By Mr. Curmudgeon

President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, is proving his job title to be an oxymoron. Speaking before the Islamic Center at New York University, Brennan told the gathering of Muslim law students it’s no big deal that 20 percent of terrorist detainees continue their murdering ways once released upon the world, “People sometimes use that figure, 20 percent, say ‘Oh my goodness, one out of five detainees returned to some type of extremist activity.’ You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn’t that bad.” As the 9/11 hijackers and the Christmas Day underpants bomber illustrate, a hand-full of jihadists can ruin your whole day.

And speaking of the underpants bomber, he was recruited by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The leadership of that little Al Qaeda splinter group is made almost exclusively of recidivists from Saudi Arabia’s jihadist rehabilitation program.

Of the hurtles the administration continues to encounter in its attempt to find some small corner of American willing to house Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for trial, Brennan complained, “We are trying to push this forward as best we can, but we also need nonobstruction from certain forces in our government. … There are stiff winds delaying us from bringing this man to justice.” The obstructionists Brennan denounces are Congressional representatives who are, well, representing. It’s the people of the United States that are the administration’s staunchest obstructionists.

No matter. Once Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder move Gitmo detainees to Illinois for trial as common criminals, the courts will see to it that the recidivist rate among jihadists climbs, as Brennan observed, from 20 to 50 percent. That’s enough to make Osama bin Laden say, “You know, 50 percent isn’t that bad.”