Murtha: OK to send Gitmo prisoners to Pennsylvania

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/2009/01/21/D95RRH1G0_obama_guantanamo_murtha/index.html

Murtha: OK to send Gitmo prisoners to Pennsylvania
By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press Writer


Jan 21st, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- A top House Democrat who is a leading critic of the Iraq war says he would have no qualms about transferring Guantanamo detainees to a prison in his Pennsylvania district.

Suspected terrorists at the military's detention center in Cuba are "no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo," Rep. John Murtha told Fox News on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama planned to sign an executive order Thursday to close the prison within a year and halt military trials of those held there, The Associated Press has learned.

Murtha, who heads the powerful House subcommittee that funds the military, said he was encouraged by the president's proposal. He said there was "no reason not to put 'em in prisons in the United States and handle them the way they would handle any other prisoners."

At least three military prisons -- in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Charleston, S.C. -- could house some of the Guantanamo detainees, an administration official said. Also under consideration, the official said, is the Supermax prison Florence, Colo., which houses convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.

An estimated 245 men are held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. They are believed to be al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to the United States.

[EFerrari]

1. "Believed to be al-Qaida" being the operative term.

They're nothing of the sort. They're people who have been tortured that our government can't have out on the street where they can be helped by legal counsel.

What a fucking farce this is.

:puke:

[babylonsister]

2. I think Murtha just wants to shut 'er down. I am convinced everyone

will finally get the trial they deserve.

[EFerrari]

3. When you think about it, not wanting to put them in our own facilities

is a vote of "no confidence" for our own system. Murtha is right.

I have no confidence in our own system but it's at least as clean as Guantanomo.

[sandnsea]

4. Ooo, ooo, I need a job! I'll house them!!! n/t

[Catshrink]

5. Send them to Texas

I hear there's a pig farm in Crawford that will be available soon.

[stillcool]

6. In that case, wouldn't you rather ..

keep torturing them in Gitmo?

[babylonsister]

7. Nice. nt

[stillcool]

8. I guess Gitmo is too humane?