I Wonder If We Could Learn Something From This?

It seems a judge in Yemen may have come up with a rather unique way to combat terrorism within his country. He and four other Islamic scholars basically go into the prisons that house al Queda prisoners and challenge these prisoners to a "Koranic duel". Judge Hamoud al-Hitar and his four scholars walk into Sanaa prison in Sanaa, Yemen, armed only with the Koran and throw down the gauntlet, so to speak, to defiant al Queda prisoners. The challenge?

"If you can convince us that your ideas are justified by the Koran, then we will join you in your struggle," Hitar tells the militants. "But if we succeed in convincing you of our ideas, then you must agree to renounce violence."

The prisoners, driven by ideology and doctrine eagerly agree. When western antiterrorism experts first heard of al Hitars plan they warned that the plan would end in disaster. Now, two years later after the first five prisoners have renounced violence and been released from prison these same western terrorism experts who doubted the experiment are eager to hear how Hitar's "theological dialogues" with captured militants have helped to bring peace to a part of the world that was once considered a failed state like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hitar says, "That since 2002, when the first round of the dialogues ended, there have been no terrorist attacks here,even though many people thought that Yemen would become terror's capital." "Three hundred and sixty four young men have been released after going through the dialogues and none of these have left Yemen to fight anywhere else."

"Yemen's strategy has been unconventional certainly, but it has achieved results that we could never have hoped for," says one European diplomat, who did not want to be named. "Yemen has gone from being a potential enemy to becoming an indispensable ally in the war on terror."

The prisoner release program is not solely responsible for the absence of terror attacks in Yemen. For years Yemen was synonymous with violent Islamic extremism. It is the ancestral home of Usama bin Laden, has provided two-thirds of the recruits for the Afghan terror camps, was notorious as a center for the kidnapping of foreigners and famous for the bombing of the American warship USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 sailors. Since then Yemen has undertaken a range of measures to combat terrorism from closing down extreme madrassahs, the militant Islamic schools, deporting foreign militants, and now, Hitar's experimental program. The only thing that Yemen hasn't done is met violence with violence despite pressure from the US. Yemen is quick to point out that the attackers of the USS Cole were tried and put to death, as were the terrorists who carried out attacks on the French oil tanker, the SS Limburg, all received death sentences. Yemen argues that holding and punishing all militants would create only further discontent. Yet despite the apparent success in Yemen, some US diplomats have criticized it for apparently letting Islamic militants off the hook with little guarantee that they won't revert to their old ways once released from prison.

No matter where you stand on this issue it does bring up an interesting point. That being that terrorism is an ideology and is taught. The ideas from the Koran are twisted and warped and retaught to disillusioned young men. If you can teach a warped ideology, then I say that with enough time, given an open mind, you can teach sound ideology. The key like anything else is time. The US diplomats are exactly right however in that there is no guarantee that upon release from prison these now supposed reformed militants won't revert right back to their old ways again. Just as there is no guarantee that a murderer released on parole will not kill again. I would only say that in the war on terror we could use all the tools we can get. A few things are true though. When you belittle or torture a prisoner they will do or tell you anything just to get you to stop! Humiliation will piss a prisoner off! Disrespecting a prisoner will get you disrespect and stubbornness back!

Believe it or not the old saying about catching more flies with honey works. Now ask me how I know this? If you want to change a persons ideology or thought process then the first thing you have to do is to understand his. Know your enemy. Secondly, you have to respect that person. I don't care if that person is a terrorist or not. You don't have to like the guy, but if the end result that you want is information or a change in behavior then you had better find some common ground for respect or remove yourself from the process. Then, if you can and the prisoner is open to it, you can attempt to change ideology by letting him see for himself that his ideology is wrong. How you go about doing that is the key. Judge Hitar uses the Koran as his weapon and his ideology, so does a terrorist. You always hear bin Laden or that wing nut Zawahiri spouting off verses from the Koran and twisting them trying to suit their own ideology and purpose. Hitar lets the prisoners see for themselves what the verses actually say and what they mean, the end result is that the prisoners change their own ideology by realizing that what they were originally taught is wrong.

The process is more complicated than the simplified version above. However like I said, I think the tactic or whatever you want to call the process that Judge Hitar has come up with is unique and deserves a look. I really don't think that it's all about bombing the shit out of everybody. In the end it's the ideology of hate that has to change.