Guantanamo Detainee Vows To 'kill Americans' If Freed: U.S.

US NAVAL BASE at GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug 4 (AFP) - An Algerian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp vowed before a military tribunal to "kill Americans" if he was released, officials said Wednesday.
Another of the six detainees to go before special tribunals at the base where almost 600 'war on terror' suspects are held was with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in caves in Tora Bora, Afghanistan during the war in 2001, officials said.
The first Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which will recommend whether detainees should still be considered "enemy combatants" was held behind closed doors at Guantanamo last Friday.
Six have been held so far and a seventh was underway, a Defence Department spokeswoman Commander Beci Brenton told reporters here.
Only two of the inmates, an Algerian and a Yemeni, chose to appear before the three man tribunal and testify. The four others boycotted the hearings.
Brenton said the 24-year-old Algerian had gone from France to Afghanistan with the help of al-Qaeda and was given training to use small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the Malik training camp.
The man, who like all of the detainees has not been named, was captured after he was injured by a grenade accidentally set off by another fighter.
Brenton said the Algerian "stated he would kill Americans if released."
A 49 year-old Yemeni, who was among the four to boycott the hearings, has admitted he was with al-Qaeda leader bin Laden during the siege of the Tora Bora caves near the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier in 2001.
"He was present in Tora Bora while Osama bin Laden was there," said Brenton.
"He participated in the battle of Tora Bora and was captured with an AK-47 rifle."
The others to boycott the hearings were a 29-year-old Saudi who was also at Tora Bora, a 32-year-old Moroccan who fought at Baghram near Kabul before being captured as he tried to cross into Pakistan, and another Yemeni.
"These four have historically been uncooperative," Brenton said of the four who refused to attend the hearings. While they have been here they have not cooperated with interrogators."
Most of the inmates from about 40 countries at Guantanamo Bay have been held without charge or access to a lawyer for about two and a half years.
Facing international pressure over the controversial detentions and conditions at the camp, the United States started the special military tribunal hearings and preliminary hearings for four inmates who do face charges are to begin this month.
Navy Secretary Gordon England is to observe a tribunal hearing at Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday and representatives of the foreign and US media are to be allowed to watch hearings on Thursday and Friday.
But reporters will not be able to identify the detainees and will only be allowed to listen to what the Defence Department has called "unclassified" details on individual cases.
Each detainee can also only review "unclassified information relating to the basis for his detention."
The US Supreme Court has ruled that Guantanamo inmates have the right to take up their cases in US courts. But lawyers who say they represent some of the inmate are still complaining because they have not been given access.