Bush Assails Those Who Offer Terrorists 'Therapy'

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Though His Administration Sent Detainees to Saudi Counseling Center

June 18, 2009 - ABC News

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At a speaking engagement last night, former President George W. Bush defended his administration's counterterrorism policies, including Guantanamo Bay, the Washington Times reports.

"The way I decided to address the problem was twofold: One, use every technique and tool within the law to bring terrorists to justice before they strike again," Mr. Bush said.

Refraining from directly criticizing President Obama, Mr. Bush said, "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."

Interestingly, it was the Bush administration that sent some Gitmo detainees to a Saudi jihadi rehabilitation camp -- called the "Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Centre for Care and Counseling."

To decidedly mixed success.

Earlier this year the Saudi government published a list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects. Eleven of them had been prisoners at Guantanamo put through the Saudi rehabilitation program.

Said Ali al-Shihri, transferred to Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo during the Bush administration in 2007, is currently the deputy leader of al Qaeda's Yemen branch.

The Bush administration also released Gitmo detainee Ghulam Rasoul into the Saudi rehabilitation program. Now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, he's a leader against U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan, according to military and intelligence officials.