The following was printed in the Washington Post's Free For All section Saturday September 17, 2011
Ex-detainees revert to terrorism
Ernesto Londono's Sept. 12 " The toll of war" front-page story ["For ex-detainee, present is far bleaker than the past"] noted that "some former detainees" at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, " have reportedly again taken up arms."
That is a questionable choice of words, unless the author believes Barack Obama is "reportedly" the U.S. president or Halloween "reportedly" falls in October. While estimates vary on the number of detainees who have returned to the battlefield, that many have again taken up arms against America is not in dispute. The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, reported in December that, of 598 released Guantanamo detainees, 81 were confirmed to have returned to terrorist or insurgent activities, and a further 69 were suspected of doing so. Some, like Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, arrested in Pakistan last year, returned to senior leadership positions in the Taliban after their release.
The word "reportedly" is a powerful tool for journalists to convey a degree of uncertainty. It is insurance on an unsubstantiated claim. Its use here was unnecessary and misleading.
Jeff M. Smith, Washington
Mr. Smith is the Kraemer Strategy Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council