In a March 7 CNSNews.com article, CNS editor-in-chief Terry Jeffrey writes about how “The Director of National Intelligence released a report this week indicating that the United States has ‘confirmed’ that 116 detainees “transferred” out of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, subsequently reengaged in terrorist or insurgent activities.” Jeffrey then tries to blame President Obama for this, noting that “Two days after he first took office in 2009, President Obama issued an executive order calling for Guantanamo to be closed. That order also called for officials to review what should be done with each individual transferred from the prison.”
But it’s not until the 23rd paragraph of his article that Jeffrey admits (grudgingly, in parentheses) that the recidivism rate for detainees released under Obama is lower than it used to be:
(The percentage of Guantanamo detainees released after President Obama’s executive order who have been confirmed to have returned to terrorist or insurgent activity has been less thus far–5.2 percent–than it has been for detainees released before the executive order, which is 17.9 percent.)
Jeffrey curiously doesn’t mention who was president before Obama and, thus, the president with the higher recidivism rate: Republican George W. Bush. In fact, Bush’s name appears nowhere in Jeffrey’s article, even though he repeatedly names Obama and publishes Republican criticism of Obama’s Gitmo release policy.
Jeffrey doesn’t seem to want to let inconvenient facts interfere with his politically motivated attack on Obama disguised as “news.”