Tips from Iraq

Judith Miller, in City Journal, provides a fascinating description of the U.S. military's efforts in Iraq to deprogram and retrain detainees suspected of jihadist activity. Its programs in the two main detention camps teach basic literacy (over 60% of the detainees are illiterate), history, civics, geography, math, and practical skills such as carpentry. The programs also include religious discussion sessions; detainees began volunteering for those sessions after the hard-core jihadists were physically separated from them.

Over 23,000 people are now in the camps; the first task is to identify those who are not jihadists, and release them. Those released must pledge before an Iraqi judge not to resort to violence and respect Iraqi laws. Where possible, those pledges are guaranteed by family members. So far, of 8,000 released, only 21 have been rearrested for suspected insurgent activity - some 0.2% of the total.

The authorities hope to release at least two-thirds of the remaining detainees by the end of 2008. Most are Sunni males aged 18-29; there are only 240 foreign fighters. According to Miller, the vast majority appear to have been motivated primarily by economic reasons, rather than jihadist fervor.

It's still 'early days,' but this initiative bears close watching. Not so long ago Al Qaeda identified Iraq as the central front in its war on the West. If U.S. and Iraqi authorities can find a way to provide a better alternative to radical Islam and make it stick, this should have repercussions far beyond the borders of Iraq.