So let's say you're in jail for a crime you never committed. After six years of incarceration, a judge hears your case and decides you're innocent. But the prison warden objects. He says maybe you were innocent once, but after rubbing elbows 24/7 with hardened criminals behind bars, maybe it's best you stay put. As reported in yesterday's NYT, that's the chilling logic the Obama Administration entertained in this Gitmo case:
Even if Mr. Ahmed was not dangerous in 2002, they said, Guantánamo itself might have radicalized him, exposing him to militants and embittering him against the United States. If he returned to his troubled homeland of Yemen, the officials feared, he might fall in with the growing contingent of Al Queda, there, one more Guantánamo survivor to star in their propaganda videotapes.