Evidently the old adage about teaching old dogs new tricks remains true.
In October, France opened the first of 12 de-radicalization facilities designed to help jihadis move beyond old ways of thinking through a year-long personalized program.
The experiment in social engineering set the French government back some 40 million euros ($44.9 million), as the video from Agence France Presse explains.
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But now, less than half a year into the program, it has been deemed a complete failure, according to a parliamentary report.
It’s a total fiasco. Everything requires a total rethink,” conservative Senator Philippe Bas said Thursday. “Everything must be started from scratch.”
The facilities were meant to help individuals who are “looking for a way out” by offering group activities and workshops on religion and the French Republic. The only center currently up and running costs more than $2.6 million per year without having a single tenant.
Center-left Senator Catherine Troendlé said the country has to come to terms with the fact jihadis won’t change their beliefs.
“We just have to admit that the most violent and dangerous people will not be [deradicalized],” Troendle said, according to The Telegraph.
Some 15,000 radicalized individuals in France are monitored by authorities. More than 230 people have been killed in terror attacks since the start of 2015, while the country has been in a state of emergency.
This report, by Jacob Bojesson, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
