Politics

Obama’s About To Let 18 More Terrorists Out Of Guantanamo Bay

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President Barack Obama reportedly plans to transfer up to 18 more inmates out of Guantanamo Bay before the end of his presidency, Reuters reports.

The scheduled release will be the largest single inmate release of his Presidency. The inmates will reportedly be bound for Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The transfer will still leave nearly 40 inmates at the prison, which will be dealt with by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

One of Obama’s first acts as President was to pledge to close the prison within a year, a promise he has been unable to fulfill. Obama maintains that the prison is an enduring symbol of shame for the U.S. and is used as a marketing tool by terrorist organizations like al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

In the last batch of prisoner’s released by Obama, all 15 of the detainee’s released were deemed “High” risk in Department of Defense reviews. Each detainee’s DOD review, according to The New York Times Guantanamo Docket, classified him as “High Risk” and noted “he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests, and its allies.” Several of the detainee’s were also classified as “HIGH intelligence value.”

Guantanamo detainee’s have a history of returning to terrorist activity upon release. In early July, former Guantanamo bay detainee Abu Wa’el Dhiab went missing in South America, after he likely bordered a flight with a fake passport. Dhiab was released to Uruguay by the Obama administration in 2014. Uruguay insisted Dhiab may travel freely without restriction, raising questions about the safety of releasing known terrorists to countries willing to take them.

In 2007 the U.S. released Taliban commander Abdul Qayyum Zakir from Guantanamo Bay to the government of Afghanistan. Zakir was subsequently released from Afghan prison for no apparent reason whatsoever and returned to the Afghan battlefield as a senior commander. Zakir is reportedly heading military operations in Helmand province, where hundreds of U.S. marines died between 2001-2014.

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