Washington Free Beacon senior writer Adam Kredo joined Liz Wheeler of One America News Network on Monday night to discuss the Obama administration's ongoing effort to release prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military prison before Donald Trump enters office.
President Obama will not succeed in his campaign promise to close the detention facility before he leaves office but has significantly reduced the prison population down to just 55 prisoners, from a peak of 684 over a decade ago. More releases may come in the next 10 days before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
Wheeler asked Kredo how many prisoners actually return to terrorist activity after their release.
"We're talking scores actually, and it's doubled in recent years," Kredo said. "There's very simple math here: the more people you release from Gitmo, the more they're seen returning to the battlefield."
This total includes people found on the battlefield, as well as those behind the scenes who returned to terrorism. Most countries refuse the return of Guantanamo detainees because they are likely to return to terrorism, Kredo noted.
"I think that's all you really need to know about the failure of the Obama administration's policy on this," he said. "All they're trying to do is clean out the prison so they can close it, but in the rush to get rid of these people, you're letting bad guys back into the world."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has said that about 30 percent of former Guantanamo prisoners have rejoined terrorist activities or are suspected of doing so.
"The Obama administration cannot be so naive that they do not understand the rate at which these terrorists return to the battlefield," Wheeler interjected.
"No, I don't think they're naive about it; I think they know very well," Kredo said. Once suspected terrorists are released to foreign countries, Kredo added, it is not likely that they reintegrate back into society rather than go back to terrorism.
"But the Obama administration, in its rush and its ideological bent to close this prison down, does not care. They just want to get them out the doors," he said.
Wheeler added that the Obama administration was enabling Guantanamo to be used as a terrorist recruiting tool. She said that since 2009, 676 detainees have been released from the detention facility, of whom 118 have been confirmed to reengage in terrorism.
"That number really just scratches the surface," Kredo said, adding that he agrees Guantanamo is being used as a recruiting tool–but not in the way critics of the detention facility think.
"That is because the way the Obama administration discusses it. The Obama administration will say they're embarrassed of our government, they're embarrassed of our U.S. for running Gitmo," he said.
"I've been to Guantanamo several times, these people are lucky to be held there. If they were in any other country the conditions would not be so nice," he continued, describing his visit to to the facility, which included comfortable furniture, a library with a great selection of books, and a recreation yard.
"The Obama administration likes to pretend it's a boogey man, it's a CIA black site. It is not," Kredo said.
"The Obama administration talks more about their shame at Guantanamo Bay more than they talk about the terrible crimes committed by the people who are there," Wheeler said. "It's a 30 percent rate of return for these terrorists that are going back to the battlefield. Do we have any proof that they've killed Americans since they've been released?"
Kredo said that while there is no hard evidence, they are "contributing to an environment and a situation on the ground that endangers American troops."
"Terrorism never happens in a bubble; it is not an isolated thing. It permeates throughout the region where we are stationed, so I think it is very fair to say that the people we once picked up for this crime against us are returning to it, with the goal to hurt us," Kredo said.
He then urged people to look at the New York Time's "Gitmo files," a record of every person who passed through the facility and their crimes.
"These are the worst of the worst offenders, honestly," he said.
"These are acts of war that these detainees have been caught doing," Wheeler agreed. She asked how Kredo thought the Trump administration would tackle the issue of Guantanamo Bay.
"Honestly, I expect the prison to remain open. I never believed the Obama administration would honestly be able to close it," he said, pointing out that the prison still holds prisoners such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who are having hearings at Guantanamo.
"We're still waging a war; let's not make any bones about it and not be under any illusion," Kredo said. "We are still fighting a global war on terrorism. When we find these people on the battlefield, we have a very, very safe spot to put them: it's right there at Guantanamo Bay, and I expect Trump to make use of this resource."