U.S. Starts Releasing Guantánamo Prisoners

On October 22, 2002, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the U.S. will release a small number of the 598 prisoners held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba would be released to their home countries.  In particular, the U.S. is planning to release seven Pakistanis after the U.S. concluded they are not terrorists and have no value for intelligence purposes.    In explaining the decision to release the initial detainees, Lee Casey, a Justice Department official in the Reagan and first Bush administration, explained the release showed that constructive conversations were occurring behind the scenes.