Symbolic idiocy

"And the way to do that is NOT by killing more Muslims (which as anyone can tell you, will only fan the flames of hatred and give more credibility to the extremist few),"

The above claim, (unsupported by facts) was made elsewhere.  To be fair many people believe this trope and while I haven't seen any, there may be evidence to support it.

However, it seems that P-BO disagrees.

 "For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security -- it undermines it.  This is not just my opinion.  This is the opinion of experts, this is the opinion of many in our military.  It’s counterproductive to our fight against terrorists, because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit."

Personally, I have doubts about either of these being a significant motivator.  For example the children and developmentally disabled who get "recruited" to strap on suicide vests probably don't understand why someone else being in prison is a reason to blow themselves up.

From what we see locally (from a hotbed of jihadi recruiting) the recruiting videos are more along the lines of brave Muslim warriors slaughtering the infidel masses while waving AK's and swords.  Or the ever popular beheading videos.

The problem as I see it with closing Guantanamo is that unless the plan is to just let these guys run free, all that is happening is that they are being transferred to another maximum security facility either in the US or elsewhere. 

Apparently the belief is that the reason the Terrorists are upset is not because these guys are in custody, it's because of WHERE they are in custody.   So magically once Guantanamo is closed down and these guys are sent to the supermax prison in CO, no one will be upset anymore.

Does anyone really believe that simply changing the location of the detainees will take away whatever it is that they claim is driving recruiting?  Really?

It strikes me as one last bit of politically motivated symbolism which has a net effect of absolutely nothing.

Let's get serious, if you wanted to motivate a teen aged young man to go off and mindlessly kill people which do you think is a better recruiting tool?

A.  Hey, there are a bunch of dudes in a prison on an island in the Caribbean who have better living conditions than the cave/tent you're in right now and they get free meals, a Koran, and a prayer rug.

B.  If you die while killing the infidel you get a guaranteed trip to heaven, 72 virgins (maybe perpetual), fame, and your family gets a big chunk of cash.

Personally B sounds a lot more motivating than A, but I'm not their target audience.

Even if Guantanamo is such a big motivator, won't they just change the voice over to the video and substitute in the name of whatever prison they end up in?