According to the office of the director of National Intelligence, nearly one-third of the detainees freed from Gitmo—208 of the 693 detainees who were released under Presidents Bush or Obama—are confirmed or suspected of returning to terrorism.
Consider Tariq Al-Sawah, released to Bosnia in January. Al-Sawah literally wrote the book on bomb-making for al Qaeda. He reportedly was an associate of Osama bin Laden who had knowledge of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.
After receiving a tip that the Obama administration was trying to pay Al-Sawah $100,000, I sent two staffers to Sarajevo in August and October to look into this report. They found that Bosnia’s limited security services are already being overwhelmed as scores of Bosnian fighters return from the war in Syria, and mosques with radical foreign supporters grow in influence. Making matters worse, the country also has the world’s highest youth unemployment rate.
This is the place where Al-Sawah the bomb-maker was dropped in the dead of January, with no coat, and in poor health. Even if he could manage to find legitimate employment, he does not have legal status in Bosnia to take it. The family member he was released to is also unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. Why wouldn’t he sell his terrorist skills?
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