Despite a strong rebuke from the American public and Congress, the Obama administration is marching forward with plans to close Guantanamo Bay Prison...by emptying it. The administration continues to send terrorists to foreign countries and this week, two Al Qaeda bomb makers made their way to Senegal after being released from U.S. custody.
Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby and Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar both had extensive terrorist histories and close ties to top ranking al-Qaida leaders like Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Both hailed from Libya and belonged to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an al-Qaida affiliate.
Ghereby is thought to have fought with bin Laden when U.S.-led coalition forces attacked bin Laden’s compound in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in December 2001. Bin Laden supposedly narrowly escaped capture during the firefight. Ghereby is believed to also have expertise in bomb making and was deemed “high risk” by a Department of Defense (DoD) report when he was captured.
Last week we learned during congressional testimony that a number of GITMO detainees who were released, returned to the battle field to kill Americans.
In February, President Obama presented Congress with an official plan to close GITMO, which includes bringing detainees to prisons in the United States. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have repeatedly made clear bringing GITMO detainees to U.S. soil for imprisonment is against federal law.
Lynch, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, was pressed by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) about whether the president has the authority to transfer “some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists” to the U.S.
“The law currently does not allow for that,” Lynch replied. “And that is not, as I am aware of, going to be contemplated given the legal proscriptions.”
As a reminder, President Obama is adamant about closing GITMO not because it's in the best interest of the United States, but because he made a campaign promise to his far-left supporters that he would do so.