Keene, Norquist, and Barr say moving prisoners "makes good sense"..

[kentuck]

<snip>
Republicans in Congress are gearing up to fight a new White House effort to relocate detainees at Guantanamo Bay to a prison facility in Illinois. But on Sunday, a group of highly respected conservative figures lent their support to the transfer, calling it necessary to "preserve national security" while simultaneously avoiding "sweeping and radical departures from an American constitutional tradition."

In a joint statement prepared by the Constitution Project, David Keene, founder of American Conservative Union, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and former representative and presidential candidate Bob Barr say moving suspected terrorists to the Thomson, Illinois prison facility, "makes good sense." Taxpayers, they note, have already invested $145 million in the facility, which has been "little used." And the surrounding community, they add, could benefit from increased employment once the prison becomes filled.

"The scaremongering about these issues should stop," they add, noting that there is "absolutely no reason to fear that prisoners will escape or be released into their communities."

The letter is a bit of a boost for the Obama administration, which has had great difficulty finding a politically palatable way to transfer prisoners and close Gitmo. Still, having the support of an elected Republican would be preferable. Already, Mark Kirk, the Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, has blasted the administration for considering the Thomson facility.
.....more

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/16/conservative-trio-support_n_358928.html


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[kentuck]

1. update

LATER UPDATE: There are, it should be noted, additional conservative and Republican figures who have signed the Constitution Project's petition calling for Gitmo's closure. The list includes former Reps. Mickey Edwards (R-Ok) and Barry Goldwater Jr. (R-Calif) as well as Scott McConnell, editor-at-large of The American Conservative, David C. Miller Jr., who served on the National Security Council for President George H.W. Bush, and Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

[Tippy]

2. K&R.... Warning....Watch out for OLD WHITE MEN......