Eli Lake: Qatar has Failed to Keep Track of Terrorists

On Thursday’s broadcast of Laura Ingraham’s radio show, Daily Beast national security correspondent Eli Lake detailed Qatar’s previous failures to control terrorists released from Guantanamo Bay. Lake told the story of Jaralla al-Marri, who was supervised under circumstances “very similar” to those for the militants recently released from Guantanamo Bay, and was back preaching terrorist propaganda “within four to five months.” He also pointed out Qatar’s history of fundraising for radical Islamic terrorists and attempts to “play both sides” of the fight against terrorism.

Lake also questioned the White House’s claim that the release of dangerous Guantanamo detainees is inevitable because the United States lacks legal authority to hold detainees beyond the end of the war in Afghanistan. He argued that it is absurd for the White House to say it can ignore rules regarding the president to notify Congress about the release of Guantanamo detainees, but then argue that its hands are tied when it comes to keeping dangerous terrorists beyond the end of the war in Afghanistan.

He stated “how he has expansive authorities as president when he wants to write a signing statement on notifying Congress on releasing Guantanamo detainees but he has virtually no presidential authority when it comes to keeping them detained beyond the end of the calendar year, it’s a mystery to me.”