In Which Previous War...

Have we released enemy combatants during an ongoing conflict for such flimsy reasons:

Explaining why Zakir was released from Gitmo, the defense official said, "We were under incredible pressure from the world to release detainees at Gitmo. You just don't know what people are going to do.

Well, that sounds like a nice face shot to the international peacenik set. But by saying 'we' is he outing himself as a Bush admin holdover, disgruntled over the releases? Wouldn't a normal Obama admin spokesman be trying to blame this on Bush? Or are they looking forward...

"He was no worse than anyone else being held at Gunatanamo Bay," the official added. "He was not going to be tried for war crimes so we decided to release him. Either he was not thought to have committed a crime or we didn't have enough evidence to prosecute him."

In other words, if the others at Gitmo are still just as bad we can't possibly release them before years' end with an offensive taking place. Or in other words, Obama may need a waiver on his vow to close Gitmo to keep these dangerous warriors off the streets. Besides, since nobody will take them--and even when they do, they sometimes get released back to the field--they have to be kept somewhere.