Gitmo Come On!!

From NBC:
"Just askin’: By the way, we have this one question for the GOP straw-man argument on Gitmo: So is living near a prison with CONVICTED rapists or murderers safer than living next to a prison with SUSPECTED terrorists?"

The answer from a Republican:
"...a spokeswoman to House Minority Leader John Boehner, adds: "Last I checked, most rapists and murderers are NOT part of a radical, world-wide terrorist network. And remember, if the folks remaining at Gitmo weren’t that dangerous, they would have already been released. These are the most dangerous. AND lastly, you put one of these guys in a prison you up the chances of an attack on that prison."

And from Economist:
"WHEN Republicans (and, increasingly, Democrats like Jim Webb) panic about the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, they often worry that some of the prisoners will be "released". Not just sent to a maximum security jail somewhere stateside—dumped into an American town. And exhibit A for that is the case of the Uighurs, Chinese Muslims whom George Bush's administration viewed as harmless enough to release, but who have become politically toxic.

Hilzoy, an academic blogger, runs down the reasons why they shouldn't be feared. It's worth reading, but the quick takeaway: There is no evidence whatsoever... that the Uighurs were instructed by al Qaeda—and a whole lot of evidence that it is false.

But the situation has gotten bad enough to make Harry Reid promise that no Gitmo prisoners will come to America. "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States," he's said. It's a case of the facts being unable to overpower the buzz words."

TW: A fair question from NBC. When the Senate voted to slow down the closure of Gitmo until homes for the prisoners were found, I was very disappointed. I know the conservatives are creating their tempest about where the prisoners will go but I expect the conservatives to make spurious arguments. I have higher aspirations for the Democrats.

If there is one thing the U.S. has, it is high-security prisons. For folks to want to keep a cancerous, puss oozing symbol of American moral failure open because little old "Mericans cannot countenance imprisoning alleged terrorists on their own soil. Or because we might just release a falsely accused detainee in the U.S. is pathetic.

Are we so weak that we cannot accept ANY risk but will perpetuate torture and false imprisonment in the ephemeral pursuit of security. This is not about Gitmo and terrorists this is about how we function as a society.