Wikipedia:WikiProject Terrorism/Guantanamo captives' names

Recently there have been a number of suggestions to rename a considerable fraction of the Guantanamo articles. Over a dozen articles have already been unilaterally renamed. As I wrote here there may be sufficient reasons to rename some of these articles. But, if that is the case, those arguments should be (1) articulated; and (2) evaluated in a consistent manner. I believe this means having a central place for the discussion. And I have suggested we have this discussion here.

Cheers! Geo Swan (talk) 01:20, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Common issues

• There are many captives for whom the DoD consistently used one name, but the captive claimed that wasn't his real name.

I suggest that consistency is important. If we are going to move some articles to new names, because that is the captive's real name, we should consider doing this consistently. The New York Times was inconsistent in this. Today I asked question at Talk:Almasm_Rabilavich_Sharipov#What should be the base name of this article? Almasm Sharipov/Shamil Khazhiyev is an example of a captive where the NYTimes stuck with the name the DoD originally used. I believe this erodes any confidence we should place in the NYTimes choice of transliteration.

Recent moves made without prior discussion

earlier name	newer name	justificiation, if any	notes
Mirza Mohammed (Guantanamo captive 644)	Mirza Mohammed	This renaming was made without any prior discussion. edit summary for this renaming was "moved Mirza Mohammed (Guantanamo captive 644) to Mirza Mohammed over redirect: better name"	The mover has overlooked that "Mohammed" and "Mohammad" are merely two different transliterations of the same name. The other individual, Mirza Mohammad (Shah) might, as easily, transliterate his name using another transliteration of Mohammed.
Ziyad bin Salih bin Muhammad Al Bahooth	Zaid Binsallah Mohammed Il Bhawith	This renaming was made without any prior discussion. edit summary for this renaming was "moved Ziyad bin Salih bin Muhammad Al Bahooth to Zaid Binsallah Mohammed Il Bhawith over redirect: The old name for ISN 272 is based mainly on the early primary sources. The new name is according to the NYT's and other secondary sources"	The NYTimes has picked the name from the 2006-05-15 list, in this particular case The NYTimes offered three alternate versions of his name. But there is no indication where the NYTimes got names 1 and 3. Ziyad al Bahuth Ziyad Bin Salih Bin Muhammad al Bahooth Ziyad Salih Muhammad al Bahuth The move edit summary refers to "other secondary sources". Well what what were they? What did they say?
Said Ali Abdullah Al Farha Al Ghamidi	Said Ali al Farha	This renaming was made without any prior discussion. edit summary for this renaming was "moved Said Ali Abdullah Al Farha Al Ghamidi to Said Ali al Farha: The old name is mainly base to the interpretation of questionable primary sources. New name is based on the NYT's and other secondary sources"	I have repeatedly asked this contributor to explain their description of the OARDEC sources as "questionable". I find this a disturbing phrase as because it implies a contributor relying on their own personal judgment on the credibility of our WP:RS. I am sorry to report that while they have responded it has seemed to me that their explanation is circular -- that these sources are questionable because they consider them questionable. I have repe
Nazargul Chaman	Nasser Gul Ghaman	This renaming was made without any prior discussion. edit summary for this renaming was "moved Nazargul Chaman to Nasser Gul Ghaman over redirect: The old name for ISN 1037 is mostly based on primary sources. The new name is based on the NYT's and other secondary sources".
Nayif Abdallah Ibrahim Al Nukhaylan	Nayif Abdallah Ibrahim Ibrahim
Nasir Najr Nasir Balud Al Mutayri	Nasser Najiri Amtiri
Jehan Wali	Jihan Wali
Mohammed Sadiq (Guantanamo captive 349)	Mohammed Sadiq
Khalid Mallah Shayi Al Jilba Al Qahtani	Khalid Malu Shia al Ghatani
Fouad Mahoud Hasan Al Rabia	Fouad Mahmoud al Rabiah
Jumma Jan	Zainulabidin Merozhev
Nag Mohammed	Edham Mamet