Olga Khazan profiles different countries’ “jihadi recovery programs” as a way to brainstorm what should happen to Gitmo detainees. The Saudi approach:
At the Mohammed bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care, alleged militants enjoyed buffet meals and classes in everything from Islam to art therapy. Their strategy? Have imams explain to the men that not everyone can issue a fatwa — an Islamic legal pronouncement — only religious leaders can. Some of the men had apparently been issuing fatwas from their al-Qaeda cells, according to CNN, therein committing their entire group to radical action.
When they graduated, the men in the Saudi program received a lump sum of $2,665 and $700 a month for their first six months on the outside. The government then helped them find jobs and wives. “I have good life, a good wife,” Khalid Suliman al-Jhari, a former Guantánamo prisoner, told the Christian Science Monitor. “I believe that this idea is working because the people … are honest about fixing [ex-jihadis]…. It’s not just a job.” …
A just-built Riyadh facility that can house up to 228 people offers luxury as an incentive to drop extremism: “In between sessions with counselors and talks on religion,” the AFP reports, “prisoners will be able to relax in the center’s facilities which include an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym and a television hall.” Behave well, and you get a two-day break to spend with your wife.
The Dish 