Democrats in Senate Block Money to Close Guantanamo, by David M. Herszenhorn. New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/us/politics/20detain.html?_r=1&ref=politics.
This is an article I feel very strongly about because I think it shows how little our president knows about homeland security or defense. I'm very glad to see that his own party has taken a stand and decided to tell him how ridiculous of an idea it is to allow terrorists into the U.S regardless of them being in a prison. As the article states no one has escaped from Guantanamo since 9/11, I don't really believe that the same would hold true if these prisoners were moved to the states. I also liked how the article mentioned that the money that was going to be used to close the prison in Guantanamo would take money away from our defense in Iraq and Afghanistan (oh let's not forget that these terrorists are part of the reason we are there). $80 million dollars is a lot of money that I don't really think we need to be spending on terrorists or moving the prison where they are detained.
I do agree with the statement that something will have to happen with Guantanamo eventually but this is definitely not the time or the way to do it.
Good post Lacey, certainly reflective of your life experiences. This is an excellent example where the political meets the practical. Obama ran on a campaign pledge to close Guantanamo and moved to shutter it within days of assuming the presidency. That was until he ran into the roadblock called Congress and the media. On the first hand (and sadly enough) $80 million is a drop in the bucket to alter this facility. The transfer of prisoners can certainly be safely and securely. Ironically enough there is a prison in Montana begging to use its state of the art, empty facility. The town would be able to add hundreds of jobs which could help stimulate the economy for years to come. There are benefits, but this has become a sensationalistic NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) story. The arguments are valid and I hope can still be debated. Great post!
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