Legal Commentary

Senate Dems Reject Funds to Close Guantanamo

By TChris

Senate Democrats yesterday followed the lead of House Democrats who last week refused the president's request for $80 million to fund the closing of Guantanamo. According to Sen. Harry Reid:

"Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States."

Has Reid decided, without the benefit of trials, that the 240 involuntary residents of Guantanamo are all terrorists? [more ...]

Reid opposes bringing Guantanamo detainees to the United States for criminal trials. But what if the detainees are convicted and sentenced in Guantanamo (perhaps by vaguely defined military commissions)? A Reid spokesman said Reid wouldn't oppose the eventual transfer of detainees to American prisons, but Reid's statement echoed the ridiculous Republican claim that detainee-terrorists are just too dangerous to imprison in any of the fifty states.

“You can’t put them in prison unless you release them,” he said. “We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.”

What Reid means by "release" is unclear. Inmates are commonly transferred from prison to prison, usually in belly chains and leg irons. They might be "released" from a particular prison but they aren't released from custody.

Odds are that Reid isn't troubling himself with deep thought. Republicans are having fun scaring their constituents and Reid is playing along.

Because suspects may be brought to the U.S. from Guantanamo to face trial, Republican leaders are raising the prospect of "terrorists coming soon to a neighborhood near you," in the words of one party statement.

Maximum security prisons house domestic terrorists and serial killers. Guantanamo detainees surely pose no greater threat to neighborhoods than home-bred dangerous inmates.

The claim that prisons holding terrorists would become targets for terrorist attacks is far-fetched. Why would terrorists attack an institution housing their fellow terrorists? Do Republicans and Reid envision massive jail breaks from maximum security prisons? They're called "maximum security" for a reason, after all.

The Obama administration says it will reveal a "hefty part" of its plan to close Guantanamo on Thursday, but it's not clear that any plan will satisfy Reid if it calls for some detainees to continue their detention within American borders. If that's the case, Reid's position is irresponsible. Not only might it delay Guantanamo's closing, it plays into the fear-mongering that characterized the Bush administration.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 20, 2009 (boomark / email).