According to a new memo from the State Department, the Obama administration is trying to get private organizations involved in their crusade to rehabilitate and reintegrate “violent extremist offenders” so that they may be returned to the community.
“The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism announces a notice of funding opportunity for organizations interested in strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists offenders and the reintegration of returning foreign fighters,” reads the memo.
Searching for “civil society actors” who need some funding, the State Department explains it’s objectives include building the capacity of non-governmental organizations “for the purpose of reintegrating violent extremist offenders and returning foreign terrorist fighters into communities; facilitate relationships of trust among civil society actors and governmental civilian and security sector authorities as concerns reintegration and the creation of supportive interpersonal networks; draw upon civil society capabilities to counter.”
Now, it’s not unusual for government funding notices to be wrapped in so much bureaucratic double-speak that it’s nearly impossible for a layman to read, but this is an exceptionally dense example. Most readers have already fallen asleep by the time they get to the last sentence. And that’s purposeful. It sounds bad when you say, “Hey, who wants some money so we can release terrorists back to unsuspecting communities? Anyone? Bueller?”
Rehabilitation can and should be part of the Obama administration’s war on terror, but it should be limited to those detainees who have neither killed nor attempted to kill innocent civilians. For instance, it makes sense to rehab teenagers who foolishly fell under the spell of ISIS. It makes no sense to rehab Gitmo terrorists who were caught plotting against the United States. Unfortunately, it’s not clear whether this president makes any distinction.
In November of last year, Saudi Arabian officials admitted that 12 percent of the terrorists who went through their rehabilitation program had since returned to the battlefield. As far as recidivism rates go, that’s not even a bad number. But it’s one thing for a burglar or a drug addict to fall back into his old ways; it’s quite another for a dangerous, ideologically-driven murderer to do the same.
That the State Department is actively funding these efforts is yet another example of how Obama is weak on terror. Once you take up arms against the United States – or, for that matter, any innocent civilian – you forfeit your right to exist. There is no rehab program on the planet that can put the 3,000 people who died on September 11 back into society, so why should there be one for Islamic radicals?
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