The Blotter from Brian Ross at ABC News reported yesterday that the two men behind the plot to blow up a Northwest Passenger Jet on Christmas Day had been released from Guantanamo in 2007.
According to the article:
"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."
The men were sent to Saudi Arabia where they attended an "art therapy program" and were later released (having been rehabilitated?).
The article describes the rehabilitation program:
"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.
"The increased role of al Qaeda in Yemen, which joined with the Saudi al Qaeda unit, has underscored the problem of how to best handle the repatriation of detainees at Guantanamo."
I have only one question--why in the world do we want to keep terrorists anywhere other than Guantanamo? At Guantanamo there is no possibility of escape, and frankly, if you look at living conditions in Cuba, would you want to escape? At Guantanamo there is no real interest by the terrorists in making the surrounding area a terrorist target. Cuba is an island. It is easy to monitor people arriving and leaving the island. On May 20 of this year, the New York Times reported that one in seven of the prisoners released from Guantanamo has returned to terrorism. Are we willing to take that risk?
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