FACT: THIRTY PERCENT OF THE GITMO PRISONERS RELEASED REJOIN TERRORIST GROUPS

The Obama administration is coming under pressure to explain why it cleared for release a former Guantanamo Bay prison camp inmate who has become a senior Al Qaeda operative since being released from American custody.

Ibrahim al Qosi, a former Gitmo inmate who the Obama administration released to Sudan in 2012 after clearing him as a low-level risk, has recently reemerged as a top leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to congressional leaders.

The Obama administration has released as many as 37 inmates from Guantanamo since 2015 as it pursues an effort to shut the prison down; as many as 17 detainees were freed in January alone. Fewer than 100 inmates remain imprisoned at the facility.

Al Qosi’s appearance in a new series of al Qaeda propaganda videos has prompted backlash on Capitol Hill from lawmakers who accuse the administration of not properly vetting inmates as it rushes to shutter Gitmo.

“The transfer of terror detainee Ibrahim al Qosi from Gitmo to the Sudanese government has resulted in a new frontman for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and reminds us that no facility in the world can detain terrorists as securely as Guantanamo,” Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

The administration needs to explain why they would transfer al Qosi and two other known terrorists to Sudan, a state sponsor of terror,” Kirk said.

Senior Pentagon officials have admitted to Congress that at least 30 percent of the detainees freed from Gitmo have rejoined terrorist groups.

READ MORE: WFB