THE Saudi program to rehabilitate those who have fallen victim to “deviant ideology” has been praised and hailed as a success worldwide. It is credited by many to be one of the primary reasons that terrorism, by and large, has been stanched in the Kingdom and those who insist on embracing it as a weapon and extremist ideology as a philosophy have fled the Kingdom. It is especially disturbing, then, that Muhammad Al-Oufi and Sa'eed Al-Shihri resurfaced last week in Yemen as Al-Qaeda operatives. Disturbing because both of them underwent the rehabilitation program and Al-Oufi, at least, had sworn that he would never return to deviant thought. Criminals of all types have been imprisoned and subjected to rehabilitation programs only to return to a life of crime when life got tough on the outside. Psychology is a complicated science and one whose theories have only recently begun to rely on more exact science than existed before. This, of course, is of little solace to the families of these men who had believed deeply in their rehabilitation and were more shocked than anyone at their return to the fold of Al-Qaeda. To them, we can only express our sympathy and pledge our support as we see them experiencing that which every parent fears. We know our children will never do everything that we wish them to but it is rare, fortunately, that the fruit falls so far from the tree. The return of the two Guantanamo detainees to Al-Qaeda does not disqualify the rehabilitation program and we urge the government to continue to employ it vigorously when our young men return from the cold of Al-Qaeda and need to find their way back into Saudi society. Military force is one method to oppose deviancy but we can only be completely successful when our victory is winning the hearts and minds of those who have gone astray. __
