One can laugh at the fear that is mongered by right- and wrong-meaning politicos at the idea of terrorists on U.S. soil. Our prisons have proven to be excellent containment vehicles for the most dangerous of felons. This argument is for fools. But what of the terrorist who is released to fight another day? Not the wrongfully detained, but the dyed-in-the-wool terrorist we see depicted on 24? Do they not pose a deadly threat and wouldn't it be better to find some way to lock them up for life and to hell with the Constitution. I think we are looking at the problem from the wrong angle.
Any released terrorist, just as any released criminal or CIA operative for that matter, can no longer be trusted by the gang, whether that gang is La Costra Nostra, Al Qaeda or the CIA. The fact they were released is reason enough. Who is willing to bet their life or the success of a mission on the stability or sanity of a comrade that a diabolical enemy has set free? If you believe in Satan, there is only one reason Satan would set a captive free; that is to sow death and dissension to Satan's enemies. Who is willing to gamble that his comrade is not now a turncoat or, at best, someone who has spilled his guts under pressure and is no longer trustworthy? The only way to regain that trust is to prove oneself by becoming cannon fodder on the battlefield. This nation has a simple way of dealing with cannon fodder, the U.S. military. The released terrorist becomes no more of a threat than thousands of others we deal with each day. It is more likely that a released terrorist of major rank would find, after the celebrations are over, that the high command, however they disguise it, are hesitant to let him rejoin the sacred circle. He would be angry in direct proportion to what he has suffered and endured. The best he could hope for is a meaningless retirement party.