FILE THIS ONE UNDER, HOW DUMB IS THIS?

Apparently our old buddy Barry has been busying himself of late by putting into practice that which he must have thought was just a bang up idea, at least at the time. You see, what he's been doing is to be telling some rather unsavory characters, that is murdering terrorists, and for quite some time now, "Ok, we’ll let you go, but man you gotta promise me that there will no more blowing things up and definitely no more killing of innocent people. Ok?" And all these guys have to do is to say, sure Barry, no problem, and they are then promptly sent off on their merry way. DUH! I only mention this now because it's being reported in the Washington Post, of all places, that there is this little-known and, for many, surprising U.S. program going on that reportedly entails releasing high-level insurgents in exchange for what is being termed as a “peace pledges” which is also, apparently, well outside of the normal protocol. I'm thinking that Barry pretty much makes up his own "protocol" as he goes along.

As The Post explains:

"As the United States has unsuccessfully pursued a peace deal with the Taliban, the “strategic release” program has quietly served as a live diplomatic channel, allowing American officials to use prisoners as bargaining chips in restive provinces where military power has reached its limits. But the releases are an inherent gamble: The freed detainees are often notorious fighters who would not be released under the traditional legal system for military prisoners in Afghanistan. They must promise to give up violence — and U.S. officials warn them that if they are caught attacking American troops, they will be detained once again. There are no absolute guarantees, however, and officials would not say whether those who have been released under the program have later returned to attack U.S. and Afghan forces once again.

While officials would not say exactly how many prisoners have been released under the program, they concede: “Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks."


The Washington Post continues:
Unlike at Guantanamo, releasing prisoners from the Parwan detention center, the only American military prison in Afghanistan, does not require congressional approval and can be done clandestinely. And although official negotiations with top insurgent leaders are seen by many as an endgame for the war, which has claimed nearly 2,000 U.S. lives, the strategic release program has a less ambitious goal: to quell violence in concentrated areas where NATO is unable to ensure security, particularly as troops continue to withdraw. The releases are intended to produce tactical gains but are not considered part of a grand bargain with the Taliban.
[...]
The process begins with conversations between U.S. military officials and insurgent commanders or local elders, who promise that violence will decrease in their district — or that militants will cease fighting altogether — if certain insurgents are released from Parwan. The value of the tradeoff and the sincerity of the guarantee are then weighed by senior military officials in Kabul, officials said.


But what sounds more than just a little screwy here, is while the insurgents are asked to cease fighting, they are not required to sever ties with their radical networks:
As opposed to the formal NATO-sponsored reintegration program, which forces militants to sever ties with the insurgency, the strategic release program does not require detainees to formally disavow their relationship to the Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami or other insurgent groups. In some cases, detainees are expected to maintain those connections and use them to further peace-building efforts between Americans and insurgents. “We look at detainees who have influence over other insurgents — individuals whose release could have a calming effect in an entire area,” one U.S. official said. “In those cases, the benefits of release could outweigh the reasons for keeping him detained."


Ok, so what's wrong with this picture? The lingering concern here, at least for detractors, like me, of this imbecilic little program, is: is this not perceived by Team Barry "Almighty" as being somewhat self-defeating, or at least a little counter productive? Will releasing prisoners back into their former networks really calm the situation, or will it only serve to embolden fellow insurgents, who will see that they may not even be punished for their crimes? The whole cockamamie way that Barry says he is "fighting" terrorism makes very little sense to me. On one hand he says that we can't use "aggressive interrogation" measures, those that he deems to be "torture", on them, but on the other hand it's perfectly acceptable for us to go out and blow them to smithereens and lose, possibly vital, information with them. And then we have this idiotic catch and release program for these murdering Islamists that's now come to light, and that apparently has been going on for some time. Is it me? Am I missing something here?