"The bottom line here is al Qaeda's core was never defeated, it was never decimated," he said. "They suffered dozens of leadership losses for sure, but they had thought that through and they knew that they were going to suffer those losses, and we are still killing guys, to this day, who first joined the jihad in 1979 and 1980."
Al Qaeda comeback widens terror war for Donald Trump →
Mr. Joscelyn said the board reversed itself on another inmate, Fayez al Kandari.
Pentagon brags of killing terrorists even as transferred Gitmo detainees return to battlefield →
