Mullah Mohammed Fazi, one of the five Guantanamo Bay detainees released by the Obama administration in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl, has been confirmed to be currently in Iraq. Fazi, the Taliban’s former Defense Minister, is serving in a leadership capacity within the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Reports indicate that Fazi, classified by a 2008 Pentagon dossier as being considered a high risk to the United States if released, appears to be heavily engaged in the systematic murder of Iraqs non-Sunni population. Internal Pentagon assessments say the strategy of wholesale slaughter carried out in ISIS occupied territories very well could have originated with Fazi. Many of the same techniques were utilized by the Taliban in Afghanistan to consolidate and strengthen their position under Mohammed Fazi’s direction.
News of Fazi’s involvement in the ISIS caliphate comes shortly on the heels of a finding by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office that President Obama broke the law when he exchanged five Taliban leaders for Sgt Bowe Bergdahl. The White House has “strongly disagreed” with the GAO’s conclusions. White House spokesman Eric Schultz has said that,”We reject the implication that the administration acted unlawfully.”
The Obama administration is worried that news of Fazi’s emergence as a top commander in ISIS will worsen public perception of both the terrorist swap for Bergdahl and the GAO’s findings of illegal activity. The two events, taken together, could generate sufficient fallout to derail some of the political agenda President Obama has for the remainder of his “lame duck” term. The White House has gone into full damage control mode regarding both developments.
Unofficial word coming out of the White House is that Fazi has been elevated to the top of a prioritized drone strike list of terrorist targets. It is being speculated that the administration believes that it can mitigate a large portion of the potential political fallout if Fazi, and the embarrassment he represents, is quickly eliminated. To facilitate this elimination large portions of regional drone resources are being specifically tasked with finding and destroying the former prisoner.
Senator John McCain has stated that he believes the GAO’S findings, coupled with Fazi re-engaging in terrorist and genocidal activities, could be grounds for impeachment.
“The GAO has clearly declared that President Obama broke the law”, said Senator McCain. “The prisoner that President Obama illegally ordered released has joined another group hostile to our country and has led our enemies in the murder, rape and torture of innocent men, women and children. I personally can’t imagine anything worse a sitting President could do. In my mind it rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”
It remains to be seen whether the House leadership believes Obama’s illegal acts in the Bergdahl exchange meets the legal requirements necessary to impeach. For now Fazi remains free in Iraq, conducting operations under the ISIS banner, instead of in the American cell where he was.
