The list of released former Gitmo detainees rejoining the ranks of terrorists grew yet again this week. Fox and AP report that Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul has taken command of a Taliban unit in southern Afghanistan, where the fighting gets fierce, after his release in December 2007 to the Afghan government:
The Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication for the Obama administration’s efforts to close the prison.
U.S. authorities handed over the detainee to the Afghan government, which in turn released him, according to Pentagon and CIA officials.
Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, formerly Guantanamo prisoner No. 008, was among 13 Afghan prisoners released to the Afghan government in December 2007. Rasoul is now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, a nom de guerre that Pentagon and intelligence officials say is used by a Taliban leader who is in charge of operations against U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.
The officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, said Rasoul has joined a growing faction of former Guantanamo prisoners who have rejoined militant groups and taken action against U.S. interests. Pentagon officials have said that as many as 60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields.
The 60 are those of which we have knowledge. Mainly we know about them because we either recaptured them, killed them, or found out that they now lead terrorist units. We do not have any clear idea of the number who have actually returned to terrorism but managed to do so without us noticing.
This news comes as we try to convince Europe to accept the rest of the detainees who we can’t return to their home countries. Barack Obama wants to close Gitmo, but he also wants to avoid bringing as many of its inmates onto American soil as possible in order to avoid a political battle. They’re not likely to open their arms to Gitmo detainees as it becomes clear why we locked them up in the first place.
The detainees of which we speak now did not get released by Barack Obama. In fact, he’s only had one detainee leave since his inauguration, Binyam Mohamed, whom the British took after we dropped charges against him, and the Bush administration made that decision. However, the rhetoric of Obama and his allies at home and abroad pressured the US into making those decisions, and that doesn’t bode well for proper handling of the terrorists who remain at Gitmo. These men are dangerous, and if released, will find ways to get back to the battlefield and kill our troops — or kill civilians abroad or in the US.
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