The administration of President Barack Obama is acting like the U.S. isn't in a fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) as it continues to release prisoners from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, said Sen. Roy Blunt.
Blunt told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" he didn't "understand the White House position at all" following the Defense Department announcement on Wednesday they were releasing five Gitmo prisoners.
He said the move was also puzzling to "the rest of the world."
"Our problem is, as we engage in this fight, that we continue to act like it's not a fight. People in Paris are marching over the weekend, leaders from all over the world, about standing against terror. At the same time, our government is making the final arrangements to let known terrorists go," the Missouri Republican said Friday.
Blunt, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned State Department estimates that reported only a handful of prisoners released from Gitmo returned to fight against the West, saying the figure was closer to 30 percent.
"There have been about 600 people who have been in Gitmo and out since Gitmo was originally opened. I think the number is somewhere between 107 and 200 of those people were back in the fight.
"The terrorists think they're back in the fight. The only people that don't think they're back in the fight appear to be the Obama administration," he said.
The White House has maintained keeping Gitmo open served as a recruiting tool for ISIS fighters. Blunt said there was "no evidence it was any kind of recruiting tool," adding that it was a "bigger recruiting tool when these people go back."
Blunt also took issue with Obama administration claims that Gitmo inspired violence around the world.
"There's no evidence that's significant in any way," he said. "I think this is largely a myth about Gitmo that started in the president's first campaign. And, it's part of the denial of whether we're engaged or not."
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