No Terrorists in My Backyard
On January 22, 2009 President Obama acted impulsively in issuing an executive order closing the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay in one year. The President decided to close Guantanamo without having a backup plan as to where the terrorists would be held. He is now talking about transferring those detainees to facilities within the United States. NewMajority has interviewed 9/11 families, security experts and members of Congress. All agree: Not here.
Three possible areas mentioned as prisons to house the terrorists are Camp Pendleton, California, Standish, Michigan, and Leavenworth Prison, Kansas. Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA) pointed out to NewMajority that a similar facility to Pendleton in Mirimar, CA, held illegal detainees which turned into an absolute disaster. A riot broke out and the facility had to be locked down. He stated that “we already had an experiment where foreign nationals were moved into one of our military bases and our brigs were not designed to handle that.”
Bob and Shirley Hemenway who live in Kansas and lost their son at the Pentagon on 9/11 were concerned that Americans do not understand the ramifications of bringing the terrorists to American territory. They pointed out that Leavenworth is not a maximum security prison and logistically it is unsafe because it is surrounded by an airport, military housing, and a lake. They anxiously stated that a terrorist cell could have “easy access to the prison and Americans need to understand this real threat.”
The prison in Standish, Michigan is also being considered. In August, Congressman Pete Hoekstra held a town hall meeting to discuss this issue. He stated that the crowd there was “overwhelmingly in favor of keeping them (the terrorists) in Gitmo. This is gaining momentum. I think the president is going to be forced to realize moving them to the continental U.S. is a bad idea. The people don’t support it.”
There is also the danger of mixing the terrorist population and the general criminal element. Senator James Inhofe feels that “the prisons holding them will become magnets for extremists.” LAPD Chief Bratton concurs and stated to NewMajority that “a significant number of prisoners have been recruited to become radical jihadists. It has become a frequent source of problems.”
Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff who recently wrote a book about the future challenges to homeland security commented to NewMajority that a real fear is the ability of terrorists in American prisons communicating to the outside world. He stated that he saw it happen with organized criminal groups. He explained that “you pretty much have to build a facility that keeps them separated from each other so they cannot communicate, plan, and act in concert… It’s not an imaginary danger, it’s a real danger.”
All those interviewed agree that without a game plan in place the terrorists should not be moved to American soil. There is widespread agreement with Congressman Hoekstra’s opinion that bringing terrorists to America will allow them “more access to rights only guaranteed to United States citizens.“ Congressman Tom Rooney (R-FL) commented to NewMajority that the detainees should not be brought to America because “we are in the shadow world of terrorists who are not conventional combatants.”
By moving detainees to the United States a considerable cost will be incurred to restructure the existing detention facilities. Congressman Rooney points out that since a lot of money was spent in making Guantanamo Bay a state of the art prison America should keep the detainees there. He does not support the Obama administration’s view that Guantanamo must be closed because of the stigma associated with it. He stated to NewMajority that “stigmas can be changed but it takes leadership to do it. The president should display the leadership needed to soothe the concerns of the international community.”
The Obama administration should not be obsessed with closing Guantanamo Bay. President Obama’s responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of Americans. As Congressman Bilbray noted “Gitmo is surrounded on three sides by bodies of water and the terrorists should not be moved to densely urban areas which could threaten the surrounding population. It’s not a theoretical problem it’s a real problem.” Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VI) told NewMajority that “the Obama administration has not provided the answers as to how we are going to protect American citizens. It makes no sense as to why the President wants to close that facility.” Former Secretary Chertoff’s bottom line is that the Obama administration should not close Guantanamo Bay without a well thought out plan. He explained that “there needs to be a lot of careful planning and consideration about what the options are if someone is going to close it… or if you are actually importing a problem into the United States.”