Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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On the GITMO front this morning we have some very disturbing news. We have been hearing about Ireland taking a couple detainees and transferring one back to Afghanistan (where he will no doubt be freed immediately) but this story REALLY hits home, and brings up an issue that the Administration has been quiet about for months.

The Washington Post is reporting that

The administration is considering whether to transfer some detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a facility in the United States that would contain courtrooms to hold federal criminal trials and military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects, administration officials said Sunday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/03/ST2009080300958.html

I find it interesting for administration officials to come out with this on a Sunday afternoon. When Obama WANTS you to hear about one of his projects like healthcare, he holds a press big event at prime time on a Thursday night in the middle of the week and he makes sure ALL the networks cover it live. But when they want to roll out something they KNOW is going to infuriate people, they try to eke it out under the radar over the weekend.

Indeed, public support for closing Gitmo and especially for bringing the terrorists HERE has completely reversed in the months since Obama took office. The more that the administration is HONEST the realities of what they want to, or will have to do in order to close Gitmo, the more people think closing the detention center isn’t such a great idea.

A recent Gallup poll showed a healthy majority of people opposing the plan.

Despite that, the Post reports that

The maximum-security facility would be jointly run by the departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, with each assuming responsibility for different sets of inmates. Officials said such a facility could also house prisoners held in indefinite detention and those cleared for release but who have no country willing to accept them. Those convicted in federal court or military commissions could serve their terms there.

Officials said administration planners looking for one site for the facility have focused on the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and a state maximum-security prison in Standish, Mich., that is scheduled to be closed.

Why is this necessary when Eric Holder’s own report stated that Gitmo was a well run facility? Guantanamo Bay has a courtroom it has all the maximum security facilities needed to house the terrorists.

Almost immediately, the community at Fort Leavenworth has responded.

“This is a patently bad idea,” Republican Senator Sam Brownback told reporters in the northeast Kansas riverside community of Leavenworth near the Fort Leavenworth U.S. Army base, which was cited this weekend as a possible new home for the Guantanamo prisoners.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080301344.html