The Obama administration on Thursday announced the transfer of two more Guantanamo Bay detainees overseas, including an al Qaeda bombmaker who created the prototype for the failed shoe bomb attack in 2001.
The administration moved Tariq el Sawah to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Abdelaziz al Swidi to Montenegro. That transfer follows the 10 who were transferred last week to Oman, bringing the facility’s population below 100 for the first time.
El Sawah, according to Department of Defense records, helped the al Qaeda terrorist network develop IEDs, including the shoe-bomb Richard Reid tried to use in a failed attack on an American Airlines transatlantic flight in December 2001.
The U.S. government also determined that el Sawah could return to the battlefield to plot attacks against Americans but probably wouldn’t considering that his extensive cooperation with American authorities could make him a target among members of al Qaeda and other jihadists.
The 58-year-old was a “prolific source” while detained, the records state, and “will possibly re-establish extremist associations, but is unlikely to do so as his cooperation with the U.S. government may serve to identify detainee as a target for revenge by those associates.”
Critics of Obama’s efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and the stream of detainee transfers took particular exception to El Sawah’s release.
“The Obama administration continues to gamble with the safety of Americans and our allies in order to fulfill a misguided and dangerous campaign promise,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said in a statement Thursday evening.
She also called on the administration to halt all detainee releases from the island prison until Congress conducts a “thorough review” of the administration’s actions, citing the release of Ibrahim al Qosi in 2012, a detainee who is now the leader and spokesman for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The administration has kept up its effort to move detainees out in a bid to close the facility, although several dozen are thought to be too dangerous to remove. Nonetheless, supporters of Obama’s effort to close the facility say the government isn’t moving quickly enough.
Human Rights First praised the transfer of two detainees on Thursday, but pushed for an accelerated pace of transfers if Obama is serious about fulfilling his 2008 campaign promise to close the prison facility.
The organization also said it’s past time for Obama to make public his plans for closing the facility “once and for all.”
“Last week in the State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his commitment to shutter Guantanamo Bay, but those are simply words until a plan is released,” Human Rights First’s Raha Wala said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a onetime ally of the Obama’s in closing Guantanamo, said he had lost faith in the administration’s efforts because of the delay in submitting a detailed plan to Congress to shutter the prison.
Last fall, 32 retired generals and admirals signed a letter urging President Obama to quickly submit tits plan to Congress to close the prison.
The White House said Thursday it had no update on the timing of the plan’s submission to Congress and public release but didn’t expect it to come Friday.
“I don’t have the expectation but I don’t have specific guidance to share with you,” presidential press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
