CBS ‘60 Minutes’ Touts Saudi Terrorist Rehabilitation Program

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David Martin, CBS On Sunday’s 60 Minutes on CBS, correspondent David Martin reported on the "soft approach" to terrorism in Saudi Arabia: "Each time the United States releases Saudis from the prison at Guantanamo, the kingdom dispatches a 747 to Cuba to pick them up...the Saudi government is paying for cars, homes, even marriages for these reformed jihadists."

After explaining that "...more than half the so-called 'detainees' will probably never go before a jury because the U.S. government does not have a case that will stand up in court," Martin went on to describe a Saudi Arabian program for released detainees: "What we found is a rehabilitation program that attempts to make solid citizens out of holy warriors by convincing them Bin Laden has it all wrong."

Not only did Martin highlight the Saudi efforts to "rehabilitate" terror suspects, but he explained: "Some Saudis have been in Guantanamo for seven years, and Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Hadlaq believes the longer a man is there, the harder he is to treat." Martin then asked Hadlaq, a Saudi psychologist who runs the program: "They come out of Guantanamo hating Americans?...Is there evidence that Guantanamo has made them more radical?" Hadlaq replied: "I think so, yes. Because, in their journey, you know, from Afghanistan to Guantanamo, they have faced a lot of torturing. It's so important to deal with this, you know, issue of torture."

In response, Martin added: "‘Torture’ is, of course, a loaded word, but at the very least, the treatment en route to Guantanamo was rough, and provided the raw material for Al Qaeda propaganda videos to drum up new recruits."

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Later, Martin explained the jihadist rehab in more detail:

...the Saudis took us inside this compound on the outskirts of Riyadh and allowed us to get a first-hand look at the soft approach. Here we met Dr. Turki Oetayan, a western-educated psychologist, greeting men fresh out of Saudi jails. These men will spend months listening to lectures until Oetayan and his colleagues declare them free of the impulses which incited them to holy war...This is what we would call in the West, anger management...And then there's art therapy, a surprisingly modern concept introduced by Dr. Awad Al Yami into a very conservative society. He says art gives his students a chance to express feelings they're not ready to talk about.

Dr. Al Yami then pointed to one of the prisoner’s paintings and declared to Martin: "This is about Guantanamo Bay, probably."

Martin described one "reformed" terrorist: "No one is more central to the rehabilitation of these ex-offenders than Sheik Ahmad Gelan...Gelan, that's him batting a volleyball with those same angry men, confounds all your preconceptions about Muslim clerics as stern, remote gray-beards. But he memorized the Koran when he was still a teenager, and is the center's unquestioned religious authority."

Martin did acknowledge failures of the Saudi program:

But here's the most important part, 11 of 117 men returned from Guantanamo have shown up again on Saudi Arabia's list of most wanted terrorists. You can call that a 10% failure rate or you can call that a 90% success rate...Mohammed Al Awfi became a colossal embarrassment to the soft approach. Awfi came back from six years in Guantanamo in a back brace, went through rehabilitation, but then traded the back brace for a bandoleer, and along with another graduate of the program, showed up in Yemen on an Al Qaeda video denouncing the Saudi government.

However, Martin then explained: "But according to the Saudis, Awfi's family convinced him to turn himself in, and his next video was a full confession on Saudi TV. His cooperation earned him some soft prison time, confined to an apartment where his family can visit...He has to be the only ex-terrorist in the world who's living in an apartment with the permission of his government."

Martin went on to cite concerns of U.S. officials: "America's top intelligence officer, Admiral Dennis Blair, has said the sight of former Guantanamo inmates showing up in Al Qaeda videos quote, ‘does not inspire confidence in the Saudi program.’" However, Martin once again turned the blame back to Guantanamo:

But there is another more disturbing case which raises the question of whether Guantanamo itself is turning out suicidal terrorists. Abdallah Al Ajmi was a Kuwaiti and did not go through the Saudi program. Two years after he was released from Guantanamo, he showed up in a martyr video with the explosives-laden truck he was about to drive into an Iraqi army base in Mosul. 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed. It's impossible to know whether a rehabilitation program like the Saudis' could have turned Ajmi around.

Martin did ask Chris Boucek of the Carnegie Endowment, who has studied the rehabilitation program: "Now, there is a suicide bomber who killed people. Doesn't that tell you that you just can't take the chance of releasing people from Guantanamo?" Boucek argued: "I think what that tells you is that, when you release somebody, you need to have a very, very thorough program to reintegrate back into society, right? I mean, the Saudis who have been repatriated thus far, to the best of my knowledge, right now, nobody has been involved in violence yet."

—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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Insanity

The people in the media are insane. Yes Michael, liberalism is a mental disease. God help us all on the day that is sure to come.

P.S. Remember the old movies where the "scientist" would try to stop the heros from wiping out the monster? He always ended up dead. 

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

terrorist rehabilitation

There is a pill that instantly rehabilitates terrorists.  It weighs 168 grains and is admistered from up to 1,200 yards away.  Works every time.

sounds like

the perfect solution to me, grumpyoldb.  it's cost efficient, environmentally friendly and humane....what more could anyone ask for?  ;0)

David Martin on 60mins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2argEpDvM

http://politicaldessert.wordpress.com

They come out of Guantanamo hating Americans...

"They come out of Guantanamo hating Americans?...

What - they went into Guantanamo loving Americans?

Wake up America.

Gary

Amen Gary! What more can

Amen Gary!

What more can one say...anybody with at least an IQ of room temperature should know this... ...but nooooo...

Like you say...Wake Up America!

Unfortunately, the lemmings always do when it's too little too late and the damage is done, with their fingers pointing always at someone else to blame other than taking a good hard look in the mirror at their own reflections.

No matter what...they revert back to the normal lemmings they are after others spill their blood to sacrifice for them so they have the freedom to pursue their pitiful agendas...I despise them all. 

The destruction of this country is well on it's way...here is a great link, I hope others take the time to watch this, I just got this yesterday from my Aunt.

It's a religious war...they have the time...and the patience...been well planned for decades.

Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart

bigtimer - that's "big time" information.

In Mark Steyn's book,  America Alone - The End of the World as we Know It, he makes that case. That is a very powerful video. You'd like to think that the world's mainstream investigative reporters would be all over it - but, I guess their too busy walking on water, in the moment to be bothered by such.

(;~/ gary 

The purpose of CBS, of

The purpose of CBS, of course, is "by comparison" to show how bad the US is, especially the Bush administration.

What CBS fails to point out, though, is that punishment in the kingdom includes public beheadings for murder, rape and drug smuggling; stoning for adultery; amputation of feet and hands for robbery; and flogging for relatively minor crimes including alcohol consumption.

But this missing info is so, so, much more for CBS's agenda, isn't it? Mission accomplished.

___________________________________ 

The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech

"I think so, yes. Because,

"I think so, yes. Because, in their journey, you know, from Afghanistan to Guantanamo, they have faced a lot of torturing. It's so important to deal with this, you know, issue of torture." 

Somebody correct me..  but I don't think there is a stitch of corroborative evidence of any detainee having "faced a lot of tourturing."  But there it is, and Martin's soft response -

"‘Torture’ is, of course, a loaded word, but at the very least, the treatment en route to Guantanamo was rough, and provided the raw material for Al Qaeda propaganda videos to drum up new recruits."  

- does nothing but promote the lie. 

I saw this by accident and

I saw this by accident and while it was generally left leaning, he did ask all of the pertinent questions though he NEVER FOLLOWED UP after some liberal BS answer.  Then there was this laugher....""They come out of Guantanamo hating Americans?...Is there evidence that Guantanamo has made them more radical?""

Because as we all know it was their LOVE of America that got them in Gitmo in the first place! 

Their love for America is

Their love for America is pretty evident in their possessions at the time of arrest:

  • Pictures of Pentagon, NYC? -- Just touristy places on my list.

  • Box cutters? -- Simply to open up all my "welcome to America" gifts.

  • Flight takeoff training? -- I'll pay for landing lessons later -- when I can afford it.

  • Fake IDs? -- Someone in NY told me they were legit -- I'm just a victim, here.

  • Suicide farewell videos? -- Just a college prank, you know. heh-heh.

Yep, just mis-understood victims of American agression. Don't believe us? Then just ask CBS -- they've done a complete investigation, and can prove our innocence.

___________________________________ 

The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech

I am curious...

By 9/11/2001 the CIA, Massad, MI6, and the KGB all agreed as did other intelligence agencies that over 66,000 radicals had passed through the terrorists training camps in Afghanistan.  That was well before Guantanomo or Iraq or anything else.

At that time all the US had done was save countless thousands of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia.  Provide almost all of the grain and foodstuffs to Egypt, and other non aligned Muslim nations free.  Saved Saudia Arabia and Meccas from being under the rule of Saddam Hussein.  

I guess none of this made it into this particular 60 Minutes broadcast.

Jack

"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart.  If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains."   Sir Winston Churchill

Crime And Torture

Torture if used correctly is the best way to rehabilitate a law breaker. No sane person would repeat a crime if they knew that they would experience the same pain again. A wet rag and a gallon of water can turn a Devil into an Angel. The costs of rehabilitation would be less than a dollar.

http://www.associate...

No sane person would repeat

No sane person would repeat a crime if they knew that they would experience the same pain again

Exactly why your method doesnt work, no sane person blows themselves up or runs planes into buildings.  These guys are not sane they are fanatics.  The only rehab method I approve of is death.

I'd like to see that tried

I'd like to see that tried on you the next time you get a speeding ticket. 

Please, don't be heartless.  Otherwise you'll find that you and your terrorist foes have a lot more in common than you think.

→ Thanks, zebra

We already have a lot in common.

We want to kill each other.  That's changing, of course.

So while they're killing us, soon we'll be looking up into their shrouded heads, all butthurt, pathetically snivelling "I thought we were friends, Mr. Terrorist"

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

Maybe I'm off-base here,

Maybe I'm off-base here, but....doesn't Saudi Arabia torture?

Are you refering to

Are you refering to waterboarding? NO! -- they don't torture. What in the world are you talking about?

  • But they do cut off your hands and feet if you rob someone. Torture? NOT!

  • And they give you lashings if you drink, or commit other crimes. Torture? NOT!

Saudi Araia is heaven-on-earth. Go ask any Western woman who dared not wear a veil in public -- or tried to drive a car.

___________________________________ 

The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech

One more reason why the MSM

One more reason why the MSM is losing viewership...no clear thinking person will watch this crap...present company excluded.

Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter's latest column is a perfect rebuttal to this kinf of nonsense - http://www.anncoulter.com/

It's hard to believe that they push these BS stories with that serious tone, as if it's some sort of major revelation.

Don't be Heartless

Wow, looks like we really missed the boat (or, should I say airplane here) !  Why didn't someone just appeal to Mohammed Atta and his gang's sense of decency and love for their fellow men?  Why didn't someone just ask them not to be so "heartless" because it makes them look just like the Americans they hate and want to kill?  I wonder.

 That would have made a BIG difference in their attitude, dontcha think?

All we have to do is show them that we mean no harm to them, and that'll make it all better.

And with people around who actually believe this, man are we in trouble.

Yet

(Lenin called them "useful idiots" I for one have no use for them.)

Yet or maybe just in Saudi.

Moral equivalency?

speeding ticket=engaged in a firefight with Coalition soldiers, from within a terrorist stronghold? 

These Getmo prisoners were not picked up on the side of the street, they were rousted from within rooms often sitting next to the bombs and munitions they planned to use. 

Others were captured when they refused to fire off their suicide belts, or the belts malfunctioned. 

How the hell does anyone manage to forget this, and try to justify it as being something we should "tolerate" or be "compassionate" to? Does anyone even bother to read the Geneva Convention anymore? Where it first, does not apply to out-of-uniform acts of war (which is why spies are easier executed, should terrorists get a better deal than espionage agents?) and second, all things else ignored, once one side violates the Conventions all others involved are allowed to do the same (beheading press corps perhaps or burning Blackwater agents)?

These aren't kids rousted off of street corners or rounded up curfiew violators. Most were arrested in the commission of offenses against civilians or in violent defense of criminal organizations whose entire proclaimed existence was these same crimes.

 

WWW.GS2AC.COM. 2nd Amendment Grass Roots Action in the Bay Area, CA. We're not all "Breakfast Cereal" folks here! :)

This was the killer for me

  They were interviewing an ex-detainee, and he was saying how as soon as he got out, they gave him a car, and paid for him to get married, and paid for his house that he moved into right away...

SHEESH!  It sounds like a not-too-well disguised REWARDS program to me, not a rehab program.,

Secretly the Libtards

Secretly the Libtards believe that Dahmers, Tookie Williams, Charlie Manson, Ted Bundy, Gacy and any other monster you can think of could be rehabilitated (well, except Hitler and those guys at Nuremberg...they ALL should have hanged...well, even though their bud Achmawackjob says they didn't do jack...man, Libtard rationale is so hard to follow sometimes), if only there were enough money made available by the government...and the right people were put in charge...Libtard psychologists, of course.

Just poor misunderstood souls who need to be shown that somebody really cares about them and, darnit, that they're special.

One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).