“ Analysts are also "trained to recognize and mitigate biases, not only in the
information presented to them, but their own cognitive biases as well!' ld. at 8. The Government offers no reason why, given the significant training and substantial abilities of its intelligence analysts, the Court should discount the conclusions of the intelligence analyst who reviewed the circumstances of Al Rabiah's detention. Accordingly, the Court finds that the opinion of this intelligence analyst is relevant and it shall be considered probative of whether Al Rabiah's detention is lawful. ”

“ Other evidence is based on so-called "unfinished" intelligence, infonnation that has not been subject to each of the five steps in the intelligence cycle (planning, collection, processing, analysis and production, and dissemination) . Based on the Government's own declarations, its raw intelligence may not have been fully analyzed for its "reliability, validity, and relevance" in the context of other intelligence where "judgments about its collective meaning" are made. ”

“ During the Merits Hearing, the Government expressly relied on "Occam's Razor," a scientific and philosophic rule suggesting that the simplest ofcompeting explanations is preferred to the more complex. See Meriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary at 803 (10th ed.1997) . The Government's simple explanation for the evidence in this case is that Al Rabiah made confessions that the Court should accept as true. The simple response is that the Court does not accept confessions that even the Government's own interrogators did not believe. ”

“ Although Al Rabiah is not required to produce any evidence proving his innocence, the Court notes that the evidence he submitted into the record concerning his activities in Afghanistan is equally sparse, consisting mainly of the contemporaneous letters he wrote to his family from Afghanistan, and his declarations in the record wherein he admits that he attempted to leave Pakistan through the Tora Bora mountains but was unable to do so because of his health and medical ailments, and that he descended the mountains with the assistance of Al Quwari. ”

“ For example, despite his never having been to Afghanistan or having any known links to bin Laden, Al Rabiah confessed to traveling in July 2001 to Afghanistan where he entered bin Laden's Kandahar home unsearched by bodyguards, where bin Laden greeted him by name, and where he then challenged bin Laden's ethos during a long conversation where bin Laden sought to justify his beliefs to AI Rabiah. ”

“ Rather, the Government sought to demonstrate that Al Rabiah made previous trips to impoverished and war-tom countries for terrorism-related purposes and not charity. As support, the Government proffered evidence that the Kuwaiti Joint Relief Committee and the Revival ofislamic Heritage Society (two organizations for which AI Rabiah volunteered) , have been designated by the United States as organizations that provide financial or other support to terrorist organizations. ”

“ Accordingly, the Court shall not accord a presumption ofaccuracy or authenticity to the Government's evidence, but shall consider the accuracy or authenticity of the evidence in the context of the entire record and the arguments raised by the parties.
The Court shall use the same approach to consider Al Rabiah's pre-hearing evidentiary motions that sought to exclude particular pieces ofevidence prior to the Merits Hearing based on their alleged lack of authenticity, reliability, or relevance, or sought to exclude Al Rabiah's statements based on alleged abuse and coercion. ”

“ See In re Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litig., Misc. No. 08-442, CMO § II.A (Nov. 6, 2008) (" [t] he government bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the petitioner's detention is lawful") (citing Boumediene, 128 S. Ct. at 2271) (" [T] he extent of the showing required of the government in these cases is a matter to be determined.") . Accordingly, Al Rabiah need not prove his innocence nor testify on his own behalf. The Court has drawn no inference based on Al Rabiah's decision not to testify in this case. ”

“ Id Finally, he explained that he was "detained [] pending verification of [his] identity and personality" but that the "investigation and verification procedures may last for a long period due to the great number of the detained Arabs and other persons." Id.
At the Merits Hearing, the Government did not dispute that Al Rabiah sought two weeks of leave from Kuwait Airlines prior to leaving for Afghanistan or that he wrote these two letters, and did not argue that his request for leave and these letters were part of an elaborate plan to mask his true intentions in Afghanistan. ”

“ In 1994-95, Al Rabiah traveled to Bosnia as a volunteer for the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society. Jd., Ex. Cat 1 (9/7/94 Letter from al Anzi to al Zaban) . In 1998, Al Rabiah traveled to Kosovo to work as a volunteer for the Kuwait Red Crescent. ld., Ex. Cat 11 (2/25/02 Certificate) . He also traveled on a mission to Bangladesh on behalf of the Patients Helping Fund in April 2000 to deliver kidney dialysis fluid to a facility in Dakka. ld., Ex. Cat 13 (3/6/02 Certificate) . There is also no dispute that Al Rabiah traveled to Afghanistan for approximately 10 days in July 2001. ”

“ Although Petitioners would prefer to have all relevant and exculpatory evidence prior to the merits hearings in these cases, Petitioners' counsel indicated that he did not wish to delay the merits hearings by a single day to wait for Respondents to search the TF Network database for additional documents. ”

“ LEXIS 75103 at *52-*53 (D.D.C. Aug. 21,2009) (holding that merely meeting Usama bin Laden, although "sensational and compelling," is not "evidence that would justify the Government's detention" of an individual) . The Government did not argue otherwise at Al Rabiah's Merits Hearing. ”

“ Third, Al Rabiah met with a "Personal Representative" in connection with his CSRT proceeding. Pursuant to CSRT procedures, a Personal Representative was a military officer who was permitted to "review infonnation that may be relevant to a detennination ofa detainee's status ... [and] discuss that infonnation with the detainee, except for classified infonnation." Ex. 91 at Ene. 4 (7/29/04 CSRT Procedures) . The Personal Representative was "neither a lawyer nor [an] advocate," and " [n] one of the infonnation [a detainee] provide [d] ... [was] held in confidence." Id at Ene. 3. ”

“ During a b (2)
interrogation, his interrogator b (1) , b (5) b (1) , b (5) On b (2)
Ex. 156 b (2) ' ) . his interrogator concluded that b (1) , b (5) b (1) , b (5) Ex. 114
at 3 The Court agrees with the assessment ofAl Rabiah's interrogators, as well as Al Rabiah's counsel in this case, that AI Rabiah's confessions are not credible. Even beyond the countless inconsistencies associated with his confessions that interrogators identified throughout his years of detention, the confessions are also entirely incredible. ”

“ See Parhat, 532 F.3d at 848 (explaining that the Court must "have an opportunity to assess the reliability of the record evidence" which is "not simply a theoretical exercise") .1I
II The only other evidence proffered by the Government with res reasons for traveling to Afghanistan in October 2001 consists of' • • _and the confessions of Al Rabiah. ”

“ In fact,_claimed in one interrogation that this alleged feast occurred in August 2001, when it is undisputed that Al Rabiah was not even in Afghanistan. The Government did not attempt to defend these allegations at the Merits Hearing or explain these inconsistencies.
Second, several of_sallegations are demonstrably false. Forexample,_
b (1 )
alleged that
b (1)
It is undisputed, however, that Al Rabiah is "not a pilot, nor ha [s] [he] ever trained as a pilot [and] [has] never taught in a flight school," Ex. ”

“ Consequently, after we were captured and handed over to the Afghan warlord, I told Al Quwari to tell our captors he was an assistant I had hired in Iran. I believed, because of my confidence in my own innocence, that Al Quwari would be able to secure his own
release by claiming he worked for me. Ex. 175132 (3117/09 Decl. of Al Rabiah) . The Goverrunent argued that if Al Rabiah was pressured into making false confessions, he would not have simultaneously maintained a false story about his relationship with_. 8/27/09 Merits Hrg. Ir. ”

“ Ex. 149 at 2 his interrogators amplified this threat:
Ex. 71 at 2 ) . His interrogators reinforced this threat on
b (2) by explaining that he would b (1 ) Ex. 72 at b (2) '2 b (2) ) . On , interrogators again threatened Al Rabiah b (1 )
Ex.73at2 b (2) ) .
These threats were also reinforced by placing Al Rabiah into the frequent flier program, an interrogation "technique" that, as already noted, violated the Army Field Manual and the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment ofPrisoners of War. Ex. ”