A radical new proposal for fighting terrorists

 

 

Various publications reported yesterday that one of the five Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has attempted to re-engage in terrorist activities. The reports emerged as the Obama administration is undertaking an all-out push to empty GITMO and close it down, in line with President Obama’s longstanding campaign promises. Many of these prisoners are being transferred to third countries amid dubious assurances that they will be closely monitored by other governments. Yesterday’s reports about the Taliban prisoner are hardly surprising – indeed, when the President releases scores of the world’s most dangerous terrorists from prison to fulfill a campaign promise, it would be a genuine surprise if none of them returned to their old ways.   

From its inexplicable insistence that the Taliban is not a terrorist organization, to its refusal to even name the enemy we are fighting – radical Islam – the Obama administration is showing a stunning degree of strategic incoherence. I’d suggest a new course: name the enemy, attack the enemy, imprison the enemy, defeat the enemy. It’s a much different approach than the President’s, but it just might work.