Washington, DC – Kirk S. Lippold, Former USS Cole Commander and Senior Military Fellow at Military Families United, released the following statement concerning the news that Mohammed Jawad, an al Qaeda operative who attacked American troops in Afghanistan in 2002, has been transferred from Guantanamo Bay and released in Afghanistan.
“No coherent policy in the war on terror. No comprehensive plan in place to deal with the future of Guantanamo Bay detainees. No accountability for terrorists who harm our brave fighting forces. Now, in a what has become a sadly familiar pattern of decisions, the Obama Administration has released without trial Mohammed Jawad, a terrorist who attacked and wounded two U.S. soldiers and an Afghan citizen.
This terrorist release is just the latest example of dangerous decisions made by the Administration aimed at keeping a reckless campaign promise. Military Families United has been urgently calling for the President to develop a plan to keep America safe and bring these terrorists to justice. If the President’s solution to this problem is to release terrorists, he is purposefully putting our troops and this nation in greater danger and establishing a policy that could result in the deaths of more American troops.”
CDR Kirk S. Lippold, USN (Ret.) was the Commanding Officer of USS Cole when it was attacked by al Qaeda terrorists in October 2000. CDR Lippold, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff crafting detainee policy in the initial stages of the war on terror, met with the President in February and with DoJ in June to discuss the closure of Guantanamo Bay.
