Is this the answer - or at least part of the terrorism puzzle?

Perks of penance for Saudi jihadis

By Shiraz Maher
BBC Newsnight, Riyadh


In a small compound on the outskirts of Riyadh, the Saudi government is exploring new ways to combat extremism.


This is still a prison, run by the Ministry of Interior and housed inside secure premises with high perimeter walls and barbed wire, but the Saudi authorities prefer to call it a "care centre" and refer to prisoners as "beneficiaries".

This is not what you would imagine when you think of a typical Saudi jail.

Inside, prisoners enjoy access to wide-ranging recreational facilities including their own swimming pools, video games and table tennis.

In return for the more relaxed environment, prisoners have to attend religious education classes where Islamic scholars challenge their views.

The thinking behind the new initiative is to fight al-Qaeda's ideology by convincing militant Islamists they have a distorted view of Islam.

The Ministry of Interior oversees the new scheme and has created the Ideological Security Unit (ISU) dedicated to co-ordinating their efforts.

"You cannot defeat an ideology by force. You have to fight ideas with ideas," says Abdul-Rahman Hadlaq, ISU director.

But the centre goes beyond just debating ideas. It also encourages prisoners to express their "softer side" by running art therapy classes where inmates find alternative ways to express themselves.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Perks of penance for Saudi jihadis

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It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.
-- Robert Houghwout Jackson,
Chief Judge at the War-Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg

"You cannot defeat an ideology by force. You have to fight ideas with ideas," says Abdul-Rahman Hadlaq, ISU director.


Way to go SA. For all their problems, I think they hit the nail on the head with this one.

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"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

About bloody time, let's open these up everywhere across the ME. Any prisoners we take, send them to the neaerest one that has an opening.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

This must be the first good thing i have heard about SA. Any chance of the US learning from this ? I think not.

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

Fantastic. The ideals of Al Qaeda are so diametrically opposed to Islam that it is easy to turn these people back to righteous path.
It reminds me of a similar thing they were doing in Yemen a few years ago.
Koranic duels ease terror | csmonitor.com

The best weapon there is against extremists is the religion they profess to follow.

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"Well done Dubya. You freakin' imbecile." - ViolaLee

The thing that worries me about this is the actors. What do you do if one of them lies to seem like he's been reformed, but still harbors his original ideas?

At the root, though, I believe this is a better route than just killing them all.

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"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...."
- The Declaration of Independence

This is a great move and should be adopted world-wide, it's just a shame it comes from an opressive and violent regime.

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Trust me, I'm a socialist!

There's power in a factory,power in the land, power in the hand of the worker. But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand, there is power in a union.
The union forever defending our rights, down with the blackleg, workers unite. To our brothers and our sisters in many far off lands, there is power in a union.
Money speaks for money, the devil for his own. - Billy Bragg

Well, nothing is perfect and hopefully they have considered this risk and taken the need precausions.

__________________
Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

I'd say that it is a good thing that it came from them as that is a sign that they are getting better (less opressive and violent), so it is like saving two birds with one band-aid (I was going to go with the killing two birds thing, but I felt that was a little negative of what is going on).

__________________
Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

Maybe, but it does nothing to tackle the plethora of human rights abuses, call me cynical but it seems like Saudi is tackling the one issue it needs to keep America sweet, i.e. Islamic terrorism. The rest of it America's leaders don't care about so the Saudi regime won't bother sorting them.

__________________
Trust me, I'm a socialist!

There's power in a factory,power in the land, power in the hand of the worker. But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand, there is power in a union.
The union forever defending our rights, down with the blackleg, workers unite. To our brothers and our sisters in many far off lands, there is power in a union.
Money speaks for money, the devil for his own. - Billy Bragg