At least 12 released Guantanamo detainees implicated in attacks on Americans

The Pentagon reportedly told Congress that it is planning to release a dozen Guantanamo detainees to at least two countries.
There are 91 men held at Guantanamo, down from nearly 250 when Obama assumed the presidency. Those left include 36 who are cleared for release if security conditions can be met in the countries where they will settle. Seven face trial by military commission, including five charged with planning and supporting the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. Three others have been convicted.
The Director of National Intelligence reported that 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since January 2009, when the U.S. began using the multi-agency screening process, have re-engaged in terrorism and 8 percent are suspected of it. That compares to 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected under the earlier system.
So let’s be clear, when the headline says the Pentagon announces Gitmo releases it is the civilian leadership, the Secretary of Defense and a host of political appointees who are making these decisions. Is that important… I think so, and here is why it is important. The recidivisms rate, those detainees released returning to the battle looks to be about 10% and the report says that is down from an earlier rate of 21%.
So one would think that is good news. You would think that if you don’t wear a uniform and are subject to additional deployments that might cause you to have to engage one or more of these individuals again. I say “again” because someone like you already risked their life capturing these fanatics once before and now they are being released. We are just going to let them go.
The decision to certify these releases is pretty straight forward if you know that in the rest of your life you will not have to stare down the barrel of an AK-47 or be wounded by an RPG or IED…. It’s easy if you know that after you leave office you will have a full Secret Service protective detail, live in a house wired for any security and that you will be financially secure for the remainder of your days.
Now view that decision looking through the eyes of an infantry soldier or marine deployed one more time and finding that he is faced once again by the same jihadi terrorist that one of his brothers put in Gitmo 10 years ago. So now we are in a standoff and let’s hope the guy with the faster trigger finger is our infantry soldier. Maybe some will think this is an extreme example, but is it really? If the recidivism rate is as high as it appears, and perhaps higher, and the rotations to Afghanistan continue and Iraq increases again then why can’t this happen.

Now if they do not release these bad actors then you will not have to face them down a second time. The answer is clear and unequivocal --- stop releasing these terrorist.