All of the “big three” news networks ignored new details Wednesday evening of a Guantanamo Bay detainee who went missing in Uruguay. “The detainee was transferred to Uruguay by the Obama administration in 2014,” stated anchor Bret Baier on Special Report, “But has since vanished and officials say he could be in Brazil.” The development provides Congressional Republicans with even more ammo to stop detainee transfers from Gitmo.
The detainee’s name is Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab and he is not the first transferred detainee to go missing. “An estimated 30 percent of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay who have been transferred to other countries are suspected of going back to the fight” reported Fox News’ Doug McKelway.
Diyab’s ability to simply vanish into thin air exposes that the Obama administration is transferring prisoners to countries that don’t share our interests. As McKelway explains:
Uruguay’s former President Jose Mujica long considered the Gitmo prison quote, “a disgrace,” so he left Diyab on a very long leash. Even allowing him to travel abroad. Asked by Fox News last week about Diyab the Pentagon was not able to confirm his whereabouts.
Republican Senator Tim Scott argued that Obama’s constant push to close Gitmo is mostly to satisfy himself, “It appears to me to be a campaign promise that he made several years ago that he's trying to fulfill.”
The current concern is that Diyab has fled to either Syria or possibly Brazil since the Olympics are set to be held there in a few short weeks.
In addition, not only did the "big three" networks ignore the missing terrorist but so did Spanshish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.
Transcript below:
FNC
Special Report
June 29, 2016
6:29:32 PM EasternBRET BAIER: The hunt is on for a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who has gone missing in South America. The detainee was transferred to Uruguay by the Obama administration in 2014. But has since vanished and officials say he could be in Brazil. The country that also happens to be hosting the Olympics in just a little over a month. As correspondent Doug McKelway reports tonight, the circumstances under which he left Uruguay are sure to escalate an already heated battle between Congressional Republicans and the White House over Gitmo.
[Cuts to video]
DOUG MCKELWAY: An estimated 30 percent of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay who have been transferred to other countries are suspected of going back to the fight. That's one reason the hunt is now on for Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab. Captured in Lahore, Pakistan in 2002, he was among six detainees transferred from Gitmo to Uruguay in 2014. Considered high risk, he is now missing.
THOMAS JOSCELYN: He has connections to really high risk guys, guys known to be the worst of the worst of the worst, including Mohammed Zamar who was a recruiter for Al Qaeda, who actually helped recruit the 9/11 hijackers for that operation.
MCKELWAY: Uruguay’s former President Jose Mujica long considered the Gitmo prison quote, “a disgrace,” so he left Diyab on a very long leash. Even allowing him to travel abroad. Asked by Fox News last week about Diyab the Pentagon was not able to confirm his whereabouts.
PETER COOK: It's something that we're tracking here. The national security of the United States is the most import thing when it comes to these decisions.
MCKELWAY: There are fears that Diyab may have fled to Brazil, where preparations for the summer Olympics are under way, or even to Syria. His disappearance has again illuminated a long running battle between the White House and Congressional Republicans. In a defense bill, now in conference both houses have blocked funding for any Gitmo transfers. President Obama has vowed a veto should that provision remain.
TIM SCOTT: It appears to me to be a campaign promise that he made several years ago that he's trying to fulfill. This notion that somehow there's a location called Gitmo that is inciting folks to become terrorists. Well, France doesn't have a Guantanamo Bay, Brussels did not have one.
[Cuts back to live]
MCKELWAY: Just last week, the US transferred one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards to Montenegro. 79 detainees remain there. 35 more are set to be transferred in the coming weeks.
