Obama Administration Endorses ‘Jihad Rehab’ Program in Yemen

January 12, 2011 06:00


Modeled on the one that failed so badly in Saudi Arabia and allowed these graduates to form the core of al Qaeda’s strongest affiliate – in Yemen.

By STEPHEN F. HAYES and THOMAS JOSCELYN at Weekly Standard


EXCERPTS:

The Obama administration supports the establishment of a jihad rehabilitation program in Yemen, according to remarks Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made during a town hall in the region. Clinton said the efforts would be modeled after jihad rehabilitation programs in Saudi Arabia supported by the Bush administration, where former detainees from the facility at Guantanamo Bay were sent upon release.

Saleh has been advocating for such a “jihad rehab” facility in Yemen – funded by the United States – for years. The Bush administration considered his request in 2008 and rejected it as too dangerous.

Ending that moratorium and sending dangerous terrorists back to Yemen would be unwise. But sending them to a program modeled after Saudi Arabia’s jihad rehabilitation program would be even more foolish.

The Saudi program has not “worked quite well,” as Clinton claims. According to the Saudis themselves, some 25 former Gitmo detainees that had been repatriated to the kingdom had returned to jihad – a recidivism rate of more than 20 percent.

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