Kirk Statement on Release of 9/11 Terrorist Plotter to Montenegro

Statement

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today issued a statement after the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the transfer of a terrorist detainee from the Guantanamo Bay facility to Montenegro. Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi was a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden who had planned to participate in the 9/11 attacks and received special training to be a suicide operative. Rahabi's release comes after the Washington Post recently reported that at least 12 former Guantanamo terrorist detainees have been involved in attacks that have killed "about a half-dozen Americans."

"The Administration is playing Russian roulette with America's safety by releasing 9/11-plotter Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi from Gitmo," said Senator Kirk. "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."

The Administration's Guantanamo Review Task Force concluded Rahabi was too dangerous to transfer in January 2010 and again in March 2014, the task force inexplicably reversed its decision in December 2014, opening the door for the would-be 9/11 suicide attacker's release from Gitmo.

In the recent floor debate over the Senate's annual defense bill, Senator Kirk introduced Gitmo "transparency and accountability" amendments to require the Administration to provide the American taxpayer with full details of any agreement related to transferring Gitmo terrorist detainees to foreign nations, and to cut U.S. foreign aid to any country that accepts a former Gitmo terrorist detainee and loses track of them.

Source