Apparently the Department of Defense’s claim this week that “61, in all, former Guantánamo detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight” is purely imaginary. States Professor Mark Denbeaux of Seton Hall University:
They have included people who have never even set foot in Guantánamo—much less were they released from there. They have counted people as 'returning to the fight' for their having written an Op-ed piece in the New York Times and for their having appeared in a documentary exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival. The DOD has revised and retracted their internally conflicting definitions, criteria, and their numbers so often that they have ceased to have any meaning—except as an effort to sway public opinion by painting a false portrait of the supposed dangers of these men.
No surprises.
Even if we did take the Pentagon's number seriously, aren't they just telling us that Gitmo provides no deterrent value?
Nothing will deter these terrorists! That's why we have to lock them up permanently, along with their families, anybody they've talked to, the authors of any books they've read, and my mailman because he gives my mailbox creepy looks.