New Evidence Reveals One Big Problem With the Bush Administration's Handling of GITMO

New evidence has come to light that reveals one big problem with the Bush administration's handling of GITMO terrorists:  The Bush Administration was too lenient.

Too lenient?  How do we know that?  Try this headline on for size:

Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by U.S. Former Guantanamo Prisoners Believed Behind Northwest Airlines Bomb Plot; Sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

Both Saudi nationals have since emerged in leadership roles in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and the men's own statements on al Qaeda propaganda tapes.

Authorities investigate Northwest flight 253 on the tarmac at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan December 27, 2009.

(Reuters/U.S. Marshal's Service)

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner #372, Said Ali Shari, were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his name to Muhamad al-Awfi.

Oh, by the way -- Saudi Arabia? -- we're looking at you -- again:

"The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke," a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.

Saudi officials concede its program has had its "failures" but insist that, overall, the effort has helped return potential terrorists to a meaningful life.

One program gives the former detainees paints and crayons as part of the rehabilitation regimen.

A similar rehabilitation program in Yemen was stopped because so many of the detainees quickly joined with al Qaeda or its affiliates, the official said.

What conclusions can we draw?

Terrorists are not easily rehabilitated.  Crayons and paints don't do it.  Saudi Arabian rehabilitation programs, as currently constituted, don't do it.  The theory behind Saudi rehabilitation may actually make sense -- kill 'em with kindness--  but sending terrorists to a resort where they swim, play soccer and volleyball, use Playstation, do art therapy, and (supposedly) learn to practice a more moderate form of Islam also comes across uncomfortably like a reward or retreat for terrorists.

The fact that a terrorist has been "peaceful" for years while under tight custody in the United States -- or while enjoying "rehabilitation" in Saudi Arabia -- simply means that the man has yet to have a chance to resume his former deadly associations and activities.

May I write frankly, here?  Yes, of course I may.

War is hell.

In wartime, there is a reason why captured enemy combatants are sometimes put to death -- especially unlawful enemy combatants and saboteurs.

To repeat:  War is hell.  Depending on the numbers, it may not be practical to release, nor to keep alive indefinitely, all of our enemies who intend to kill innocents.  That is the reality of war, and the reality of national and individual survival.

I understand the logic and humanity in eventually releasing captured battlefield combatants who can be reasonably expected not to return to the fight.  In conventional warfare, it happens all the time.  Unfortunately, Islamic terrorists who believe that killing innocent non-combatant civilians is  "holy" work do not fall into that category.  They put themselves into a very different category -- the category of Permanent Menace to Society.

This is the hard truth:  When we release Islamic terrorists, there is a high probability that the release will blow up in our faces.  Literally.

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Others writing:  Hot Air