By BRIAN ROSS, ANNA SCHECTER and JOSEPH RHEE
Dec. 28, 2009
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a
Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S.
from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American
officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed
responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that
vowed more attacks on Americans.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to
Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation
program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.
Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner
#372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007,
according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released
from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad
al-Awfi.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/northwest-flight-253-al-qaeda-leaders-terror-plot/story?id=9434065