Rehab for Jihad

By: Mr. Curmudgeon
mrcurmudgeon@inthepublicsquare.com

President Obama recently issued an Executive Order closing the terrorist-holding prison at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The new administration says it could be a year before the barbwire facility is emptied of jihadists because they aren't exactly sure what to do with the estimated 245 prisoners.

Obama's Executive Order also mandates the creation of a special committee "to study and evaluate the practices of transferring individuals to other nations in order to ensure that such practices comply with the domestic laws, international obligations, and policies of the United States..." The order stipulates that no prisoner will be extradited to nations that engage in torture - however the Left defines torture these days.

An early indication of the problematic disposition of Gitmo prisoners involves the case of Canadian-born Omar Khadr. Now 22-years-old, Khadr was captured in Afghanistan after killing an American soldier in July of 2002. President Obama's Executive Order effectively ends the war-crimes proceedings before Gitmo's military tribunals.

Meanwhile, up in Canada, asked if the Canadian government would request Khadr's extradition from his tropical local to facilities in the Great White North, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said, "Fundamentally, this is a case that is in front of an American justice system and we're going to follow it until the end."

Khadr's American military attorney, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler begs to differ. In a statement to the Associated Press, Kuebler said, "The reality as of today, is that there is no ongoing process against Omar Khadr and so that is simply no longer a justification or reason for not acting."

In fact the very European governments that condemned the U.S. for holding terrorists at Gimto and subjecting them to intense interrogation now face the prospect of having to welcome some of Gitmo's huddled masses back home.

The Times of London reported that European foreign ministers recently met in Brussels to decide how best to respond to the request by Europe's beloved new Obama Administration to come collect their killers. According to Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister for Luxemburg: "The European Union is not politically responsible for Guantanamo. It was an American decision and they have to take responsibility, but the EU must help people who were jailed, from a humanitarian point of view." That's feckless Euro-speak for "You keep them and we'll feel their pain."

In the days and months to follow Mr. Obama may come to realize that not only does the buck stop with him but also captured jihadists. The sanctimonious international community, it appears, is not so eager to roll out the laundry wagon for these peculiar soiled rags.

Since the U.S. high court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that terrorists captured on the battlefield are to be treated as domestic criminal gang members and not enemy combatants, how long will it be before they are tried in our courts, released for lack of evidence - or Miranda warning breaches - and set free to wander our streets?

I guess we can enroll them into a Bill Clinton-era midnight basketball program for troubled youths. Or we can embark on a novel program like that instituted by the progenitors of jihad, Saudi Arabia. A rehabilitation center for Islamic militants is located in Riyadh, the capital of the Saudi kingdom. The Munasaha program attempts to reform jihadists through lessons on Islamic law which "shuns the use of violence" and psychological counseling to help them manage their welling anger when viewing news images of Muslims suffering the retaliatory consequences of Islamic terror. The rehab center includes a swimming pool, Play Station video-game councils, table tennis and a soccer field.

Recently, the Saudi government re-arrested nine rehab alumni for relapsing into their old mass-murdering ways. One of them, Qassim al-Raimi, is the deputy leader of al Qaeda's Yemeni branch and, as it happens, was released from Guantanamo in 2007.

Thanks to nihilists on the courts, in the media and politics, we are back in the make-believe world that existed prior to 9/11. If Osama bin Laden is ever captured and made to stand before an American court, his pro bono attorney will simply request that his client be granted time to detox from the riggers of jihad and attend group therapy sessions at the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs, California.

--Mr. Curmudgeon