A while back the New York Times reported on Saudi efforts to “rehab” jihadis.
Jilani frowned slightly and wrote Ali’s answer up on the white board behind him. He read it out to the class before turning back to Ali. “All right, Ali,†the sheik said. “Why do we answer calls for jihad? Is it because all Muslim leaders want to make God’s word highest? Do we kill if these leaders tell us to kill?â€
Ali looked confused, but whispered, “Yes.â€
“No — wrong!†Jilani cried as Ali blushed. “Of course we want to make God’s word highest, but not every Muslim leader has this as his goal. There are right jihads and wrong jihads, and we must examine the situation for ourselves. For example, if a person wants to go to hajj now, is it right?â€
The class chuckled obligingly at Jilani’s little joke. The month for performing hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca that observant Muslims hope to complete at least once in their lives, had ended five weeks earlier, and the suggestion was as preposterous as throwing a Fourth of July barbecue in November.
“Well, just as there is a proper time for hajj, there is also a proper time for jihad,†Jilani explained.
Jilani’s students, who range in age from 18 to 36, are part of a generation brought up on heroic tales of Saudi fighters who left home to fight alongside the mujahedeen in Afghanistan during the 1980s and who helped to force the Soviets to withdraw from the country. The Saudi state was essentially built on the concept of jihad, which King Abdul Aziz al-Saud used to knit disparate tribal groups into a single nation. The word means “struggle†and in Islamic law usually refers to armed conflict with non-Muslims in defense of the global Islamic community. Saudi schools teach a version of world history that emphasizes repeated battles between Muslims and nonbelieving enemies. Whether to Afghanistan in the 1980s or present-day Iraq, Saudi Arabia has exported more jihadist volunteers than any other country; 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis.
The article mostly reports on the current programs and what leads young men to become jihadis, but adds this cautionary note towards the end.
The government maintains that no graduates of the Munasaha program have returned to violence. But the program is still relatively new, and there are unanswered questions. Is the government dealing with captured militants while really failing to address the root causes of extremism? Will released extremists, now counted as successes, eventually return to jihad?
This report (.pdf) suggests that the Saudi efforts may indeed pay off.
The Saudi program has not yet proven its long-term success. Nevertheless, it represents a creative way of countering terrorist ideological support. It is unlikely to have a significant impact on dedicated, experienced terrorists, and should find its greatest success among younger terrorists and loosely affiliated wannabes. In many ways, this may in fact be more important in reducing the next generation of militants. If combined with other efforts to reduce sympathies for militants and jihadists, modifications of the Saudi counseling system could prove to be a useful tool.
(via The Lede)
However the revelation that a couple of rehab “graduates” were involved in the planning of the recent terror attack has led some to quesiton the effectiveness of the programs. (via memeorandum)
A cushy Saudi Arabian “rehab” center where terrorists are encouraged to express themselves through crayon drawings, water sports and video games is under scrutiny after one of its graduates re-emerged as a leader in the al Qaeda branch claiming responsibility for trying to blow up an airliner on Christmas.
Said Ali al Shihri — a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who now heads the terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — obviously didn’t get to the bottom of his America-hating issues while undergoing the controversial rehab for jihadists.
Inmates like Shihri are supposed to while away the days playing ping-pong, PlayStation and soccer in hopes that the peaceful environment will help them cope with their jihadist rages.
More specifcally:
“The Saudis talk about a success rate of 80 to 90 percent, but when you look at what those numbers mean in reality, it all falls down. There is no criteria for evaluation,” John Horgan, a Department of Homeland Security consultant, told the New York Post.
In 2009, Horgan visited several of the Saudi terrorism rehab centers to report on the programs for Homeland Security.
“These guys are not being de-radicalized. They are being encouraged to disassociate from terrorism, but that doesn’t mean their fundamental views changed,” said Horgan, director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Penn State.
(Horgan was interviewed in the first article cited here and he seemed less skeptical then.)
Jammie Wearing Fool thinks that a new activity should be added to the art therapy.
Wonderful. Why don’t we just give them Play-Doh and they can pretend it’s plastic explosives?
UPDATE: If the failure of the Saudi rehab program as evidenced by the attempt on flight 253 is causing a rethinking of its effectiveness, the failure of releasing Guantanamo inmates to Yemen hasn’t led the administration to rethink that strategy. (h/t Instapundit)
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Brennan explained that, “Of the recent batch that we sent back, about six, many of them are in custody within the Yemeni system right now.” He did not elaborate on the meaning of “many.” “We will decide and determine when, when we should send additional people back,” Brennan continued. “But we’re going to do it in the right way, because Guantanamo should be closed. It was used as a propaganda tool by al-Qaeda, and the president is still committed to it.” The message was clear: Guantanamo inmates are going back to Yemen.
On the bipartisan opposition to transfers to Yemen, Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on ABC today that “One thing we better learn from [the Detroit terrorism incident] is it would be irresponsible to take any of the Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo and send them back to Yemen.” Also on ABC, Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, chairman of the intelligence subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee, said, “I think it is a bad time to send the 90 or so Yemenis back to Yemen.”
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
To cut down on recidivism shoot all captured terrorists and bury them in pigskins, after they have been rigorously interrogated, of course.
That is too cruel Michael as well as too expensive. Perhaps do not bother to shoot them. Just interrogate them after a meal of fried bacon.
Second thought. Anesthetize them and then tell them that a pig’s heart valve was put into them. Since they could not go check, just put the appropriate scar onto the chest of the terrorist. Tell them that a new valve not made from a pig would be put in after the information proves accurate. Also, let the only liquid given as part of their meals be pig’s milk (or tell thaem that is what it is) as well as whiskey.