THE Pentagon now confirms that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terror ist activities after claiming they weren't terrorists.

Such recidivism points up an alarming intelligence failure.

These dangerous prisoners should never have been cleared for release. Why did interrogators fail to find the cracks in their stories and alibis?

Why wasn't more intelligence gathered to predict they'd rejoin al Qaeda or the Taliban?

In a word, politics. Gitmo interrogations have been emasculated to placate critics of waterboarding and other "torture," say two senior officials there.

For that matter, Gitmo doesn't even do "interrogations" anymore. They're now called interviews, and they're voluntary.

That so many ex-detainees remain violent should come as little surprise, considering Gitmo is now more madrassa than prison camp.

Detainees are fed a diet of violent anti-Western agitprop by sympathetic Muslim chaplains and librarians who have unfettered access to their cell blocks.