21 May 2009

1 in 7 return to "terrorism"

The New York Times had a fascinating article in yesterday's paper about an internal U.S. Department of Defense report that claims 1 in 7 of the former Guantanamo detainees returns to "battlefield" against the United States. The article also talks about the dilemma facing the Obama Administration over what to do with the rest of the detainees still at Guantanamo. Some, according to experts, cannot be released and will have to face trial. But now members of Congress are balking at the idea of bringing some detainees back to the U.S. mainland for trial. In the article, F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said that moving detainees to American prisons would bring with it risks including “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”

This quote left me wondering. How can moving people into American prisons increase the potential for individuals to undertake attacks in the U.S.? Does he mean the individuals who would be put in prison might engage in attacks? Or does he mean that now terrorists will have even more incentive (hard believe that is possible unless one thinks that people like Bin Laden have gone soft on the U.S.) to attack the U.S.?