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RABAT, Morocco -- For more than a decade, Osama bin Laden had few soldiers more devoted than Abdallah Tabarak. A former Moroccan transit worker, Tabarak served as a bodyguard for the al Qaeda leader, worked on his farm in Sudan and helped run a gemstone smuggling racket in Afghanistan, court records here show.
During the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, when al Qaeda leaders were pinned down by U.S. forces, Tabarak sacrificed himself to engineer their escape. He headed toward the Pakistani border while making calls on Osama bin Laden's satellite phone as bin Laden and the others fled in the other direction.
Tabarak was captured and taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was classified as such a high-value prisoner that the Pentagon repeatedly denied requests by the International Committee of the Red Cross to see him. Then, after spending almost three years at the base, he was suddenly released.
Today, the al Qaeda loyalist known locally as the "emir" of Guantanamo walks the streets of his old neighborhood near Casablanca, more or less a free man. In a decision that neither the Pentagon nor Moroccan officials will explain publicly, Tabarak was transferred to Morocco in August 2004 and released from police custody four months later.
Update [2006-1-30 9:3:22 by georgia10]:: I have, obviously, no idea why Tabarak was released. Perhaps he was released as bait, which if true, would prove how desperate the search for bin Laden has become. The U.S. government has admitted bin Laden's trail is cold. Will Tabarak lead Americans to bin Laden?
Recall this is the same man that helped bin Laden escape in Tora Bora.
Regardless of the reason, his quiet release is critical. When terrorists are caught, we get great fanfare and press conferences. But when they are released in silence years later, they are still regarded as "victories" in the War on Terror.