Obama has promised to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp because he thinks it's a symbol of America's shady, post-9/11 law-skirting style. Also, we're holding hastily-captured people there indefinitely without legal recourse and that's absurd. But it's been politically difficult because no one wants to take the prisoners. Or so it seemed. The small town of Hardin, Montana is actually lobbying to be America's stateside Gitmo. From the Guardian:"...the local council has launched an audacious bid to relocate Guantánamo detainees to the town, offering up a state-of-the-art prison facility that is currently sitting empty. Members voted unanimously to back the proposal and have been actively courting the media to promote the plans....Though few places would relish playing host to suspected terrorists including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 plot, Hardin's leaders believe their economic need trumps security concerns."It's a little ridiculous that there's so much anxiety about Guantánamo prisoners escaping and wreaking havoc. We already have supermax prisons. They house people like Zacarias Moussaoui and the "shoe bomber" and the Unabomber and extra-crazy homegrown terrorists like Terry Nichols.Obviously we don't want prisons to drive our economic recovery, but one way or another we should start treating these "enemy combatants" as if our legal and moral decision making is based on principles other than our own fear.
Obama has promised to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp because he thinks it's a symbol of America's shady, post-9/11 law-skirting style. Also, we're holding hastily-captured people there indefinitely without legal recourse and that's absurd. But it's been politically difficult because no one wants to take the prisoners. Or so it seemed. The small town of Hardin, Montana is actually lobbying to be America's stateside Gitmo. From the Guardian:"...the local council has launched an audacious bid to relocate Guantánamo detainees to the town, offering up a state-of-the-art prison facility that is currently sitting empty. Members voted unanimously to back the proposal and have been actively courting the media to promote the plans....Though few places would relish playing host to suspected terrorists including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 plot, Hardin's leaders believe their economic need trumps security concerns."It's a little ridiculous that there's so much anxiety about Guantánamo prisoners escaping and wreaking havoc. We already have supermax prisons. They house people like Zacarias Moussaoui and the "shoe bomber" and the Unabomber and extra-crazy homegrown terrorists like Terry Nichols.Obviously we don't want prisons to drive our economic recovery, but one way or another we should start treating these "enemy combatants" as if our legal and moral decision making is based on principles other than our own fear.