance of phone
calls and emails. (Note: Securing call logs is routine; for
invasive monitoring of the content of calls, Kuwait's
Attorney-General would approve -- but the matter no longer
needs to be referred to the courts. End Note.) Should the
individuals engage in suspicious activities or associations,
Muqames assured the delegation, they would be remanded to the
judicial system for prosecution and "double the sentence" --
according to MG Abdullah Rashed, KSS's Director of
Information.

The Way Forward
--------------


6. (S) In an effort to manage GOK expectations regarding the
possible timeframe for repatriations, the USG delegation
explained that a deliberative process is underway and that
near-term releases are not anticipated: the files of the
four have not yet been fully reviewed by the US Attorney
General's office as is now required by Executive Order and
the observations of the team would need to be added into the
policy assessment with regard to how best to move forward.


7. (S) To help the GOK and the Salam Center prepare an
appropriate program for the detainees, the interagency team
extended an invitation for Kuwaiti psychiatrists,
psychologists and an Imam to visit Guantanamo Bay to review
the considerable medical and psychiatric records of the four
Kuwaitis. The Kuwaiti interlocutors warmly received this
invitation, saying that such information would be invaluable
in structuring individual deradicalization/rehabilitation
programs.

Comment:
--------------


8. (S) The GOK has invested considerable and we believe
good-faith effort into establishing the center and building
"work-arounds" in Kuwaiti law to accommodate our concerns
about ensuring oversight and accountability for former
detainees. The trust-gaining approach to reforming the four
individuals, working with families, other deradicalized
extremists, and religious authorities, is comprehensive. By
acknowledging the steps the GOK has taken while clearly
indicating that a deliberative process is underway on the
U.S. side that will take some time yet, the USG team
contributed positively to the effective management of this
sensitive bilateral issue, while also helping manage GOK
expectations in the run-up to the Amir's August 3 meeting
with POTUS, where the Kuwaitis will likely raise their desire
to see Kuwait's GTMO returnees returned as soon as is
practicable. Those expectations, however, have now likely
been raised again, following local press reporting July 30
that a U.S. judge has ordered the release of one of the four
Kuwaitis at GTMO. End comment.


KUWAIT 00000755 003 OF 003



9. (SBU) The interagency team did not clear this message
prior to departing Kuwait.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it
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JONES