Radicalized

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.
--Nelson Mandela

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons

--Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is difficult to get people to understand something

when their salary depends upon them not understanding it

--Upton Sinclair

___________

The Saudi government is offering all sorts of perks to keep the returning U.S.-held detainees from falling prey to ''deep-pocketed militant recruiters'' ("Saudis Try Rehab for Detainees Freed by U.S."):

"Alarmed to find that detainees are emerging from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and other U.S. detention centers more devoted than ever to radical Islam, Saudi Arabia is offering counseling, financial aid and even matchmaking to pull young militants away from terrorism."

"Saudi officials said the goal is to stop the proliferation of radical ideology that they said is bred in prisons and on the Internet. The ideology has flourished at Guantanamo and is evident among the returning Saudi detainees — even those who were moderates before they were imprisoned, Saudi officials said.

“When you associate with those guys, you become one of them,” said Mansour al Turki, the Saudi government’s security spokesman" [Saudis Try Rehab for Detainees Freed by U.S."]

The last statement implies that the Saudi government believes their returning "detainees" were innocent of ties to terrorism prior to being swept up and landing in Gitmo. Any prison or institutional guard can tell you that the best school for criminal behavior is to be incarcerated among that population that knows best.

"Counselors in Saudi Arabia said that the prisoners returning here are broken, humiliated and angry — the perfect prey for militant recruiters. Turki said that many men who rarely prayed before they were detained emerged from Guantanamo with bushy beards and fundamentalist beliefs."

It seems intuitively clear that incarceration and rough treatment will radicalize even a gentle person.

Ranger wishes to introduce a tangential thought. Look at the treatment these former detainees receive at the hands of their government and contrast this with the treatment that U.S. soldiers receive from their grateful nation after they are discharged (flushed) into the bowels of the Department of Veterans' Affairs system.

Debriefings do not routinely occur, and vets are often left to deal with those feelings of anger and confusion which can persist for decades following active war zone duty.

Bob Herbert wrote in yesterday's New York Times on an interview Paul Rieckhoff, author of Chasing Ghosts (via Welcome-to-Pottersville, 5/02/07),

Among other things, there are family problems, drug and alcohol abuse, untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide — all directly attributable to service in a war zone. “Incredibly,” he writes in his book, “no government agency keeps track of the number of veterans who kill themselves after their service has ended — another sign of how little value is placed on veterans’ long-term well-being.”

So what does America do to minister to these discharged servicemen's needs? Not much. I guess they are just grist for the mill. Rieckhoff continues,

“I think that’s one of the main reasons why so many guys want to go back to Iraq. They come home and feel like: ‘Man, I don’t fit in here. You know, I’m out of place.’"