Saudi Terrorism Rehab Uses Art Therapy and Video Games

The Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Center for Care and Counseling is one of the rehab centers in Saudi Arabia where captured terrorists are encouraged to express their feelings in non violent ways and to turn away from terrorism.

According to the New York Post, the system seems like a parody of how some people think that violent criminals should be "rehabilitated" before being allowed back into society.

"Bomb-makers and gunmen participate in art therapy to help them explore their feelings non-violently.

"In between tasty picnic-style meals of rice and lamb and snacks of Snickers along with dips in the pool, participants practice Arabic calligraphy, produce dizzying Jackson Pollack rip-offs and imagine the aftermath of car bombings in crayon.

"Some 1,500 al Qaeda terrorists have 'graduated' from the program, including 108 former Guantanamo Bay detainees, the Washington Post reported. "

The "patients" also play video games, ping pong, and soccer in hopes that the peaceful, non violent atmosphere will turn them away from violent jihad. Imans are available for counseling, to point out that jihad is not considered a personal choice under Islam and should only be undertaken if sanctioned by the state.

The Saudis claim an 80 to 90 percent success rate in turning fanatical jihadists into model citizens. Outside experts, including John Horgan, a Department of Homeland Security consultant, told the New York Post. Horgan suggests that while the terrorists going through Saudi rehab do turn away from terrorism, their fundamental rage against the United States and Western Civilization remain unaltered.

Recidivism has occurred among graduates of the Saudi terrorism rehab system. Said Ali al Shihri, who also did time at Guantanamo, emerged from terrorism rehab to join the Al Qaeda branch now ensconced in Yemen. Shihri claims to have been the mastermind behind the attempted Christmas bombing of an American airliner by a Nigeria Islamofascist now known as "the panty bomber."

Clearly the idea that terrorists can be rehabilitated through art therapy and playing video games is a rather dubious one at best. For one thing, the Saudi rehab system, by not addressing the fundamental cause of jihadism--rage against the West--leave their graduates open to recidivism. Once outside, the graduates of terrorism rehab will be subjected to the same influences that caused them to want to kill people and blow up things in the name of Allah.

Also the idea that evil is simply a kind of psychological disease that can be cured with art therapy and video games is not only off putting, but it is-dare we say it-un-Islamic. The Prophet Mohammed did not say that people who murder and destroy should be given therapy. He said that they should be killed. This is a sentiment that a lot of non Muslims can agree with.

And yet President Obama still wants to close Guantanamo. The idea of Gitmo inmates becoming patients in Saudi terrorism rehab is yet another reason he should think again about that decision.

Source: Wacky jihad therapy failed to 'cure' plane-bomb plotter, Chuck Bennet, New York Post, January 2nd, 2009