The Bush-hating Left has been very big on the victims of the War on “Terror.” The American involvement at least. When Saddam was killing thousands, the Left didn’t seem to care. When al Qaeda and the Taliban were waging jihad on the enemies of Islam, stoning or genitally mutilating women, there wasn’t much outcry. But with the death of every coalition troop in Iraq or Afghanistan, or the purposefully exaggerated numbers of civilian dead, the Left made it their goal to rub it in George W. Bush’s face.
While I certainly mourn the loss of every coalition troop and sympathize with their families, I, unlike the Left, try to put things in context. Nearly 5,000 brave Americans who volunteered to put their lives on the line for me and my family ended up paying the ultimate price. These are individuals to honor, not political pawns to use as fodder against the former administration in some sick self-important means to undermine the war effort. Yet, this is exactly how the Left uses our war dead. And it is sick.
We have a volunteer military and those who have gone into harm’s way have done it willingly and fully aware of the sacrifices involved. They are true heroes. Except for a small minority—whom the Left always seem to find so as to place them in the media spotlight or wrtie up as the protagonist in an anti-American Hollywood film—troops and their families do not place blame on George W. Bush or his past administration for any consequences.
If there are any troop deaths George W. Bush should be blamed for, it’s murders of troops committed by former detainees at Guantánamo Bay who, for whatever reason, were released when they should have not been.
Just this evening Thomas Joscelyn at the Weekly Standard blog reports that up through January 13 of this year, 61 released G’tmo detainees have returned to the battlefield to kill our brave troops. As far as I’m concerned, any killing committed by these scum were preventable.
To add insult to injury, George W. Bush never got credit from the unhinged anti-war Left for the G’tmo detainees he released. This is the same contingent who helped put into office a president who promised to release all G’tmo detainess, by closing the place down. That’s a promise our current president is planning to make good on.
Now we learn from the Department of Defense’s most recent report that, since that final week of the Bush presidency, the number has risen to 74. In other words, since right around the time Barack Obama was sworn in as president, an additional 13 terrorists released from G’tmo have returned to their jihad to harm our troops:
The June 13, 2008, report noted that 37 former detainees were “confirmed or suspected” of returning to terrorism. On January 13, 2009, seven months later, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that number had climbed to 61. Now, according to the Times, the DOD has found that same metric has risen further to 74—exactly double the Pentagon’s estimate just 11 months ago.
At that rate, the Pentagon is identifying, on average, more than 3 former Gitmo detainees who are thought to have returned to terrorism each month.
That does not bode well.
Critics point out that even with 74 recidivists the total number of former detainees who have returned to terrorism is “only” 14 percent of the 534 total detainees who have been released from Guantanamo. But this ignores the fact, as explained above, that the recidivism rate is continuously increasing.
Moreover, the U.S. government does not have perfect information on former detainees. It is not clear what many former detainees, up and beyond those identified as likely recidivists, are doing. The number of current recidivists could easily be higher. And this does not even count the former detainees who aid our terrorist enemies’ propaganda efforts by making up tales, which are often repeated by eager media outlets, about their time in U.S. custody and America’s supposed evils.
As Sweetness & Light reports, the situation is so dire that even the NY Times is suddenly concerned, with an article Elizabeth Bumiller to be published in tomorrow morning's print version.
The clearly miffed Fire Andrea Mitchell blog focuses on the claim that the Pentagon had knowledge of the report, but chose to sit on it so as not to make the Obama administration look bad.
Now that Barack Obama is president, every one of our troops killed by a terrorist he willingly released from G’tmo is his fault. The blood is on Obama’s hands, not George W. Bush’s.
Wonder what will he tell their families. If he visits them at all.
Also on the case is Michelle Malkin.
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