At the very least, this is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario. I am an independent voter, and I sure as hell would never want to be president of anything.
With the little we do know about what really happened, there is this: The administration would have been criticized for leaving a POW behind, especially if he were to get injured, sick or die while in captivity. The administration is already being criticized because Guantanamo is still open, anyway; so releasing 5 prisoners serves the dual purpose of reducing the population there and getting a POW released. One report stated that although these were high-ranking officials in the organization, they were already fairly old when they were imprisoned, and the organization has been through so much change, that it is unlikely that they’ll be reinstated to their former positions.
Beyond that, I think it’s too early for judgement to be passed on this case, because I think there’s a whole lot about this case that we do not know and may not know for quite some time.