Terrorists are already imprisoned in the US
There is a lot of rhetoric being bantered about by political partisans from all parties over what to do about detainees at our naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Republicans are outraged that President Barack Obama would dare think about allowing any of them to come to the United States. Let's face it, right now, the fear is the only card Republicans have against Democrats, who have felt the heat and rejected funding to close the facilities at Gitmo.
Let me tell you something, there are already terrorists imprisoned in the United States who have committed or were planning to commit acts of terrorism, including several al-Qaeda members, both before and after 9/11.
The rhetoric from the right is dishonest and it plays on the short-term memory of the electorate who may not remember what happened to Ramzi Yousef or Richard Reid or any other terrorist responsible for killing or plotting to kill Americans.
Below are the names of more than 20 terrorists currently imprisoned at ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado:
- Abdul Hakim Murad
- Ahmed Ajaj
- Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
- Ahmed Ressam
- Clement Rodney Hampton-El
- El Sayyid Nosair
- Eric Robert Rudolph
- Eyad Ismail
- Ibrahim Elgabrowny
- Iyman Faris
- James Ujaama
- John Walker Lindh
- Jose Padilla
- Khalfan Khamis Mohamed
- Mahmud Abouhalima
- Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali
- Mohammed Mansour Jabarah
- Mohammed Salameh
- Mohammed Odeh
- Omar Abdel-Rahman
- Ramzi Yousef
- Richard Reid
- Terry Nichols
- Ted Kaczynski
- Wadih el-Hage
- Zacarias Moussaoui
Detainees at Gitmo should either be charged or released into the custody of their home country. That's not exactly a new idea either, more than half of the detainees previously imprisoned there have been released.
The prison at Gitmo should be probably closed, though I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. It serves as a recruit tool for al-Qaeda, much like Abu Ghraib did, and a catalyst for future attacks.
Comments
very good post Jason, and I agree completely.
Posted by: Jeff | May 22, 2009 05:47 PM
And just what makes you think that a change of venue will change anything. The new name or location of the facility will simply become the new target or recuiting aid. Home countries aren't exactly anxious to have these guys back, either. It's just not that simple, as our president is finding out......
Posted by: Classical Jazz | May 22, 2009 08:07 PM
There are people in this world who want to kill us just because... I don't really care what the because is. I would prefer to kill them, not put them in prison.
Posted by: joe | May 22, 2009 09:15 PM
It's completely legal to hold people indefinitely when they are captured on a battlefield fighting against the United States. There is no need what-so-ever to charge any of them to detain them.
Posted by: jasonfightscrime | May 23, 2009 05:16 AM
I'm not sure why people are afraid of dangerous cowards.
We want them locked up! Thats the point of going after them, so they can't hurt innocent people.
But we also want law and order--we want justice...
Posted by: Jim Nichols | May 23, 2009 02:57 PM
Well, we're not going to hold these people forever. Remember, during the campaign John McCain also talked about closing Gitmo. I agree: try the most dangerous ones (in military courts--and the death penatly should apply) and turn the rest over to their home countries.
Posted by: Robbie | May 26, 2009 11:12 PM