Saturday, May 23, 2009

Logic Problems

The President claims that Gitmo "created more terrorists than it contained" and wants to remedy that situation by moving the detainees to US domestic prisons. Congress is outraged because they are worried about the dangers of these hard-core jihadists running lose in the streets. Both sides are missing the greater danger, however. Our prisons are a breeding ground for a uniquely American version of radical Islam, as the arrests this week in New York demonstrated. We cannot prevent gang leaders from ordering hits and controlling gangs from prison, and we cannot prevent mafia leaders from organizing and directing from prison. What makes us think we can keep these hard-core, Afghanistan trained jihadists from organizing terrorist attacks, much less spreading their ideas and ideology, from prison? The danger isn't that terrorists will get out of prison; the danger is that their followers will.