They used to be held at Gitrmo

But now there may be 4 ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees who have rejoined extremist Al Qaeda terrorist ranks:

"Two Saudis formerly jailed at the US prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have joined Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch, and authorities here worry that two other ex-Guantánamo inmates may have strayed back to militancy because they have recently disappeared from their homes. The revelations illustrate the difficulties faced both by President Obama, who has pledged to shutter the facility for terror suspects, and the Saudi government, which is trying to reform its own radical jihadis, many of whom were imprisoned at Guantánamo before being released back to the kingdom."

Now liberal acquaintances of mine, when faced with this kind of news, have tried to retort that simply being held and--supposedly--tortured at Gitmo drove people like this back to terrorist ranks. (hey, it's gotta be Bush's fault to these folks). But check out the article to which I linked. There's no evidence being held at Guantanamo drove them to anything. Rather, they were influenced by recent terrorist attacks and by the resurgence of Al Qaeda in Yemen. When these guys were held at Gitmo, they couldn't do us any harm.

Now they can. Conservatives need to keep making that point.

Concerning suspected terrorists detained at Gitmo and elsewhere

Everyone critical of Bush administration policies worries that we're trampling on the rights of innocents. Okay. But what about this--did you catch what constitutional scholar John Yoo had to say about this recently:

"Just as there is always the chance of a mistaken detention, there is also the probability that we will release the wrong man. As Justice Antonin Scalia's dissenting opinion notes, at least 30 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay -- with the military, not the courts, making the call -- have returned to Afghanistan and Iraq battlefields."

Fundamental: yes, we as conservatives must be aware of protecting liberty and individual rights. But as American conservatives, we must balance this with protecting our national security, from terrorists, who have not exactly been shy about attacking us. Remember that.