GOP Leader Wants Obama to Reconsider Guantanamo Closure Plan
President Obama should readjust his plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday, arguing that the president "made a mistake" by setting a January deadline for shuttering the prison.Â
"He's changed his mind about a number of things," McConnell said. "This is one I think that requires some adjustment in his position, because I think ... he's going to have a very difficult time figuring out what to do with these terrorists."Â
"There's no reason in the world to bring these people to the United States," McConnell said. "I don't think there's a community in America that's going to be interested in taking them."Â
Apparently Al Jazeera knows something Mitch McConnell doesn't.
Smalltown USA's Guantanamo Hopes
Greg Smith, Hardin, Montana's economic development director asks, "why not us? They've got to go somewhere."
"We have some very hardened criminals in our own country that have committed some heinous crimes, and they are in communities all across this country," Smith argues. "We're the poorest county in the state and one of the poorest counties in the nation."
He estimates at least 100Â new jobs would come from filling the prison, a real boost to this small, beleaguered community.
"A piece of the American dream," is how Smith describes the town's quest to become a new penal colony. "Like anything in America, we're looking for opportunities," he says.
The prison was built, and paid for by a local bond issuance. But then the governor of Montana changed, and the project in Hardin was shelved. They've tried numerous other ways to make use of the facility, but this one seems like a no brainer.
If they want the job, they should at the very least, be considered. If the prison needs improvements to house terrorists, as opposed to hardened criminals, so be it. This is an American solution, that would employ American citizens that want the jobs.
What else needs to be said? Where else will they go?
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Comments: 19
berf, well, not to sound oedipal, but I do have a lovely mum and she's just keen, really, and once, once, a very long long time ago, I used to be a mental patient but now I'm feeling much better, really I am, really..... *chuckle*
Sarah, babe, you're the best.
But seriously. How much upgrading would the facility need to become a maximum security prison? Judging by the photo, it definately would need some security improvements.
Ivan, I don't know what the costs would involve, but these people have already spent a good deal of money and a few more million, if it would create jobs, would probably be an easy sell.
As for Sarah, she's my love toy. *chuckle* I couldn't live without her......
norene--- thanks for the input just the same ! ! ! ! !
We can't let them loose because none of their original countries want them back.
I say pull out the American guards and leave the door unlocked. Castro dumped several thousand of his criminals on us in the '70s. We should return the favor.
Not only were there criminals, there were mental patients as well. Of course, some of them were actually political prisoners.
It was actually 1980, the year Reagan won the election by beating Carter. It was the last finger in the face fpr the USA, during the pathetic Carter years.
Good idea bubba ! ! ! !
They aren't going anywhere. I don't know if Obama will simply release them all or just say he couldn't close the prison but since no one in the States wants them nor any foreign country but Yemen, I think they're home for now.
Charles, that's what I'd do, keep them there....