The Obama administration has released from the Guantanamo Bay prison an al Qaeda terrorist who served as terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden’s personal bodyguard, according to an announcement by the Defense Department.
Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi, a top terror operative who had planned to participate in the 9/11 attacks and who received training to be a suicide bomber, was freed from Gitmo and transferred to Montenegro.
Al Rahabi is just the latest accused terrorist to be released from prison by the Obama administration as it pursues an end-of-administration effort to clear out Gitmo and shut it down.
The release was condemned by some in Congress who have opposed the administration’s efforts to shutter Gitmo.
"The administration is playing Russian roulette with America’s safety by releasing 9/11-plotter Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi from Gitmo," Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) said in a statement. "Rahabi’s transfer abroad is all the more alarming after terrorist Ibrahim al-Qosi resurfaced in December 2015 in the Arabian Peninsula as the top recruiter for al Qaeda after being transferred from Gitmo to Sudan."