By Anthony Kimery
Homeland Security Today
As the Obama administration released 15 more high-value Al-Qaeda detainees from Guantanamo (GITMO), former detainee Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi — who was released in 2012 as part of a plea deal after pleading guilty to conspiracy and supporting terrorism and joined and immediately hooked up with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in December 2014 – this week vowed attacks in the U.S. by English-speaking jihadis with Western names not on CIA or FBI terrorist lists.
“[Attacks] will continue but will be [in] a creative and new way by men of your own [who] carry your names, speak your language, and did not receive training in Afghanistan, and whose names are not on the CIA and FBI blacklist – men who might have in the past drunk alcohol, eaten pork or been soldiers in your army,” Al Qosi, a member of AQAP’s Shura council, vowed in an article published by Al Marsa, a weekly newspaper affiliated with AQAP.
He also “urged the mujahideen in Syria to unite and form a new army whose mission would be to liberate Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Homeland Security Today previously reported that Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups like AQAP were actively recruiting radicalized Westerners unknown to counterterrorism authorities who are able to travel freely throughout the West.
In September 2004, and again in November 2007, Joint Task Force-GITMO (JTF-GITMO) “recommend[ed] this detainee for continued detention under Department of Defense [DoD] control” because he “is an admitted veteran jihadist with combat experience beginning in 1990 and it is assessed he would engage in hostilities against US forces, if released,” according to JTF-GITMO’S classified file on Al Qosi.
Indeed, the “Secret” JTF-GITMO file on Al Qosi considered him to be, “A high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests, and allies” if he were ever released, noting that he vowed a “long-term commitment to jihad.”
The JTF-GITMO file further noted Al Qosi “has openly admitted being a member of Al-Qaeda, as well as a trusted associate and loyal bodyguard to Usama Bin Laden (UBL),” and “has been very forthright regarding his commitment to UBL and Al-Qaeda.”
Read the full article at HSToday.
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