|
Closing Guantanamo is a Major
National Security Risk
Contrary to
what the Obama Administration believes, inmates and terrorist suspects
sent to Guantanamo have not been rehabilitated or modified their
ideology. Releasing them back into the wild of jihadist warfare is simply
not working.
As you’ll read below, closing down Guantanamo is “dangerously foolish and
fraught with peril. Releasing terrorists to a neutral country does not
ensure that they will not be able to travel or reconnect with former
jihadist associates.”
Closing down this terrorist holding facility is a colossal mistake and
will surely lead to devastating ramifications.
|
|
Plans That Lead Astray: Closing Guantanamo
Patrick Dunleavy, Investigative Project
http://www.investigativeproject.org/5171/plans-that-lead-astray-closing-guantanamo
 We often hear the line from a Robert Burns poem, "The
best laid schemes of mice and men, often go askew," invoked when
someone's grandiose plans blow up in one's face.
That may be what we're in store for if President Obama's recently
announced plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and place terrorists
on U.S. soil is able to proceed unilaterally without congressional
approval. This time, the danger in the plan is to the American people.
Slowly over the years he has been in office, Obama has released numerous
terrorists to other countries without adequate provisions to prevent them
from returning to the battlefield against U.S. soldiers and civilians.
One recent case is that of Ibrahim al Qosi. He was a member of al-Qaida
and a personal aide to Osama bin Laden who was released from Guantanamo
in 2012 and sent to Sudan. He recently appeared in a video as a
spokesperson for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In the video, "Guardians of Sharia," he calls on people to
commit acts of jihad. Clearly his time in Guantanamo did nothing to
rehabilitate him. He is the classic recidivist.
The fact that ex-cons often get released from prison neither
rehabilitated nor transformed is nothing new. Recidivism rates for common
criminals continue to be an issue for sociologists and criminologists to
explore.
However, how to effectively prevent the phenomenon of a captured
terrorist coming out of prison and returning to fight in the jihad is
relatively unknown to law enforcement and counter terrorism experts. A
recent Congressional Research Service report announced that as many as
100 inmates convicted of terror related crimes will be released in the
next five years. When faced with the question of rehabilitation
strategies for those terrorists about to be released, John Carlin, the
Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General for National Security,
said, "There are [rehabilitation] programs for drug addicts and gang
members. There is not one [program] with a proven track record of success
for terrorism."
Which brings us to the administration's plan to close the Guantanamo
detention center, something it cannot do without congressional approval,
by either releasing detainees to other countries or by transferring them
to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Both options are dangerously foolish and fraught with peril. Releasing
terrorists to a neutral country does not ensure that they will not be
able to travel or reconnect with former jihadist associates, as Ibrahaim
al Qosi did.
Placing them in the Bureau of Prisons will not restrict them from
influencing other inmates to their cause.
Case in point: John Walker Lindh, otherwise known as the "American
Taliban," who was captured in Afghanistan fighting alongside
al-Qaida, is one of the 100 inmates to be released from a U.S. prison in
the near future. Lindh recently won a lawsuit filed in federal court
challenging the BOP's authority to restrict his movement and interaction
with other inmates.
He is now allowed to co-mingle with other potential jihadists at least
five times a day. The fact that he was chosen by the other inmates as
their spokesman and amir – the leader of the inmate Muslim community –
demonstrates his influence.
The president's plan to close Guantanamo lacks any specificity about
where the remaining terrorists will be housed. That type of vagueness is
fraught with danger to the American people. Congressional leaders must
take firm decisive action to stop the president's plan to close
Guantanamo. Captured or convicted terrorists must be kept behind bars in
their current location, Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay. The
administration's current "catch and release" program in the war
on terrorism simply is not working.
|
|
ACT for America accepts no
funding from any governmental agency, any foreign influence peddlers, or
political institutions. Your support of ACT for America is critical in
winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All donations are
tax-deductible. Click
here to donate. ACT for America education is a 501(c)3 organization.
|
|
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment