From today’s NYT article on the contents of newly released documents on the Guantanama Bay prisoners.
Another Saudi, Mazin Salih Musaid al-Awfi, was one of at least half a dozen men against whom the “relevant data” considered by the annual review boards included the possession at the time of his capture of a Casio model F-91W watch. According to evidentiary summaries in those cases, such watches have “been used in bombings linked to Al Qaeda.”
“I am a bit surprised at this piece of evidence,” Mr. Awfi said. “If that is a crime, why doesn’t the United States arrest and sentence all the shops and people who own them?”
Another detainee whose evidence sheet also included a Casio F-91W, Abdullah Kamal, was an electrical engineer from Kuwait who once played on his country’s national volleyball team. He was also accused of being a leader of a Kuwaiti militant group that collected money for Mr. bin Laden.
As for the Casio allegation, Mr. Kamal said the watch was a common one in Kuwait and had a compass that could be used to find the direction of Mecca for his prayers. “We have four chaplains” at Guantánamo, he said. “All of them wear this watch.”
Obviously the real issue is not are any of these men innocent, but how long as Casio been in league with the terrorists.
I never could understand why someone would want a compas in their wristwatch (because surely, if you were going camping, you could pack a good one)… but this makes a lot of sense.
Matt: The irresistible cachet of embedded compasses was probably made most famous by the film A Christmas Story. So don’t tell me you don’t know why it’s necessary — it JUST IS OK? How else would one defeat Black Bart?