Guantanamo Bay, Detainees, and the GOP: What gives?
Posted on: May 25, 2009
The New York Times today has an article about this. There are some interesting opinions to say the least.
“These are the worst of the worst,” Mr. Hannity of Fox News warned. “We seem to be letting our guard down again.”
John Yoo reportedly opined:
“Nobody wants to have a detention center for terrorists in their backyard.”
Also, the GOP’s unofficial chairman:
And Rush Limbaugh released a new edition of his Guantánamo Bay T-shirts with a new past-tense subtitle: “Club Gitmo — When America was safe.”
Basically, what fool would allow terrorists to be held in U.S. prisons? Well, it’s important to remember that there are people who kill because they feel that they have to and not for ideology already in U.S. prisons. So, arguably there are already more dangerous people than terrorists in U.S. prisons. Second, U.S. prisons already hold Jose Padilla, Richard Reed, and Zacarias Moussaoui; all sent there under Bush’s watch. So we must ask: was Bush a fool for putting these men in U.S. prisons? No.
This is probably the dumbest “issue” since the laughable claims that Obama is muslim. For most people this is a NIMBY issue. I live in Bozeman, MT. Move the detainees to Hardin, MT. I’m not sure 189 miles is still my backyard, but Hardin has been looking for a way to fill their vacant prison and this is an excellent way to do that.
Unfortunately, this is not an option. According to Montana News Station:
In a statement, Senator Jon Tester says quote ” I want to see a smart, long-term plan for those prisoners before we pay any tax dollars to move them.” Senator Tester does not want detainees to come to Montana.
Senator Max Baucus says he wants to review plans before funding the closure. Senator Baucus says quote “I’m committed to helping folks find a solution that would the Hardin facility to use and create jobs, but filling it with Guantanamo detainees is not the right way to do it.”
Rehberg is also opposed. Why? Because he’s a Republican. Tester and Baucus are opposed because they’re Democrats that are afraid of Republicans accusing them of “importing terrorists” or whatever they pay Luntz to come up with (if I had the money I would pay him to come up with phrasing too). It’s sad really.
I told a friend last night that I thought filling Hardin with terrorists was a great idea. If they escape, where will they go? Who will they harm? Their escape requires them to travel through hundreds of miles of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, or Idaho if they’re truly stupid. Want to know how those poor little townfolk that are so endangered will react to the idea of terrorists escaping prison and fleeing law enforcement across their property? Well, what my friend said kinda sums it up:
They’re already the same color as deer.
Perhaps not the most politically correct phrase but it’s also not a sober phrase (alcohol sober). The truth is that if the terrorists escape they will be shot. If you are on someone’s property, charging them, screaming “Jihad” and “Allah,” and are wearing a prison uniform – you’re not gonna have a good time.
I guess I don’t understand why no one seems to realize this, or that we already have several terrorists in our prisons and that’s worked out just fine. Why is everyone so afraid of everything these days? Our country is too polarized. It’s sad.
Cognitive Coup 
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