It was perhaps only a matter of time before Guantanamo Bay came under the spotlight once more. Given how the US remains deeply entrenched in the Middle East. From Iraq to Libya to Syria. Not to mention how continued arms sales implicates it in the war on Yemen. According to American media reports, the Trump presidency — nearly a decade after Obama promised to shut down the infamous detention facility before backtracking — is considering sending more ‘enemy combatants’ Gitmo’s way. Thereby feeding unnecessary oxygen to notions of legal limbos, existing outside the Geneva Conventions, that ought to be, by rights, breathing their last. The story goes something like this: Washington is mulling transferring ISIS fighters captured in Syria to Guantanamo as well as to Iraqi prisons. The rationale behind this is manifold. For one thing, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is reportedly holding around 600 ISIS terrorists. This mostly Kurdish militia group has, not unsurprisingly, neither the resources to either detain the terrorists indefinitely nor to prosecute them. The way that American and European officials tell it is that the US has its hands tied. Not least because many of these ‘undesirables’ are foreign-born. And their home countries now want to wash their hands of them. Much less try and put their citizens on trial for treason; something that Tony Blair threatened would happen to any British nationals captured while effectively fighting the crown on the Afghan battlefield. Presently, London has gone as far as stripping two of the four so-called Beatles jihadists of citizenship. It has essentially accepted a US request to do with them as its sees fit given that the duo was involved in the killing of American nationals. Not only that, Britain sought no assurances prior to sharing evidence with Washington that the latter would not execute the pair. This may be linked to fears of fuelling the radicalisation threat if such terrorists are brought home. Indeed, other countries have requested financial compensation before agreeing to repatriation of any sort. Of course, rights defenders have slammed the potential move on the grounds that inmates risk torture at either Guantanamo or in Iraqi jails. Such fears are indeed legitimate. Yet what remains missing from this ‘clandestine’ discourse — no US official has publicly confirmed these plans — is the role that a militarised foreign policy has on radicalisation itself. This is not to say that this is the only factor worth considering. But it does form a large part of the jihadi recruitment drive that seeks to lure a young generation of western-born Muslims to exotic battlefields. The same holds true when it comes to these groups and their inciting the lone-wolf phenomenon. Yet the majority of western nations insist on keeping their collective head in the sand on this front. All of which does a disservice to the citizenry at home; who must know how hollow pledges by respective governments to keep them safe ring. Such orchestrated denial also jeopardises the security of ordinary people living in the Muslim world. Thus in order to truly and sincerely tackle the very real threat of ISIS and its ilk — the West must reverse the original sin of an increasingly integrated and militarised foreign policy. If for no other reason than failure to do this has not resulted in keeping their homelands safe. * Published in Daily Times, September 7th 2018.