[Vision2020] CNN Updates: GOP lawmaker: U.S. released half the top al Qaeda targets in Iraq

[Art Deco]

GOP lawmaker: U.S. released half the top al Qaeda targets in Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military is operating a "catch-and-release" program with al Qaeda in Iraq, a Republican lawmaker said Friday, charging it has previously caught and released half the major terrorist figures it is now seeking.

Speaking to the National Press Club, Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said, "There is an infuriating fact that is seldom discussed: Fully half of the high-value al Qaeda targets in Iraq have been captured and released before. 

"As one senior official that I talked to put it, 'I have great photographs of half of the people we're hunting. They're wearing orange jumpsuits in the mug shots we took of them when we captured them the first time.'"

She added, "We are operating a catch-and-release program for al Qaeda in Iraq. This is inexcusable and frustrating as all get out for the young men and women in the military who are in the fight." (Posted 11:49 a.m.)
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