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Obama Orders First Release of a "High-Value Detainee"?

2:12 PM, Dec 21, 2009 • By THOMAS JOSCELYN
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Another important note about the Obama administration's transfer of Gitmo detainee Abdullahi Sudi Arale to Somaliland: In June 2007, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called Arale a "high-value detainee." That phrase was reserved for less than twenty detainees. As far as I know, the U.S. has never transferred a "high-value detainee" from its custody. One "high-value detainee," Ahmed Ghailani, was transferred to New York for trial. But he is, of course, still detained by the U.S. Does this mean that Arale was the first "high-value detainee" ever transferred from American custody?

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