Threats
US
government offering $5M reward for Al Qaeda leader freed from Gitmo
Published December 23, 2014
Shown
at left is Ibrahim al-Rubaysh, an AQAP operative and former Guantanamo inmate. (Rewards
for Justice/AP)
The Obama administration is scrambling
to track down an Al Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay years ago,
offering a $5 million reward for information on him and placing him on a global
terrorist list.
Ibrahim al-Rubaysh was originally
released in 2006 by the George W. Bush administration and put into a Saudi
Arabian "rehabilitation" program. However, al-Rubaysh returned to the
battlefield and now serves as a top leader with Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula -- one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliates.
The case underscores the continued risks
in transferring detainees from the controversial prison camp -- another four
were released over the weekend to Afghanistan.
The Pentagon, though, insists that it
continues to take precautions before releasing prisoners.
Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, Defense
Department spokesman for detainee policy, said more than 90 percent of
detainees transferred under the Obama administration "have resumed quiet
lives in various countries."
Al-Rubaysh, he said, was held at
Guantanamo from 2002 and transferred in 2006.
"Since 2009, the Defense Department
and five government departments and agencies conduct thorough security and
intelligence reviews prior to transferring Guantanamo detainees," Caggins
said.
Recent alerts from the State Department
revealed how al-Rubaysh has reestablished himself in militant circles since his
release.
A briefing posting on the department's Rewards
for Justice website offers up to $5 million for
information that "brings justice" to the former detainee. It says he
has served as a senior "sharia official" with AQAP since 2013 and as
such, "provides the justification for attacks conducted by AQAP." He
also is involved in planning attacks, the posting says.
A statement released last week by the department putting him
on a list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" offered
more details about his activities. The department said al-Rubaysh has made
public statements, including this past August, "where he called on Muslims
to wage war against the United States."
Conservative watchdog
group Judicial Watch first reported on the reward offer
for the former Gitmo inmate.
The group criticized the "laughable
Saudi rehab program, which started under Bush and continued under
Obama."
Judicial Watch wrote: "It turns out
that al-Rubaysh is the poster child for the Saudi rehab's failures. He's a
dangerous Al Qaeda operative based in Yemen and now, years after freeing him,
the United States wants him captured."
Detainee transfers have continued at a
steady clip, to countries all over the world, since the Bush administration. A
total of 23 detainees have been released this year, and more of the 132
detainees left at Guantanamo are expected to be transferred in the coming months.
GOP lawmakers have raised security
concerns, warning that some could return to the battlefield and endanger U.S.
troops serving overseas. But the administration says the camp itself undermines
national security and should still be shuttered.
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