The State Department has confirmed that a former detainee at the Guantanamo prison camp participated in the attack on the Istanbul airport last month.

Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov was released and sent to Russia in 2004.  He fled Russia for the Middle East and is known to have fought in Syria.

Daily Caller:

Turkish authorities have arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the bombing in some capacity. Vakhitov, an ethnic Tatar from Russia, is one of those 30. Turkey believes the airport attack stemmed from Islamic State, though the terror group has made no formal declaration of involvement.

According to Voice of America, Vakhitov was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001, after which point he was shipped to Gitmo for a stay of only two years. The U.S. released him to Russia in 2004, as the Joint Task Force Guantanamo concluded he had no ties to al-Qaida and was not a leader in the Taliban. Still, the U.S. assumed he was dangerous enough that upon release to Russia, authorities would keep him imprisoned.

A Russian court found no evidence Vakhitov had terror connections and he was released.

Just a year after he arrived in Russia, however, the Russian Federal Security Service captured and detained him for about two months before letting him go free without charges, prompting Vakhitov to flee for the Middle East and apply for asylum.

In the past, Russian security services have said Vakhitov has fought in Syria and Iraq with terror groups and also apparently recruited and raised funds for these organizations.

Vakhitov may be a terrorist responsible for the deaths of 42 people, but at least his rights were protected and he was treated with mercy. 

We might want to ask what comfort that gives to the families of people who lost their lives last month in Turkey.  I'm sure they have something to say about that.

In the end, we're just going to have to capture these people again, or kill them if we're smart – a totally unnecessary exercise made necessary because some people don't recognize we're at war.