This is bad, really bad.
As part of the arrangement, the United States initially authorized the outright release of one of the Saudi detainees. But a senior American official said the man was kept in custody by the Saudis after a terrorist attack in the kingdom raised concerns about militants' activities.
Saudi officials gave contradictory accounts of the current whereabouts of the five men, saying at first that one or two of them had been released, then denying that any had been freed. The officials also gave contradictory accounts of the suspects' legal status, first saying they had been tried and convicted of seeking to join Taliban forces in Afghanistan, but later saying prosecutions were still pending.
The administration had NO intent to let these people go as part of the regular practice of moving detainess out of Gitmo:
But several current and former Defense Department officials challenged that assertion, saying no Saudis had even been under consideration for release prior to the arrangement's being struck.
Oh, and check this out - it was because of Bush's stupid war in Iraq that we had to set the suspected terrorists free:
The Saudi government was eager to bring home even a few detainees from Guantánamo. Although Saudi leaders opposed a war with Iraq, they allowed the United States to use several military bases to launch air attacks into Iraq and as a staging ground for American troops.
Funny, but I thought having "Al Qaeda connection" was a causus belli for the US?
In an interview, a Saudi official described many of the men as "low-level foot soldiers or even groupies, who were working for charities and who posed no threat." But American officials characterized the Saudis as more dangerous, saying that some had clear Al Qaeda connections and that nearly all of them had been uncooperative with interrogators.
