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Guantanamo Bay prisoner may be UW graduate

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One of the nearly 300 prisoners being held at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba may be a former UW-Madison student, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Military officers at the base responsible for attending to the prisoners released information that one of the prisoners identified himself as a “Badger,” indicating he had been a student at UW, in an interrogation interview. No other details were disclosed regarding the prisoner.

Officials confirm several other prisoners are Western educated, possessing degrees from other U.S. universities.

Military commanders refused to disclose nationalities or any other significant information concerning the prisoners, but earlier media reports have claimed prisoners from nations across the globe, including Western, Arab, and non-Arab states.

The base, which reached its capacity Feb. 15 with a new influx of prisoners from Afghanistan, is still in the process of interpreting what role each individual played in Osama bin Laden’s terror network or the former Taliban ruling militia.

University officials told the Wisconsin State Journal they were looking into the report but did not know if the prisoner was a former student. “To my knowledge, the university hasn’t been contacted by the government on the issue,” said UW spokeswoman Amy Toburen.