Though it didn’t generate much attention over the July 4 weekend, the New York Times had a very interesting story about a behind-the-scenes deal in which the Bush administration released suspected Saudi terrorists from Gitmo in order to keep some international allies content.
American officials agreed to return five terrorism suspects to Saudi Arabia from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, last year as part of a secret three-way deal intended to satisfy important allies in the invasion of Iraq, according to senior American and British officials.
Under the arrangement, Saudi officials later released five Britons and two others who had been convicted of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, the officials said. British diplomats said they believed that the men had been tortured by Saudi security police officers into confessing falsely.
It was, to be sure, a controversial move. The “deal” was opposed by officials at the Pentagon, the CIA, and the Justice Department. In fact, most believed the suspected terrorists we released were too dangerous to send back to Saudi Arabia. The Bush administration approved the move anyway.
The goal, apparently, was to keep Britain and Saudi Arabia happy and supportive of the U.S. war on terror. To that extent, it was successful; both countries enjoyed the public relations benefits of having their citizens returned safely.
While some insisted the deal had nothing to do with keeping Britain and Saudi Arabia on board with the broader anti-terrorism effort, others admit the motivating factor that drove the negotiations.
[A]n American official with knowledge of the negotiations said, “There is a link,” adding, “This was two courses that converged and had a mutual attractiveness to them.”
The public relations effect in the U.S., however, was non-existent — no one was told at the time about our role in the deal. In fact, the Bush administration never officially responded to questions about what we did and why.
Congressional Dems now hope to change that.
Senate Democratic leaders called on the Bush administration yesterday to confirm or deny the accuracy of a news report that the administration handed five terrorism suspects to Saudi Arabia in the period leading up to the April 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and four other Senate Democrats asked President Bush if the news account is accurate and, if so, why the Saudi prisoners being held at Guantanamo were released and who authorized them to be handed over to Saudi Arabia.
The Democrats also want to know whether other prisoners had been released from Guantanamo, and whether administration officials objected to the terrorism suspects being freed.
The Democrats asked White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to brief all senators on the issue as soon as possible.
Keep an eye on this one. If Dems continue to raise a fuss about it, the White House may have to explain how and why it let five suspected Saudi terrorists go for very little in return — the kind of thing that could resonate in a political campaign in which Bush is accusing Kerry of not being tough enough in the war on terror.