Perhaps they are not 'returning' to the fight, but rather joining it for the first time after being tortured mercilessly for years.

Is this the same report that the Bushies were touting a few months ago? If so, I remember that one of the "recidivists" was on the list simply for protesting his innocence to the media.

One of the sentences in this post was unnecessarily long:

"In fact, the unstated truth from the NYT story is that the Bush/Cheney administration was truly awful."

That's where the period should go.

And if an innocent Muslim who was hornswoggled into Gitmo, then tortured and held in isolation for 6 or 7 years, based on a phony denunciation from a greedy neighbor, and who now entertains thoughts of terror and revenge, what does this proves exactly?

An unreleased Pentagon report...

Yeah, and I have an unreleased report that says they all renounced war and became daycare providers.

Pay close attention to the DOD's wording, and then see how the MSM reports and discusses it (as did you, BTW).

The DOD says ", has returned to terrorism or militant activity." Now define "militant activity": want to bet it includes being broadly anti-American, arguing for Palestinian rights, etc.? Want to bet that most of the 1 in 7 are engaged in "militant activity," whatever the hell that is, as opposed to terrorism?

How many returned to actual terrorism? Based on what criteria, and what information?

But don't hold your breath; this will be widely reported (and already has been) as "one in 7 returned to terrorism."

It wouldn't surprise me at all if their treatment in Gitmo and elsewhere had turned them all - 100% of them - into terrorists. The surprising thing would be if only one in seven had *returned* to violence.

Sounds like the right have got their man.

From the Weekly Standard blog:

Despite all the rhetoric of his presidential run, he (Obama) has now embraced the Bush administration policies on the commitment of troops to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He now supports the wiretapping he threatened to filibuster. He has denied the release of photos that the Bush administration likewise recognized as a propaganda gift for our enemies, and a danger to our troops serving in Iraq, and has revived the military tribunals he once scorned. And on those issues where his record has matched his rhetoric -- such as the commitment to close Guantanamo, he is not even supported by his own party.

Does this mean the Weekly Standard will now endorse Obama for a second term? Probably not. But, in the end, the wingers don't really mind Obama's policies, only his rhetoric.

(I like his rhetoric, but really, really dislike his actions. I guess this is an improvement over Bush/Cheney where even their rhetoric was disgusting.)

An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.

Unless arithmetic betrays me, that means the other six out of every seven have been fully rehabilitated. Congratulations to Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney on their outstanding achievement in turning the "worst of the worst" into peaceful, nonviolent citizens. I fully support the continuation of their tested and proven policies on the release of prisoners from Guantanamo.

Given the horrific conditions under which these people were held, it's pretty remarkable that they didn't all take up arms against the US on their release. But what about the countervailing statistic: how many of the people released from US custody, after being found not to be the threats that the administration originally claimed, have been able to pick up the threads of their lives? How many are able to function well at all on a day-to-day level? Or did we just randomly break hundreds of people, often at the behest of their personal or political enemies, and dump them back out into the world?

I read a report somewhere that at least one person who was detained by the British, and then let go, went back to the terrorist organizations as a double agent and is getting information back to the British

In the not to far distant past, there was a series of revenge tales in print and "at the movies" -- in which a young man or woman drives through some rural area of "God's country", gets arrested on some trumped up charge or cop created "traffic violation". Gets thrown into jail because they can't pay the fine and then sent to a hard labor camp because the local judge doesn't like "outsiders" is beaten, tortured, raped, etc. The victim escapes from jail or left for dead out in some desolate area and then they become an avenging angel, an angry killing machine. I still remember the advertising slogan -- "they didn't just get mad, THEY GOT EVEN." Did we think that only Americans have the corner on those emotions?

This is just like The Count of Monte Cristo. He was imprisoned unjustly, and when he escaped he exacted revenge on his captors by making a highly fattening, deep fried sandwich bearing his name that eventually gave them all chronic heart conditions and debilitating obesity.

It's where we get the saying that, 'Revenge is a dish best served battered, fried, and piping hot, with a side of raspberry jam.'

That soulless bastard.

For that matter, if the number is accurate, a recidivism rate of about 14% is low by most incarceration standards.

The average recidivism rate for violent felons in federal prison is about 70%, by comparison. So it seems that, even accepting the Pentagon's own numbers, ex-Guantanamo prisoners are about 5 times less likely to re-offend than the average American bank robber, gangbanger or drug baron.

The DOD says ", has returned to terrorism or militant activity." Now define "militant activity": want to bet it includes being broadly anti-American, arguing for Palestinian rights, etc.? Want to bet that most of the 1 in 7 are engaged in "militant activity," whatever the hell that is, as opposed to terrorism?

Some ex-Guantanamo prisoners were classified as having "returned to the fight" because they authored a NY Times editorial denouncing their incarceration.

"An unreleased Pentagon report..."

This report has been so 'unreleased' that its content, or more precisely the claim of a one in seven recidivism among released detainees, has been popping up on the websites of various European newspapers and magazines.

Makes one think that the proper term instead of 'unreleased' might be 'selectively leaked'. If that were correct, why would it be?

Of course, if Stefan's average recidivism rate of 70% is accurate and assuming the initial rate of guilt is 100%, it's entirely within the realm of possibility that only 20% of the detainees were violent to begin with and the other 80% are (or were harmless).

In other words, the lower recidivism rate is probably due to a high rate of innocent detainees, not a below average return to violence from previously violent offenders.

What's worse, knowing what we know about the acts that qualify as recidivism, it's probably safe to assume even more than 80% of the detainees were innocent when detained.

OK, accept the Pentagon numbers and ask the next question...how many AMERICANS were killed by these pathetic wretches subsequent to their release?

Most of the bombs going off in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan kill way more locals than American Imperialist invaders.

It must really suck to be an Afghan farmer who gave up growing opium to take a job with the Afghan (American installed) government as a soldier or a cop, just to get a regular paycheck.

It was all going well, until his second cousin, tortured for nothing in Guantanamo, and then sent home, decided to take revenge on "America" by eliminating his daughter's school.

It's an "American-built" school. A legitimate target?

In the cousin's mind, sure. In Osama Bin Laden's mind, absolutely.

In this Afghan policeman's mind...

His second cousin came home from Guantanamo completely insane.

The second-cousin was never "like that" until he was shipped off to Guantanamo and shipped back home again.

The second-cousin exploded a week or so ago, in a running assault on the girl's school in his home village...

The girl's school wasn't damaged that much, but his girl, his daughter, was blown to bits on the way to the girl's school by the crazy second cousin.

Just as the Afghan policeman tries to absorb all this, American pilotless drones are circling over his head, telling him via loudspeaker, to get the hell away from the bits and pieces of his favorite child....

"Terrorist activity has been detected in your area...z
Bombe

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