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commentDear Editor: A consistent part of Senator Obama's stump speech during last year's presidential campaign was his promise to close the terrorist detention facility in Guant‡namo, Cuba. Obama's position was widely recognized as pandering to the anti-war left wing of his party and as a way to highlight Senator Clinton's prior endorsement of the war on terror. In a single word, politics.
True to his word, one of President Obama's first official acts was to order the closing of the terrorist detention facility by January 22, 2010. Now, as the Administration grapples with the question of where to put the terrorists, the chickens, so to speak, are coming home to roost in Virginia. Administration sources have indicated that a number of terrorists may be housed here in Virginia.
So Obama appears comfortable endangering Virginians for a purely political reason-to fulfill a campaign pledge made to the radical "progressives" of his party. After the two bold al Qaida/Taliban prison breaks from Sarposa prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2003 and 2008, no one could claim that housing these terrorists in Virginia does not increase our risks of a terrorist attack. Judging from the massive and expensive security measures taken in Alexandria during the trial of just one admitted al Qaida terrorist, Zacarias Moussaoui, officials at both the federal and state levels clearly saw an increased threat to areas housing terrorists.
Meanwhile, only one gubernatorial candidate has clearly stated his opposition to housing terrorists in Virginia. Bob McDonnell has said unequivocally that he will work to stop the transfer of terrorist from Cuba to Virginia. All three Democratic candidates have taken more "nuanced" positions, neither openly endorsing the idea nor clearly opposing their President and the radicals on the left.
The solution to this problem is as simple as it is cheap. Keep the terrorists in Cuba. The detention facilities at Guant‡namo are highly secure and already built, requiring no additional security measures or financial outlays by taxpayers.
Additionally, any attempt to break the terrorists out will be met with our well-armed military, rather than the civilian population here in Virginia or in other states. It's well past time for the Democrat's candidates to stand up for Virginians and demand that the President leave the terrorists in Cuba. To do anything else, simply in order to maintain the favor of "progressives," endangers Virginians, is grossly irresponsible, and clearly shows a lack of leadership.
Patricia Phillips, Sterling
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charleyp1 wrote on May 27, 2009 9:33 AM:
Further, I don't really want these people in the US at all, no matter how secure the prisons are. They are not US citizens and are not entitled to Constitutional protections. Putting our mortal enemies in US prisons where they are entitled to earn themselves a college degree, watch TV, and eat better than our homeless is so completely, utterly outrageous, that the proponents of said ideas should have their heads examined.
But really, if they must be brought to the US for trial, then send them to Texas, where they will get what all murderers get when found guilty in that State. "