al-Qaeda safe house

American intelligence analysts justify the extrajudicial detention of Guantanamo suspects because they stayed in what they characterized as an Al Qaida safe house.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} American intelligence analysts also justify the detention of suspects who stayed in an Al Qaida guest house, a Taliban safe house or a Taliban guest house.

In the tourist industry a guest house is similar to a bed and breakfast. In some remote, primitive, or rarely visited areas of the world guest houses are often the only kind of accommodation for visitors.

In the worlds of espionage and organized crime a safe house is a house, or apartment, that, on the surface, is indistinguishable from neighboring residential homes, that is used to hide the accommodation of travelers who have to travel without attracting attention.

There are instances of detainees who stayed in houses American intelligence analysts characterize as Taliban safe houses, in Afghanistan, during the Taliban's administration, when travelers didn't have to travel discretely. And there are instances of detainees who stayed in houses American intelligence analysts characterize as Al Qaida guest houses, in Pakistan, after Pakistan allied with the USA.

It is unclear why American intelligence analysts conflate the two terms safe house and guest house.

References

1. ^ Summary of Evidence Memoranda (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, January 2005
2. ^ Summary of Evidence Memoranda (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, February 2005
3. ^ Summary of Evidence Memoranda (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, March 2005
4. ^ Summary of Evidence Memoranda (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, April 2005
5. ^ Summary of Evidence Memoranda (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, May 2005
6. ^ Factors for and against continued detention (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, March 3 2006
7. ^ Factors for and against continued detention (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, March 3 2006
8. ^ Factors for and against continued detention (.pdf), Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, March 3 2006

External links

• Torture, Al-Qaeda Style (Drawings, tools seized from Iraq safe house in U.S. military raid), The Smoking Gun, May 24, 2007

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