I'm a little slow, so these kinds of things take me a while to figure out. However I think I have finally wrapped my head around the GOP's complaints about closing Guantanamo.
Key GOoPers have made it clear that they find television to be a good source for policy strategy (see '24' and torture). It is no wonder, then, that they are worried about transferring prisoners from Guantanamo to even super-max facilities here in the U.S.
You see, if we move prisoners to a facility within the United States it is only a matter of time before Khalid Sheik Mohammed's brother Joe Mohammed will jump into action and enact a dramatic prison break. The GOP seems to predict this in a release entitled Meet Your New Neighbor, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad?
What I have figured out is how it will happen...
First, he will tattoo his body with schematics of the prison where KSM is being held. Like this:
Next, he will figure out a way to get himself sent to the same prison.
Joe will then partner with Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell to create an elaborate plan of escape. Aside from terrorists running amok, you can see how this event in itself would cause great embarrassment to the party!
It is clear, then, that this. cannot. happen!
++++++++++++++++++++
Seriously, though, this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a while. We already house terroristsin stateside prisons including:
* Ramzi Yousef. The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings was convicted and sentenced in 1998 by the Federal District Court in Manhattan and is being held at ADX Florence, the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. [NY Times, 1/9/98. NY Times, 4/5/03]
* Zacharias Moussaoui. Convicting of conspiring to kill Americans for his role in the 9/11 attacks, Moussaoui is currently serving a life sentence at the supermax prison in Colorado. [NY Times, 5/3/06. NY Times, 5/14/06. NY Times, 5/5/06]
* East African embassy bombing perpetrators. Wahid el-Hage, Mohammed Sadiq Odeh, Mohammed Rashed al-Owhali, and Khalfan Khamis Mohammed are all serving in ADX Florence. [NY Times, 12/25/01]
* Richard C. Reid. The so-called "Shoe Bomber," Reid was convicted for trying to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic with explosives in his shoe. He is currently serving a life sentence at ADX Florence. [NY Times, 1/31/03. NY Times, 5/14/06]
* Timothy McVeigh. Convicted of killing 168 people by blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, McVeigh was held in ADX Florence until his execution on June 11, 2001. [NY Times, 6/11/01]
* Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. The only person known to be held as an enemy combatant in the continental United States, al-Marri spent six years in the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina and is now being held in the Federal Correctional Institution in Illinois. [Associated Press Via Fox News, 5/1/09. NY Times, 4/30/09]
* Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. Responsible for plotting a series of bombings and assassinations, Omar Abdel-Rahman is currently serving a life sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina.
* Muhammad Salameh. Convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Salameh is serving a life sentence in ADX Florence. [Library of Congress, 9/99. NY Times, 3/5/94]
Why must stupid rule the day? Let's get this deal done, close that hell-hole and restore the rule of law.