No, not about Gitmo itself, but about those detainees. I am very disappointed with Republicans and far too many Democrats who are talking about "releasing these inmates into our communities." We are not talking about moving KSM and other known terrorists into half-way houses in Oklahoma City. We are talking about putting them in SuperMax Federal pens where, among other very hardened criminals, we already house known terrorists.
What does it say about America that we are so scared of these terrorists that even shackled and locked under glass, we are still afraid of them? Doesn't it suggest that we are giving them far too much power over ourselves and giving them exactly the kind of status they want?
As Jon Stewart joked last night, we have guys who have committed canibalism. We have guys like the Unabomber and even the co-conspirator for the Oklahoma City bombing--all in federal stir.
Come on!
4 comments:
What Josh Marshall said. The list of senators and Congresscritters who have any grounds to complain about housing detainees is a whole lot shorter than the list of politicians who are complaining.
I'm trying to figure out why "supermax" prisons are inadequate to house terrorists. Are the serial killers, career criminals, etc.... not secured in these facilities? Is a guy speaking only Arabic or local Pashtu going to escape and blend into the locals in Kansas? I haven't heard an adequate explanation of why we can't house anyone in a federal prison. I'm detecting spinal melting syndrome once again in the dems. Listening to them interviewed on NPR this am made me want to puke.
Later
BB
Fear is a powerful political tool that is used all the time to support (or oppose) many different programs, regimes, and policies. Some of these people are scary, but I have a hard time listening to these idiots talk as if the Administration will just let dangerous people go in the US.
I don't know what is wrong with housing them in Federal prisons. I lived near one for a few years in Marquette, MI. It was one of the older, smaller prisons, but escapes were so rare that I don't even remember the last time one happened.
I am questioning the wisdom of saying that Gitmo will be closed within the year. It would have made more sense to say he would begin the process of closing the prison and then showed some tangible movement towards processing the prisoners through a court or tribunal.
I wonder if Bush didn't so badly mangle this thing that Obama has no real way to deal with these terrorists. If all the evidence we have against the really bad people was gained through illegal torture, how do we prosecute any of them?
But, with people like KSM (aka legit terrorists), how do we let them go if we tortured them?
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