Bush Released Two Plotters of Northwest Flight 253 Bombing From Gitmo in 2007

But, but I thought it was just a lone wolf with a little firecracker.

Turns out that they went to jihad rehab and then planned to kill a bunch of Americans on the holiest Christian holiday.

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

[...]

"The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke," a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.

Saudi officials concede its program has had its "failures" but insist that, overall, the effort has helped return potential terrorists to a meaningful life.

One program gives the former detainees paints and crayons as part of the rehabilitation regimen.

A similar rehabilitation program in Yemen was stopped because so many of the detainees quickly joined with al Qaeda or its affiliates, the official said.

How shocking that finger painting would fail to change the worldviews of murderous jihadis. Even more shocking is the fact that these men went all the way from Saudi Arabia to their next-door neighbor, Yemen. Good thing we shut down the finger painting summer camps in that terror haven! (Drenched in sarcasm, of course.)

Thank goodness for Holland's excellent airport security, which allows terrorists on planes without passports. Without them, our diligent intelligence services, and our trustworthy Saudi friends this would be really scary and outrageous. Good thing we stopped releasing the Gitmo terrorists. Oh, wait...